MONEYME shares surged 15% after agile Q1 propels it towards profitability, $200m revenue in FY23

Listed Aussie fintech MONEYME has dropped another stellar quarter for the numbers.

With the market changing rapidly, MONEYME (ASX:MME) has shown some quality agility that will allow it to execute its long-term profitability strategy, accelerate revenue to over $200m in FY23, and surge well ahead in its SocietyOne synergy-schedule.

Let’s get into the brass tacks, with MME highlights revealing fast execution of its strategy shift:

Gross revenue of $57m, up 148% yoy
Gross customer receivables of $1.28b, up 183% yoy
Originations of $130m, down 25% yoy
Net losses of 5% (5%, 1Q22; 4%, 4Q22)

MONEYME’s MD and CEO Clayton Howes told the market the group has moved towards a profitability focus as we enter a higher interest rate world, by managing cash reserves and the loan book’s credit performance.

“MONEYME has positioned itself for the changing economic cycle, shifting its strategic focus to prioritise generating statutory returns following a period of consistently high growth.”

The tightening of new originations and an increase in customer pre-payments (thanks to market driven rate rises) have trimmed the MME loan book from the previous quarter, with Gross Customer Receivables of $1.28b as at 30 September 2022 (vs $1.35b, 4Q22).

Executing through the cycle

With a tech-led business model allowing for a rapid calibration of credit decisioning, pricing and variable cost base, MME says it’s suited to the required balance of growth and profitability as the current economic cycle throws whatever curly ones it has in store.

In Q1 MME moved quickly, rebooting for slow growth and increased liquidity, while prioritising higher quality credit originations.

“Swift execution of this strategic shift has delivered a reduction in the group’s cost base while revenue is on target to be greater than $200m for FY23, with Gross Revenue of $57m for the quarter,” Howes said.

“This tech-enabled agility is indicative of our strong historical focus on unit economics and highly efficient operating model with the rapid transition to focus on delivering statutory profits, a clear long-term advantage in an evolving market.”

Tech-driven cost efficiencies

Howes says going for cost efficiencies remains a key priority as the business sits down to enjoy its enhanced automation and scale advantages secured over the last 12 months, including the headline SocietyOne takeover.

The SocietyOne cost synergy realisation has been accelerated to achieve an important milestone in 1Q23 – ahead of plan, Howes notes – with SocietyOne new business originations now processed on MME’s Horizon Technology Platform.

“This is allowing us to provide SocietyOne new business the same leading customer acquisition and service experience as MONEYME,” Howes said.

MME also highlighted its focus on leveraging the low-cost acquisition opportunity of offering MONEYME’s product range to some ~200,000 SocietyOne customers.

Increased credit quality of the portfolio

Credit outcomes are in line with expectations at the group level with net losses of 5% for 1Q23 (4%, 4Q22), reflecting the impact of a lower book balance in MONEYME Personal Loans and Freestyle.

Howes says his management team continues to provision for losses at closing FY22 levels with enough existing to provide “appropriate contingency” for these uncertain macroeconomic times.

Jump in my car

“Autopay continues to be a priority for the business as we prepare to unlock the opportunity in the auto finance market through strategic partnerships and exciting new product innovation designed to drastically transform the car buying experience for consumers,” Howes says.

“While the macroeconomic outlook continues to be challenged, I believe we are uniquely positioned to deliver innovation while achieving our strategic initiative of generating statutory profit.

“Our result in Q1 is a strong first step toward this evolving strategy and is setting the business up well for the remainder of FY23.”

Funding and liquidity

MONEYME completed the $20m institutional placement during the quarter, of which a conditional component of circa $2m secured almost unanimous approval at yesterday’s Extraordinary General Meeting. The company also received shareholder approval for a Director’s placement of an additional $1.2m, as four MME directors co-invest alongside other shareholders.

Meanwhile the firm says it’s met its 1Q23 facility arrangements with revised settings being put in place from 2Q23 for both PEP facility covenants and trust Tangible Net Worth covenants, subject to the legal paperwork.

In recognition of revised covenants and market conditions, the group no longer expects to raise an additional circa $5 million in debt capital by 31 December 2022.

MME does not have any covenant requirements tied to its share price or market capitalisation.

Cybersecurity

Finally, in light of recent events and heightened cybercrime activity, the group says it remains vigilant to protect customers from identity theft and malicious cyberattacks. MONEYME utilises leading cybersecurity methods and systems, continuous systems vulnerability checks and comprehensive endpoint protection.

Customer data is secured using industry best practice protocols, whilst biometric identification and multi-factor authentication processes are some of the effective measures used to protect customers from impersonation attacks and account hijacking.

This article was developed in collaboration with MONEYME, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.