Investing.com — Shares of Boku (NASDAQ: BOKU ) rose 1.8% as the company reported a strong FY24 trading update, beating consensus estimates despite negative currency differentials.
The mobile payments company reported 20% growth in total constant currency (TPV) payment volume, beating the Visible Alpha consensus by 3%. Revenue beat expectations by 13% higher, achieving a 19% increase in constant currency.
Jefferies commented on the results, saying: “While slightly below our estimates (on FX), we see the results putting Boka on track to meet our expectations for 2025. The stock should rise from this print.”
Boku’s positive performance was attributed to the expansion of monthly active users (MAU), which grew by 33% to 88 million, driven by new users in Account-to-Account (A2A) and digital wallets. Adjusted EBITDA beat forecasts by 14%, reaching approximately $17 million, reflecting a robust margin of 33%. Operating expenses rose modestly by 11%, allowing the company to maintain a strong profitability ratio.
The company ended 2024 strongly, continuing the momentum from the first half of the year. Growth was mainly driven by local payment methods (LPM), with significant growth in users of digital wallets and A2A services.
Despite facing a 400 basis point currency impact, primarily due to the weakening Japanese yen and strengthening US dollar, Boku was able to secure significant LPM contracts, including Amazon (NASDAQ: ) in Japan and Metu (NASDAQ: ) in Nigeria. These developments are expected to enhance the capabilities of the Boku platform and drive further growth.
In the second half of the year, Boku’s revenue rose 19% on a constant currency basis, reaching over $52 million and beating consensus by 13%. This increase was driven by LPM growth of around 64%, while direct carrier billing (DCB) saw growth of approximately 8%.
The company’s TPV for the year rose 23% in constant currency to around $12.4 billion, with total revenue up 24% to over $99 million. Adjusted EBITDA was approximately $31.5 million or a margin of 31.7%, an improvement over the prior year.
Core cash reserves improved, ending the year at $80 million, up from $75 million at the end of June, including $9 million spent on share buybacks in the second half of the year. For the full year, share repurchases totaled $10.7 million, or 4.7 million shares.
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