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- Afterpay shared some strong figures in a trading update before its AGM this morning
- The company raked in $2.7 billion worth of sales over four months, servicing 6.1 million customers and 40,000 merchants
- Afterpay has landed a deal with eBay Australia, which will take on the buy now, pay later service in 2020
- After being hit with a morning slump, Afterpay shares have tipped 0.12 per cent up to trade for $29.23 each
Afterpay shared dipped into the red over morning trade despite sharing some strong numbers in a trading update ahead of today’s AGM.
The young company reported a whopping $2.7 billion worth of sales in the four months leading up to the end of October, which is an increase of 110 per cent on the same period last year.
According to Afterpay, it now has 6.1 million active customers — 137 per cent up from this time last year — and almost 40,000 active merchants.
Browse now, pay later
These figures were overshadowed, however, by the upcoming eBay integration announced with the trading update.
Afterpay’s buy now, pay later (BNPL) service will go live on eBay Australia in 2020 — representing Afterpay’s largest online Australian deal yet.
eBay is Australia’s biggest shopping site and boasts over 11 million monthly users. This adds to the suite of big names recently signing up for Afterpay’s services including Dymocks, David Jones, and Myer.
Afterpay worldwide
Overseas, the business is seeing similar growth on a smaller scale.
Afterpay raked in $100 million in sales from its U.K. business and $700 million from the U.S in the four months leading up to the end of October.
The company now gives its services to over 9000 merchants in the States and 330 in the United Kingdom.
To fund this global steamroll, Afterpay has secured a $200 million investment from U.S.-based tech investment giant Coatue.
The company has also appointed Facebook’s former Chief Marketing Officer, Gary Briggs, to its board. Gary will kick off his role with the company at the start of next year.
Public perception and federal legislation
At the company’s Annual General Meeting this morning, chair Elana Rubin tried to ease investors’ minds regarding recent regulation talks and AUSTRAC audits.
Elana said Afterpay differs “considerably” from the competitors that have started sprouting up in the wake of Afterpay’s success.
In fact, the company wants to distance itself from the recently-emerged buy now pay later sector — despite Afterpay being the poster boy for this industry.
In its justification for not being grouped with the rest of the BNPL posse, Afterpay said its individuality comes from the fact that it is independent, targets millennial lifestyle purchases, and has a small average transaction fee of just $150 per sale.
Elana also made a point to highlight the fact that it is not a bank or traditional credit provider, and most of its revenue comes from retailer fees as opposed to customer payments.
Whether the Chair’s address was able to instil some confidence into punters is yet to be seen, as the company’s share price movements have been unsubstantial today.
After suffering the morning slump, shares in the buy now, pay later company slowly rose back to sit 0.12 per cent up around midday trade. Shares in Afterpay are currently worth $29.23 each as the company operates in a $7.39 billion market cap.
