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(Alliance News) - Wise PLC on Tuesday said its annual revenue jumped by a third, though profit was held back by rising costs, and the firm remains under a cloud due to the tax affairs of its co-founder.
Wise shares were down 5.4% at 353.10 pence each on Tuesday morning in London. The stock is down 60% in the past year.
Wise is a London-based company which offers international money transfers. It was rebranded from TransferWise ahead of its listing in London last July.
Wise reported a 7.1% rise in pretax profit to GBP43.9 million in the financial year that ended March 31 from GBP41.1 million the year before, as revenue jumped by 33% to GBP559.9 million from GBP421.0 million.
Profit was held back by an even larger rise in administrative expenses, up 48% to GBP321.4 million from GBP217.5 million.
Chief Executive Officer & Co-Founder Kristo Kaarmann said: "We made sound progress on our mission this year, we saw volumes grow 40% year-on-year to GBP76 billion and we helped our 13 million customers save what we estimate to be over GBP1 billion in fees."
Wise said no dividends are expected to be paid for the current financial year.
Looking ahead, Wise said it continues to invest and build for the future. It is expecting a strong start to the next financial year and anticipating revenue to grow by between 30% to 35%.
Wise on Monday had said the UK Financial Conduct Authority has opened an investigation into Kaarmann after a tax breach. It had said it would not make any further comment given the ongoing regulatory investigation and didn't mention the situation in its earnings announcement on Tuesday.
By Xindi Wei; xindiwei@alliancenews.com
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