Car classifieds network iCar Asia surges 14pc on record quarter

Asian car classifieds network iCar Asia surged 14 per cent on Tuesday after revealing cash collections grew by almost a third last year.

iCar, which operates second-hand car sales portals in Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand, reported $2.2 million in cash receipts last quarter — up 23 per cent compared to the same period last year.

The news pushed iCar shares (ASX:ICQ) up 14 per cent to 24c — its highest point in four months.

The company is still burning cash — $3.1 million in the past three months — but has a healthy bank account of $21 million after a $10 million capital raising late last year.

iCar expects to spend $6.1 million on advertising, staff and administration this quarter.

ICQ share price movements over the past six months. Source: Investing.com — ICQ shares over the past six months. Source: Investing.com

“The company has finished our turnaround year in 2017 and is now driving directly towards profitability,” chief Hamish Stone told investors.

“We had another set of fantastic quarterly results across all of our key operating and financial metrics, all of which were ahead of our expectations.”

iCar is now focused on expanding its new car sales business from Malaysia to its other two markets.

“The economic outlook for all our markets is positive, making this the right time to expand our proposition into adjacent areas, whilst continuing to grow our core business,” Mr Stone said.

“2018 will see a further shift of ASEAN automotive marketing spending to digital. We are the number-one digital automotive marketing platform in each of the three largest ASEAN automotive markets and well positioned to take advantage of this transformation.”