UPDATE: Pushpay plans for US listing, capital raising but commits to NZX

Pushpay Holdings, the mobile payments app company, says it's planning on a US listing and likely a capital raising within the next 15 months, but that won't mean de-listing from the NZX or ASX.

Its results released today show the Auckland-domiciled, US-headquartered company's loss widened to US$12.5 million in the six months ended Sept. 30, from US$11.3 million a year earlier, while revenue more than doubled to US$29.7 million from US$12.1 million.

Pushpay's app has gained traction in the US faith sector, where its services are used by 2 percent of the estimated 314,000 churches. It is now in use in 50 of the top 100 churches in the US, with transactions of US$2.1 billion based on annualised monthly figures. 

Pushpay is still aiming for a US listing, and the company's board now plans to pursue that within the next 15 months, it said in the results. On an investor call today, chief executive Chris Heaslip said it was likely Pushpay would do a primary raise as part of that listing, but the company has "strong relationships with the NZX and ASX and we don't have any plans to de-list from either exchange at this stage." The company has not yet confirmed whether it will list on the New York Stock Exchange or the Nasdaq.

The company is focussed on its target of reaching break even on a monthly cash flow basis by the end of calendar 2018, but capital could allow it to "take advantage of growth opportunities as they come up, whether it's growth into other verticals, acquisitions or other uses," Heaslip said.

In the results, Pushpay also reiterated its expectations of reaching US$100 million in annualised committed monthly revenue by Dec. 31, annual revenue of US$70 million in the 2018 financial year. ACMR, the company's preferred metric which measures total billings through merchants that Pushpay collects fees from, about doubled to US$67.5 million from US$34.3 million a year earlier.

Pushpay said it is focussing more heavily on medium and large churches, which invest more in implementing their software, are less likely to leave and generate increased fees over time. 

"Although we have a high proportion of the top 100 largest churches in the US, we have only just started penetrating the medium and large church segments," the company said. "Pushpay’s less than 4.5 percent share of the number of churches in those market segments suggests long-term duration growth."

The company is working on expanding into non-profits, and Heaslip said it will look to leverage a lot of the underlying technology from its church apps to do so. There are similarities in core donor receipting and events registration software, but non-profits gain donations differently as they don't have a Sunday morning service, he said. Heaslip said that the company expects to see research & development expenses "drift upwards" as it fills positions but that will hold steady through the next calendar year.

In the first half, the company lifted staff numbers 22 percent to 341. The company plans to lift its workforce to about 400, a number which will then be held steady for about 12 months.

The shares recently traded at $3.36, up 2.8 percent today and up 134 percent this year.

(BusinessDesk)