SYDNEY — Splitit Payments Ltd. shares jumped as much as 9.1% after the buy-now-pay-later operator said it widened margins and cut expenses for its fiscal second quarter.
The New York-based payments company on Monday said that its net transaction margin for the three months through June grew to 1.33% from 0.15% a year earlier. It cut operating expenses for the period to US$5 million from US$6 million.
The stock, which like that of other installment-payment providers has been heavily sold off since Apple Inc. announced a similar service in June, was last up 6.1% at 17.5 Australian cents (11.9 U.S. cents). It went as high as 18 Australian cents.
Splitit said the value of second-quarter transactions on its platform rose 4% to US$94 million even as it pulled back from higher-risk and unprofitable merchants.
It expects sales volume and revenue to improve toward the end of 2022 due to uptake of its so-called white-label strategy, which allows merchants to use the service under their own brand.
Chief Executive Nandan Sheth said that merchants are attracted by Splitit’s model, which offers consumers interest-free installments against untapped credit on existing card accounts.
“Our differentiated business model that unlocks existing credit for merchant-funded installments is becoming the most viable alternative to the high-friction and high-risk legacy BNPL services,” Mr. Sheth said.