Newly listed Boku (BOKU) continued to fire on all cylinders during the half year to June, reporting its first positive adjusted cash profits – $2.5m (£1.9m), compared with a loss of $2.8m one year earlier. The direct carrier billing specialist, which allows consumers to charge purchases made via their mobile devices to their phone bills, saw total payment volumes more than double to $1.5bn. In turn, revenues escalated, while the gross margin climbed from 90.7 per cent to 92.4 per cent.
Momentum continued further down the income statement, with pre-tax losses narrowing considerably. This was thanks to costs remaining relatively flat, despite the huge improvement in sales. Indeed, management noted that the only cost hikes stemmed from investment in growth areas. Those included its ‘Mobile Identity’ business line, which helps prevent fraud, and stops people from abusing introductory offers (for example by setting up multiple accounts). House broker Peel Hunt notes that the company has cited Hooq and Yahoo as proof-of-concept trials and reckons the identity service could have a “material revenue contribution” in 2020.
Peel Hunt expects adjusted pre-tax profits of $1.6m and EPS of 0.4ȼ for 2018, against losses of $7.6m and 4.9ȼ in 2017.
| BOKU (BOKU) | ||||
| ORD PRICE: | 182p | MARKET VALUE: | £390bn | |
| TOUCH: | 179-185p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 188p | LOW: 72p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | nil | PE RATIO: | na | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 13.2ȼ* | NET CASH: | $27.3m | |
| Half-year to 30 Jun | Turnover ($m) | Pre-tax profit ($m) | Earnings per share (ȼ) | Dividend per share (ȼ) |
| 2017 | 10.2 | -6.4 | -4.7 | nil |
| 2018 | 16.9 | -0.6 | -0.3 | nil |
| % change | +66 | - | - | - |
| Ex-div: | na | |||
| Payment: | na | |||
| *Includes intangible assets of $24m or 11.2ȼ a share £1 = $1.28 | ||||
