Wise PLC (LSE:WISE) has outstripped expectations in the third quarter by reporting a significant increase in income and customer growth.
The London-listed cross-border payments challenger reported a 40% rise in income, reaching £375.1 million, driven largely by the increased adoption of its Wise Account and diverse feature usage by customers.
Wise’s active customer base saw a substantial year-over-year growth of 30%, amounting to 7.5 million users.
Cross-border payment volumes witnessed a 16% increase year-over-year, though Wise’s volume per customer (VPC), a key metric in assessing customer profitability, showed a -11% year-on-year decline to £4,100, driven mainly by lower volumes in the Personal segment.
This raised eyebrows among analysts at investment bank Jefferies, who stated that the “continuous slowdown in core TPV remains (a) key concern”.
According to Jefferies, TPV in Wise’s Personal segment is at its lowest point since the first quarter of 2021, though steady Business VPC has helped to offset this.
Nonetheless, analysts were upbeat on “resilience in customer growth and take rate beat”, though not enough to upgrade shares from 'hold' to a 'buy.'
Following today’s trading update, Wise upgraded its full-year net income growth guidance to between 42% and 44%, from 33% to 38% previously.
Wise’s shares price shrugged off the upgrade, falling 0.16% to 877.2p at the time of writing.