Wise profit slides as costs racks up from US listing
Money transfer firm Wise saw its profit fall in its latest financial year as costs related to its new primary listing on Wall Street helped take a chunk out of the company’s bottom line.
The UK fintech’s profit before tax slid eight per cent to $660m (£500m) – down from $717.5m – in its first results since downgrading its listing on the London Stock Exchange.
This came despite revenue surging by nearly a fifth to $2.5bn as customer numbers swelled by 21 per cent to 19m.
But its performance was squeezed by ballooning costs, that shot up just shy of 40 per cent to $1.9bn and outpaced revenue growth twice as fast.
Transaction expenses were up 36 per cent to $514m driven by its expanding customer base. Meanwhile investment in tech jumped 38 per cent to $434m as Wise hired across engineering staff and beefed up its cloud infrastructure.
Marketing and sales costs were up a whopping 62 per cent to $172m.
Wise spent $473.4m on share repurchases ahead of its debut on the Nasdaq, which took place on May 11. The firm’s Employee Share Trust bought 35.9m shares from the open market to eliminate shareholder dilution from historic share options before transitioning.
Wise in hot seat over fraud investigation
The firm also launched a Jersey entity as its ultimate parent company to facilitate shifting its primary listing, which contributed to a hike in general and administrative costs. These expenses jumped 40 per cent over the last 12 months to $382m.
The fintech revealed plans for the listing change in June 2025, where it said the move would “provide a potential pathway to inclusion in major US indices,” marking a major blow to City officials after the payments firm had been speculated an eventual blue-chip candidate.
Prosecutors in Belgium opened an investigation last year after discovering Wise accounts had been flagged in hundreds of international criminal requests that spanned over 30 European countries.
The transactions within the scope are said to amount to roughly €500m (£432m) with investigators specifically looking at whether Wise failed to comply with anti-money laundering (AML) laws.
Investigators are checking whether illicit proceeds from fraud, corruption, and drug smuggling were funnelled through Wise accounts. The probe centres on Wise’s European operations, which are managed out of its Brussels office, and does not directly target its three million UK users.
Morning Wire revealed this week the fintech was facing uproar from staff after cutting paid paternity leave even after its own billionaire boss took a three-month sabbatical to spend time with his newborn.
Wise said it would kick off a new share buyback following its annual results, which it expects to be over $500m.