LISTED I-Remit, Inc. swung to a net profit in the first quarter as costs and expenses declined while revenues improved.
The remittance company said in a regulatory filing Tuesday its earnings in the January-to-March period stood at P1.43 million, a turnaround from the P15.74 million net loss it booked the same period last year.
Revenues inched up 2% to P198.48 million while cost of services fell 17% to P75.84 million, resulting in a 20% climb in gross profit to P122.63 million.
The improvement was attributed to the 9% decline in service fees to P158.2 million, the 200% growth in foreign gains to P32.7 million, and the 14% decrease in commission to P8.6 million.
Costs also fell because of the 24% drop in service, delivery, bank and other service charges to P54.8 million, which offset the 5% increase in finance costs to P21 million due to additional loans availed with higher interest rates.
The number of transactions it recorded fell 8% to 0.96 million from 1.04 million last year, which came mostly from the Middle East at 44% of the pie. The rest are from Asia Pacific (36%), North America (12%) and Europe (8%).
Operating expenses helped push the bottomline, as it fell 6% to P123.8 million. This was linked to the lower short-term benefits expense, marketing and professional fees at P2.9 million, P2 million and P1.9 million, respectively. Travel, light, water and similar expenses also fell P2.4 million.
I-Remit, however, noted the expected decline in remittance flow to the Philippines due to the coronavirus pandemic. The World Bank estimated remittance drop in the country by 13%.
Shares in I-Remit at the stock exchange gained 11 centavos or 11.58% to P1.06 each on Tuesday. — Denise A. Valdez
