Buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) stalwart Zip Co Ltd (ASX: Z1P) has announced another quarter of growth, setting new records for revenue and transaction volumes.
Despite the positive news, the Zip share price is down 1.09% to $3.62 in early morning trade.
New records on the back of holiday spending
Key highlights from the second quarter ending 31 December include:
- Transaction volume of $2.6 billion, up 53% year-on-year (YoY)
- Transaction numbers of 22.4 million, up 85% YoY
- Revenue of $167.4 million, up 58% YoY
Keeping pace with revenue, customer numbers increased 57% to 9.9 million.
On the other side of the equation, merchant growth almost doubled that of customers, up 110% to 81,800.
Zip added several new retailers and merchants including Footlocker, Nespresso, Culture Kings and Under Armour.
On a quarterly basis, revenue increased 19% quarter-on-quarter while transaction volume increased 30%.
Keep in mind, Q2 results are elevated due to Christmas and holiday shopping.
Regarding the funding of its loan operations, Zip has $431.9 million in undrawn facilities.
United States (US)
Zip’s US operations achieved revenue growth of 60% and transaction volumes of 63% YoY.
Unlike the group results, merchants grew at a slower rate than customers. Zip increased customers 14% over the quarter compared to just 8% merchant growth.
The business is preparing for the launch of a physical card program in Q3 to increase penetration of in-store sales.
It also held Zipfest, a four-day pre-holiday shopping event in October, which resulted in over 70,000 app downloads and a 20% uplift in weekly transactions.
Australia & New Zealand (ANZ)
In its more mature Australian market, Zip still recorded solid transaction growth of 39%. However, this did not translate directly in revenue, with just an 18% increase in sales over the prior quarter.
“Penetration into instore and everyday spend categories continues to increase in line with the Company’s strategic objective and significant addressable BNPL opportunity”
Bad debts – defined as those accounts greater than 180 days delinquent – increased to 2.83% from 2.44% in the September quarter.
Given Zip’s take rate of 7.0%, around 40% of its gross transaction value is in bad debts.
United Kingdom (UK)
Similar to the group results, the UK delivered 57% transaction growth albeit off a very low base.
Zip added 100 new merchants over the quarter to increase its customer awareness. It also launched a partnership with Google wallet to support instore “Tap and Zip”.
Expansion markets
Expansion markets encompass Canada, Mexico, Twisto (Poland and Czech Republic) and Spotii (UAE and KSA).
There were mixed results, with Twisto recording 21% growth whereas Spotii had volumes rise 60% on the prior quarter.
Zip completed the acquisition of South African based Payflex in early January. However, it won’t be included in the results until the second half.
It also launched into Singapore via an agreement with local fintech Singtel Dash.
My take
The Zip share price has been hammered over the past 12 months, down 40%.
But all things considered today was a solid result in terms of growth. Bad debts are a concern but should subside if Zip can keep growing its top line.
To keep up to date on all the latest news regarding BNPL and the ASX, be sure to bookmark the Rask Media home page.
