Boku cash balances increased to $62.7m
Boku (LON:BOKU) confirmed a 107% increase to $15.3m in its adjusted EBITDA as the mobile payments technology company released its results on Tuesday.
The firm announced its revenues at $56.4m, an increase of 20% in 2020, while its net pre-tax loss jumped from $1.3m to $17.3m.
The AIM-listed company said its loss was a result of a $20.8m goodwill impairment for its identity division.
Boku generated $11.5m in cash from operations before working capital changes, rising from $6.1m, while its closing cash balances increased to $62.7m from $35.6m in 2019.
The mobile payments company saw a 48% increase in its monthly active users for payments to 28.8m, including 4.6 million users from Fortumo. Its total payment volume rose to $6.9bn in 2020, from $5bn in 2019.
Jon Prideaux, chief executive of Boku, commented: “Boku performed strongly in 2020 with revenues up and Adjusted EBITDA more than doubled compared to 2019, driven by the performance of Boku Payments but the central fact of 2020 was COVID-19.”
“It has changed the way that we work and live and had an adverse impact on our Identity business, requiring its value to be re-assessed. Restrictions have affected the way that we travel, communicate and get entertained. Coronavirus has depressed spending, but that spikey ball of RNA has also changed the things we buy and the way we pay.”
“Industries dependent on face-to-face contact have been decimated. Some – hospitality, for example – will bounce back when restrictions are released, but for others, the pandemic has accelerated pre-existing trends. It turns out that many people didn’t really like driving into town to go shopping and for many types of goods the switch to online will be permanent.”
“The way we entertain ourselves has been changing for a while. CDs have been cleared from the shelves and DVDs sent to the car boot sale, as we switch to digital consumption. Games, especially mobile games, were already growing rapidly pre-COVID-19.”
