Despite being an Australian company that listed on the ASX last year, the United States has emerged as the core growth market for buy-now-pay-later provider QuickFee (ASX: QFE) which is gaining traction from their BNPL repayment options for accountants, lawyers and other professional service providers.
Reporting their FY20 performance which included a $13.5m IPO in July 2019 to fund expansion activities, the Company saw a 63% increase in US lending to USD $13m alongside a 17% increase to their Australian lending to AUD $49.3m.
“The 2020 financial year has been another pivotal year for QuickFee, with the company taking major steps forward in growing our presence in the US and capitalising on our first mover advantage,” said QuickFee CEO, Bruce Coombes.
“We are still at a very early stage in executing on our US growth plans. We are very excited about the huge opportunity that the US represents, and the progress we are making to become the preferred payment solutions provider for professional services firms in that market.”
Citing COVID-19 as a reason for their increase in adoption due to the pandemic forcing a shift towards e-invoicing in the US, QuickFee now has 412 firms signed up to QuickFee US, offering their clients a BNPL repayment option. At the same time, the professional service firms are paid in full with QuickFee then managing the loan book and customer repayment plans.
From their loans, QuickFee reported a 47% increase in revenues to $8.7m which is generated by interest and lending fees, platform fees for professional service providers and transaction income. Still in the early stages of their growth strategy however, the Company logged a net loss after tax of $3.8m, largely due to customer acquisition expenses associated with their US expansion activities.
To accommodate forecast adoption in the US, QuickFee has doubled their debt facility in the US to USD $10m and signed up 26 of the top 100 accounting firms. The Company anticipates capitalising on COVID tailwinds as more firms shift permanently to e-invoicing and BNPL platforms become more widely adopted.
According to QuickFee, only 32% of professional service invoices in the United States are sent electronically compared to 84% in Australia.
Alfred Chan is an Analyst at Emerald Financial, specialising in ASX-listed small cap companies.
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