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- Payment services specialist Cirralto (CRO) flags its strongest quarterly growth to date over the December 2021 quarter, but it seems investors may have been hoping for more
- Cirralto grew cash receipts to $615,000 for the quarter, up 55 per cent from the September quarter of last year, with a gross client loan book of $8.1 million at the end of the year
- Yet, spending still outweight customer receipts: Cirralto posted an operational net-cashflow-negative quarterly result of $3.1 million for the three month period
- Cirralto ended the quarter with $13 million worth of cash in the bank and just under $5.7 million in unused debt facilities, giving it $18.7 million in funding as of December 31
- While the company says it is confident in its future capabilities and planned 2022 growth, shares in Cirralto were down 10.9 per cent this afternoon to trade at 4.5 cents each
Payment services specialist Cirralto (CRO) has nosedived on the ASX today following the release of its quarterly financial report for the three months to the end of December 2021.
While the company said the final quarter of last year showcased its strongest quarter-on-quarter growth to date, it seems investors were perhaps expecting more from the company.
Cirralto grew cash receipts to $615,000 for the quarter, up 55 per cent from the September quarter of last year.
At the same time, Cirralto expanded its lending portfolio over the quarter, with a gross client loan book of $8.1 million at the end of the year. This included loan funds deployed across a range of sectors and generating an average yield of 18.7 per cent during the December quarter, according to Cirralto.
Outgoing loans exceeded incoming repayments for the quarter, with Cirralto lending $25.2 million in total and receiving $23.5 million in repayments.
Moreover, operational spending outweighed cash receipts: Cirralto posted an operational net-cashflow-negative quarterly result of $3.1 million for the three month period.
The company ended the quarter with $13 million worth of cash in the bank and just under $5.7 million in unused debt facilities, giving Cirralto $18.7 million in funding as of December 31.
Cirralto Managing Director Adrian Floate said 2021 was a “pivotal” year for the company, with significant investment into infrastructure and staff — as well as some key partnerships and acquisitions — boosting the capabilities of its products and services.
“At the start of 2022, we plan on using the powerful team we have built to deliver on
our current opportunities and see us through to positive cash flow and profitability,” Mr Floate said.
“Towards the end of the year, we see ourselves starting to look to international
markets — particularly Asia, which we see as a great opportunity for growth as we
already have a corporate structure and staff set up in the region to capitalise and
deliver on opportunities as they develop.”
Along with this offshore expansion work, Cirralto said its core focus for the beginning of 2022 was to execute and deliver on some key customer and partner wins from 2021 — particularly in light of the launch of Cirralto’s Pay By Link service during the December quarter.
This service is designed to improve payment security for businesses and consumers while enhancing customer experience and reducing credit claims and refunds for businesses.
It’s all based on Cirralto’s Spenda software platform, which is designed to help manage customer payment flows and offer real-time business payment services, debt collection capabilities, and inventory management.
Still, despite Cirralto’s confidence in its future, investors responded poorly to today’s quarterly stats.
Shares in Cirralto were down 10.9 per cent at 3:00 pm AEDT to trade at 4.1 cents each.
