Pushpay's 3rd quarter update confirms 2017 ACMR and breakeven target

Chris Heaslip, chief executive of business payments company Pushpay. Photo / Dean Purcell

Pushpay Holdings, the mobile payments app developer, says its annualised committed monthly revenue (ACMR) grew US$8.4 million in the December quarter, including US$1.1m it made from acquiring US church app business Bluebridge in November.

The company's full third quarter update, which follows an earlier limited announcement on Monday, shows the company lifted ACMR - a favoured revenue measure for software-as-a-service companies - to US$42.3m as of December 31, up 25 per cent from the end of the September quarter and a gain of more than 200 per cent compared to the same quarter of 2015. Average revenue per customer rose 7.3 per cent from September to US$573 per month, a 43 per cent gain from a year earlier.

Pushpay is on track to reach its ACMR target of US$72m (NZ$100m) and breakeven on a monthly cashflow basis by the end of calendar 2017, chief executive and co-founder Chris Heaslip said.

The app developer is targeting US churches with technology that makes it easy for congregations to make donations using their mobile phones and is expanding its mobile payment app to help people pay utility bills.

In November, it announced its acquisition of church app business from Bluebridge Digital for US$3.1m, a move which increased its potential annual revenue 47 per cent to US$2.2 billion, based on the US$119.3b given to churches in the US in 2015.

The company estimates the US faith sector revenue opportunity in 2020 at US$3.14b, compared to $2.16b as of 2015, with about half of that from volume fees and the remainder from subscription fees for app and payments software.

"Pushpay expects to reach its target based on further development of its product, direct sales, referrals strategy and through targeting customers that have existing relationships with Pushpay's strategic channel partners and other distribution partners," the company said.

The shares rose 0.5 per cent to $1.89 in early trading, and have gained 19 per cent in the past year. The shares dropped sharply in December, triggering a price enquiry from stockmarket operator NZX, but recovered in thin holiday trading, up 44 per cent between December 28 and yesterday.