QORIA Ltd the biggest loser intraday as rising costs see stock sold off -20%

QORIA Ltd (ASX:QOR) has taken the wooden spoon for the day insofar as daily volatility goes, with the child safety tech company shedding a fifth of its value Tuesday morning on the back of a poorly received December update.

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On the face of it – which is to say the first slide in the presentation deck for the Australian company’s latest quarterly results – figures appear promising. The number of “children protected” climbed +29% YoY, presumably a measurement of userbase, to over 30M “children protected”, reportedly.

Perhaps easier to follow: Net annual recurring revenue (ARR) up +42% vs pcp (prior quarter, not year-on-year) to $5.1 million; free cash flow of $8.9 million (up +46% vs pcp) and cash receipts up +20% vs pcp to $79 million.

However, the cost of staff is hurting bottom lines, and so too marketing spend. Slide twelve of QORIA’s Tuesday presentation is where one can find where the bodies are buried, as was noted by more than one HotCopper user.

“The chart… shows Net ARR compared to annualised YTD cash operating costs. An additional column has been added (in a red box) to show the comparison on a constant currency basis,” QORIA wrote on Tuesday, referencing this graph:

While the safety company was keen to blame rising costs on FX, that perhaps doesn’t explain why marketing costs have increased along with staff costs – the FY2026 YTD column second from the right seems to show a slightly worse state of affairs than the “adjusted” column on the far right.

“Excluding FX movements, cash costs have increased as planned with pay increases (averaging 4%),” QORIA wrote, also noting cost pressures associated with expanding its Sri Lankan operations.

At the same time, the company also reported by using AI, it’s reducing the cost of making software. And yet, staff costs are rising.

Make that make sense.

QOR last traded at 39cps.

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