Pushpay maintains 2017 revenue and breakeven guidance on second quarter growth

Mobile payments app developer Pushpay Holdings says it exceeded its guidance for the second quarter of 2017 and is on target to reach its forecast $100 million of annualised committed monthly revenue by the end of next year.

The Auckland-domiciled, Redmond, US-headquartered company increased its total number of merchants to 5286 in the quarter, up 151.5% on the same period a year earlier, with net merchant growth of 795 in the three months ended September 30, ahead of the 725 new merchants in the June quarter. Its average revenue per merchant (ARPM) rose to US$534 per month, 47.8% higher than the Sept. 2015 quarter and a 5.4% lift on the June quarter this year.

Last week, Pushpay closed a $A40 million bookbuild selling 19.1 million shares at $A2.09 apiece. In its prospectus released last month prior to the bookbuild, the company said it expected merchant growth to exceed the June quarter, and ARPM to increase by more than 5%.

"Pushpay has made substantial progress during what is seasonally a slow quarter and remains on track to reach $US72 million ($NZ100 million) in annualised committed monthly revenue (ACMR) and breakeven on a monthly cash flow basis prior to the end of calendar year 2017," chief executive and co-founder Chris Heaslip said. The proceeds of the placement will be used as working capital to support Pushpay to achieve its ACMR and breakeven targets, he said.

Some 97% of Pushpay's customers are located in North America, where it has had success in the faith sector and has been focusing on larger churches. The company now services five of the top 10 and 30 of the top 100 largest churches in the US.

It is also expanding its mobile payment app beyond the faith sector to helping people pay their utility bills such as water and insurance. Watercare Services, which provides water and infrastructure services to over 423,000 Auckland homes, was one of the partners piloting the bill payments solution. Pushpay Enterprise has recently signed a longer-term agreement covering Watercare's entire retail customer base.

ACMR rose by $US6.6 million in the quarter to $US33.9 million, a 282% gain on September 2015. Pushpay processed over $US1 billion in annualised monthly payment transactions, around 1% of the $US119 billion given to religious organisations in that country in 2016, and its goal is to process US$10 billion in annualised monthly payment transactions, it said today.

Mr Heaslip said the company expects to exceed that ACMR increase over the December quarter.

"Pushpay's ARPM continues to increase as its merchant base grows, indicating that Pushpay is delivering on its strategy to attract larger merchants," the company said. "There are a number of factors which have contributed to our increased ARPM, which includes larger deal sizes and upgrading merchants from our back book who are on legacy plans."

The shares, which will be quoted on the ASX from today, last traded at $2.22, and have gained 28.6% this year.

Mr Heaslip said the secondary listing will help diversify the company's funding sources, attract greater institutional capital to its share register, and add liquidity in the market for its shares.

(BusinessDesk)