Interim profits slide at Wise as expenses mount

(Sharecast News) - Wise posted a slide in half-year profits on Thursday, despite a spike in revenues, after the payments specialist ramped up investment. Revenues rose 11% in the six months to 30 September, with active customers up 18%.

Customers moved a total of £84.9bn during the period, a 24% increase on the previous period.

The first 1% of underlying interest income jumped 30% to £91.5m. However, beyond that it fell 13% to £255m.

Administrative expense were 27% higher, all of which weighed on pre-tax profits, down 13% at £254.6m.

Chief financial officer Emmanuel Thomassin said: "This mainly reflects our investment back into the business, in line with our underlying pre-tax profit margin framework, in addition to a lower interest yield environment during the period."

Thomassin also reiterated full-year guidance, for underlying income growth of between 15% and 20% on a constant currency basis, and an underlying pre-tax margin of around 16%, excluding one-off costs of around £35m related to Wise's dual-listing plans.

In July, Wise shareholders voted in favour of plans to move the fintech's primary listing to New York from London.

Kristo Kaarmann, co-founder and chief executive, said the company was on course to list in the second quarter of 2026.

He continued: "Over the first six months of this financial year, we focused on strengthening our infrastructure and expanding the functionality of our products to capture a greater share of the £32trn annual market opportunity for cross-border payments.

"Looking ahead, we remain focused on building for the long term."

As at 0830 GMT, shares in Wise were off 5% at 902p.