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Boku triples payment volumes

The direct carrier billing specialist reported a strong set of maiden results after listing last November
April 10, 2018

In its maiden results since joining the Alternative Investment Market last November, Boku (BOKU) revealed significant top-line growth. Total payment volumes tripled to more than $1.7bn (£1.2bn) last year, after monthly active users more than doubled to 8.1m. The group specialises in direct carrier billing, a service also provided by mobile payments company Bango (BGO), allowing people to charge purchases made on their mobile devices to their phone bills. 

IC TIP: Buy at 84.5p

Management says the market for digitally distributed content was valued at $153bn in 2017, and is growing at a compound annual rate of around 10 per cent. Boku established 45 new account connections last year, processing transactions on behalf of tech giants including Apple, Facebook, Netflix and Spotify. Still, while demand was strong, pre-tax losses expanded significantly – largely driven by IPO costs, including accrued interest on convertible loans. Excluding these, losses contracted by almost two-thirds to $7.4m.  

Analysts at Peel Hunt forecast statutory pre-tax losses of $0.3m and losses per share of 0.3ȼ for the year to December 2018, against comparative losses of $28m and 18.7ȼ in 2017.

BOKU (BOKU)   
ORD PRICE:84.5pMARKET VALUE:£181m
TOUCH:84-85p12-MONTH HIGH:90pLOW: 72p
DIVIDEND YIELD:nilPE RATIO:na
NET ASSET VALUE:13.4ȼ*NET CASH:$16m
Year to 31 DecTurnover ($m)Pre-tax profit ($m)Earnings per share (ȼ)Dividend per share (ȼ)
2014**18.3-15.0nana
2015**19.2-16.6nana
2016**17.2-21.1-15.0na
201724.4-28.0-19.0nil
% change+42---
Ex-div:na   
Payment:na   

*Includes intangible assets of $25.8m, or 12ȼ a share

**Pre-IPO

£1 = $1.42