Block Inc, the payments company of Twitter founder Jack Dorsey, posted better than expected fourth-quarter profit thanks to a highly volatile bitcoin market and booming online retail, sending its shares soaring.
The company, which offers merchant payment services and an app that lets people trade the cryptocurrency, recently took a secondary listing in Australia after buying that country’s top payments company, Afterpay.
Though the results announcement came after the close of trading on the New York Stock Exchange, where Block has its main listing, the company’s Australian stock leapt as much as 40%, the biggest gainer in a flat overall market.
The move followed months in which companies linked to internet shopping have seen valuations shrink due to expectations of rising interest rates and unwinding government stimulus payments as Covid-19 restrictions ease.
Block, formerly called Square, disclosed plans for an all-stock buyout of Afterpay in August. Its shares fell by two-thirds by the deal closing in January, pushing down the value of the stock that went to owners of the Australian company.
The fourth-quarter pre-tax profit, which did not include earnings from Afterpay, beat forecasts of analysts at RBC Capital Markets.
- Reuters with additional editing by Sean OMeara
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