Wise shares fall after Q1 earnings miss analysts’ forecast

Editorial

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Wise posted underlying income of £362m for April, May and June, which increased by 11% but fell short of the average esimate analysts at £372m. As a result, the share price fell by 9% in the first hours of trading on Thursday, its biggest decline since January. 

This was despite a 24% rise in quarterly cross-border volume to £41.2bn, a 31% boost in customer holdings to £22.9bn, and a 17% increase in its active customer base to 9.8m. 

“We have had a strong start to our financial year, progressing on our journey to moving trillions with more people and businesses around the world using Wise,” said CEO and co-founder Kristo Käärmann.

Wise also reaffirmed its full-year outlook and is targetting an underlying profit before tax margin of 13-16% in the medium term. 

The fintech, valued at £12bn, had seen its share price rise earlier in the week on the back of a deal struck with UniCredit that will see the Italy-based bank use Wise’s cross-border payments platform. 

However, according to equities analyst Jeffries, the Q1 results will likely see those gains wiped out. Jeffries cited “higher FX headwinds” and a 12 basis points fall in cross-border take in the last 6 months as reasons for missing the analysts forecast. 

The latest results come just weeks after Wise announced that it would be transferring its primary listing from London to the US, a move it said would “significantly enhance [its] profile” and “closely align with major growth opportunities”.

The decision was seen as a blow to the UK’s fintech sector as well as London’s financial markets. It also led some analysts to call on the UK to find ways to bolster its fintech market.