The Zip Co Ltd (ASX: ZIP) share price is on the move on Tuesday.
In morning trade, the buy now pay later (BNPL) provider's shares are up 3.5% to $1.39.
Why is the Zip share price rising?
Investors have been buying the company's shares this morning following the release of its third-quarter results.
According to the release, the company's total transaction volume (TTV) increased 14.6% over the prior corresponding period to $2.4 billion.
And thanks to an 80 basis point increase in its revenue margin to 9.1%, Zip's revenue grew 26.6% to $219.2 million for the three months.
Also increasing nicely was Zip's cash transaction margin, which lifted one percentage point from 2.9% to 3.9%. This led to the company reporting underlying group cash EBTDA of $20.1 million for the quarter.
How did its regions perform?
The release notes that the Zip Americas business delivered a particularly strong TTV performance of US$1,058.5 million (up 43.6%) and revenue of US$75.3 million (up 49.2%).
Pleasingly, US bad debts continued to perform well, with monthly cohort loss rates of approximately 1.3% of TTV.
Zip AU revenue was up 9.3% over the prior corresponding period despite a somewhat worrying 20%+ reduction in both transaction volume and transactions.
Nevertheless, management notes that its local operations continued to deliver an improved portfolio yield, which it believes demonstrates the continued resilience of the business model.
Zip's total active customers were down 2.9% to 6 million at the end of March. This comprises 3.8 million in the Americas and 2.2 million in Zip AU.
'Outstanding results'
Zip Group's CEO and managing director, Cynthia Scott, was very pleased with the result. She said:
Today's outstanding results reinforce that Zip is a simplified, stronger and sustainably profitable business. Achieving underlying Group cash EBTDA of $20.1m for the quarter was driven by accelerated US TTV growth, improved margins and continued cost discipline. Group revenue grew by 26.6% and revenue margins were 9.1%, up 80bps versus 3Q23. Cash transaction margin improved 100 bps versus 3Q23 to 3.9%, demonstrating the ongoing strength of Zip's business model.
It was a standout quarter for the Americas, with TTV growth of 43.6% driven by increased customer engagement and a strong credit performance, with US credit losses at 1.3% of cohort TTV. The ANZ business expanded revenue margins by 360 bps versus 3Q23 and delivered improved excess spread to 6.5% in March.
Commenting on the future, Scott adds:
We remain focused on driving continued profitable growth, product innovation and operational excellence in our two core markets and delivering long-term value for our customers, merchants and shareholders.
The Zip share price is up 160% over the last 12 months.
