DodoFinance Breaking News Made For You!
Fintech company Revolut made its first full year of profit in 2021 and saw a 33% increase in revenue last year, its chief financial officer told Reuters.
Company revenue will hit more than £850 million ($1.03 billion) by 2022 from payments, subscriptions and business accounts, chief financial officer Mikko Salovaara says, despite crypto downturn , a key element of the group’s activity.
“We’ve built a strong momentum,” the 31-year-old executive said in an interview at Revolut’s London headquarters.
The company has just signed its 2021 financial statements after months of delay as it replaced its internal accounting systems after the Financial Reporting Council (FRC), a UK body responsible for regulating accountants, ruled Revolut’s audit “inadequate”.
“Our accounting systems needed to be replaced,” Salovaara said. “We were required to meet the highest possible accounting standards.”
Revolut is retaining accounting firm BDO for the 2022 audit, it said.
Revenue from its crypto business declined in 2022 as the crypto decline hit the business. Crypto business accounted for around 5-10% of total revenue last year, Salovaara said.
The company made a profit of £26m in 2021, helped by the boom in cryptocurrency trading, according to the accounts.
CEO Nikolay Storonsky previously said the business was profitable in 2021. In 2020, it suffered a loss of £223m, according to Revolut accounts.
Salovaara declined to say whether the business will be profitable in 2022.
The fintech plans to publish its 2022 accounts in June, but it could take longer.
FREESTANDING
Revolut was valued at around $33 billion in its last funding round in 2021, making it Britain’s most valuable start-up at the time. Since its debut in 2015, it has raised around $1.7 billion from SoftBank and others.
Salovaara, who joined Revolut in 2021 from investment firm 3G Capital, said the company is not planning to raise any funds any time soon.
“We are self-sufficient,” he said. The company “will eventually become a public company, but it is not a priority”.
Publishing the accounts could pave the way for a UK banking license, which Revolut requested two years ago.
“We are in the very final stages of the process,” the chief financial officer said, adding that dealings with UK regulators were “reasonable”.
Revolut will likely opt for a “restricted license”, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters in January. This imposes certain restrictions on the company.
Revolut’s total employee costs increased by 9% in 2021, according to filings. The number of employees will double to more than 6,000 by 2022, the company said.
It is looking to expand internationally, particularly in India, where it acquired the exchange office Arvog Forex, as well as in Brazil and Mexico. The company will launch in New Zealand in the coming weeks.
($1 = 0.8288 pounds)
“Devoted bacon guru. Award-winning explorer. Internet junkie. Web lover.”
