Earnings Labs

MoneyHero Limited Class A Ordinary Shares (MNY)

Q4 2023 Earnings Call· Mon, Apr 29, 2024

$1.33

-1.12%

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome to MoneyHero Group Fourth Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions] Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would like now to turn the conference over to Chadwick Dorai, Strategic Finance Lead. Please go ahead.

Chadwick Dorai

Analyst

Thank you, Michelle. Hello, everyone. Good morning or good evening, depending on where you are. My name is Chadwick Dorai, and I am Strategic Finance Lead for MoneyHero Group overseeing our investor relations activities. We're excited to have you join us for MoneyHero Group's fourth quarter and full year 2023 earnings conference call. Today we have with us Rohith Murthy, our CEO, and Shaun Kraft, our CFO and COO. Let's start with a few friendly reminders. First off, you can find detailed results in our earnings release located in the Investor Relations section of our website. Also, we are recording today's webcast, so don't worry if you miss anything. A replay and a transcript will be posted on our website under the Investor Relations section. A heads up, during this call we will discuss some future projections and expectations for our business. Keep in mind, these forward-looking statements are based on what we currently expect and are subject to risk and uncertainties that could cause our actual results to differ. We also encourage you to look at our earnings release and SEC filings for a detailed discussion of these risk factors. Remember, these forward-looking statements reflect our own views today and we are not obligated to update them unless required by law. Also, we'll talk about some non-IFRS financial measures today. For a reconciliation of non-IFRS financial measures to the most directly comparable IFRS metric, please see our earnings press release. And one last thing, all monetary references will be in United States dollars unless we say it otherwise. Shortly, I will introduce our CEO, Mr. Rohith Murthy. For many of you, this will be your first introduction to Rohith as CEO. He was recently promoted to CEO of MoneyHero Group this past February. Rohith is the longest serving executive at MoneyHero Group, having joined the company in 2015 and has occupied numerous pivotal leadership roles, most recently serving as our Chief Business Officer. Under his guidance, Rohith has spearheaded the development and growth of two of our flagship brands, SingSaver, Singapore's leading personal finance comparison platform, Creatory, our groundbreaking B2B brand. His extensive leadership across products and technology has significantly enhanced our core platform and operations. Moreover, his broad expertise in strategic planning, product development, operational excellence, and digital transformation makes him the ideal leader to propel MoneyHero Group into its next phase of growth. Under Rohit's direction, MoneyHero is strategically poised to amplify its market dominance by concentrating on core business growth, expanding our insurance offerings, and diversifying our business model. Rohith is dedicated to harnessing advanced technology and data analytics to streamline customer experiences and increase operational efficiencies. Additionally, he’s deeply committed to fostering a vibrant organizational culture that attracts top talent and fosters professional development. With Rohith at the helm, we are set to intensify our commitment to innovation, customer satisfaction, and strategic expansion. And now, it is with great pleasure that I introduce Mr. Rohith Murthy, CEO of MoneyHero Group. Over to you, Rohith.

Rohith Murthy

Analyst

Thank you, Chad. Good morning. Thank you for joining us today. I'm Rohith Murthy, CEO of ManiHero Group. This is an exciting call as it marks my first earnings announcement in my new role. Having been with MoneyHero since day one, this is a tremendous moment for me, and I'm pleased to share our results with you. Before we delve into the details, I want to extend a warm welcome to everyone, especially those joining us for the first time. I also want to take a moment to outline how MoneyHero Group is being realigned under my direction and highlight the unique characteristics that set us apart. MoneyHero Group operates three core businesses across five key markets in Greater Southeast Asia. Our first core business, Comparison, is behind the market's largest P2C personal finance marketplaces, offering leading brands and products ranging from credit cards and personal loans to insurance solutions. In three of our five markets, Singapore, Hong Kong, and the Philippines, we also operate as licensed insurance brokers. Our second core business, Community, includes Singapore's largest personal finance community and brand, Seedly. Lastly, Creatory, our innovative B2B brand, connects hundreds of content creators and channel partners to financial products and institutions. When looking at our business model, it is important to note that our platform is built on five key pillars. First pillar, consumer pool. Our revenues are primarily from inbound consumers in an industry that usually relies on either trusted brand recognition or aggressive sales tactics. Consumers have shown they repeatedly trust us and come to our platforms to research and choose from a wide range of products, supported by high quality content and the best incentives. Additionally, given our strong balance sheet, we've also pursued an aggressive strategy to gain market share in our core markets. Second…

Shaun Kraft

Analyst

Thanks, Rohith. Good day, everyone. After the successful closing of our deSPAC transaction in Q4 of last year, MoneyHero Group finds itself in an exceptionally strong financial position today and is well situated to further strengthen its market leading positions across Greater Southeast Asia. Overall we saw a significant acceleration of our business growth in the second half of 2023 across multiple markets. And as Rohith mentioned, we are making strategic investments that will enable us to execute on the ever growing opportunities in the digital distribution of financial products space across our market. As of December 31st, 2023, MoneyHero had a debt free balance sheet with $69 million of cash and cash equivalents. Our cash is being deployed to scale our business, expand our member base, invest into our product and technological capabilities and excess cash, not currently needed to support monthly work and capital needs, is earning 5% plus interest rates with our banking partners. To note, as of December 31st, 2023, we had 42 million shares issued and outstanding as well as approximately 2.9 million employee options outstanding, bringing our fully diluted share count to approximately 45 million This excludes warrants which are currently out of money. For the exact share counts, please refer to the press release. Turning to our financial results, given that the deSPAC closed in Q4 and our financials presented today for Q4 ‘23 and the full year ‘23 are now on a consolidated basis. The listing transaction came with significant one-time, non-recurring, non-operational expenses that hit our P&L in 2023. This resulted in a significant headline net loss for the period of $173 million. However, it is important to take these listing-related accounting items into consideration when reviewing the underlying profitability of the business, And therefore, we focus on our adjusted EBITDA…

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from Nirgunan Tiruchelvam with Aletheia. Your line is now open.

Nirgunan Tiruchelvam

Analyst

Thank you, gentlemen, for a fantastic set of results. I have two questions. First and foremost, what impact will the Creatory business have on the revenue model? The second is that, has the company raised enough capital to fulfill its operating expense requirements for the next three years?

Rohith Murthy

Analyst

Thank you. I'll take the first question. What impact will Creatory business have? Now, Creatory is our very unique and innovative B2B business and it's pivotal in constructing the largest ecosystem of content creators and channel partners who essentially monetize their influence through our platform. As digital content consumption surges on social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok, we're observing a significant increase in engagement and ever-growing number of these influential content creators specializing in niche topics. And this trend has led to a dynamic expansion in the audience and the impact of these creators. Recognizing this opportunity early on, actually even before the pandemic, we began collaborating with many content creators to help them generate income through their creative outputs. Creatory provides a robust platform and it's a dedicated brand for these creators. It allows them to easily access and promote relevant finance products, personal finance products to the audiences, educate the audiences, and in return earn commissions whenever their followers engage with these offers. I think it's important to take away from today's earnings that Creatory has quickly become a critical component of our business, enhancing our scale and reach across diverse audience segments. This platform not only helps us gather valuable data and insights, but also allows us to manage payouts with greater profitability compared to, say, traditional paid channels such as Google or Facebook. Our relationships with the creators who often have highly engaged and loyal audiences also help strengthen our own brand presence and marketing reach. Additionally, as part of our Creatory platform, we are also forming channel partnerships with major super apps and service providers eager to integrate personal finance products into their services and monetize their platforms. In just over two years, Creatory has started contributing significantly to our financials, now representing a growing double-digit percentage of our revenue. And as we continue to invest in and expand Creatory, we anticipate even greater growth as we tap further into the addressable market. Importantly, MoneyHero’s Creatory is filling a unique niche that does not exist elsewhere in our market. And providing a platform for the region dedicated to empowering content creators to monetize through personal finance products. Shaun, you can take a second.

Shaun Kraft

Analyst

Yeah, yeah. So coming back to your second question around whether the company has raised sufficient capital to fill its operating needs. Absolutely it has. We currently have a very strong balance sheet with $69 million cash at the end of 2023 and no debt anymore. While we do still require a portion of that cash to fund operational needs today, we do not have any need to raise capital for the foreseeable future. I'd say additionally, we have a proven track record of effectively managing profitability leavers in the past and are executing a strategy as outlined by Rohith earlier when he discussed his five key pillars underlying our platform, that will enable us at MoneyHero to drive stronger profitability [and margin back to scale] (ph).

Operator

Operator

Please stand by for the next question. The Next question comes from Milo Bussell with Edison Group. Your line is open.

Milo Bussell

Analyst · Edison Group. Your line is open.

Hi, guys. Congratulations on a great set of results, and thanks very much for the presentation. So you've mentioned previously some updated offering launches in 2024 for Hong Kong and Singapore. So can you give an idea of what these might entail and how AI is being integrated within these? More broadly, how is AI being integrated within your business and are you seeing any issues arising from competitors using AI? My second question is on profitability. Very good that you've made progress this year, and it's good to hear that you expect to be profitable in 2024. I mean, could you discuss a bit further the margin range that you provided today? And then my third question is on insurance, which is obviously displaying very strong growth, but remains a relatively a small share of total revenue. So what sort of levels do you expect to grow the insurance business to as a percentage of group revenue? Thanks very much.

Rohith Murthy

Analyst · Edison Group. Your line is open.

Sure. Let me start first with the first question, the exciting one about AI. Now, I want to take us back to three of our, the pillars I mentioned, the five pillars, the consumer pool, conversion expertise, and operating leverage. And as we look at these three pillars, our focus remains on being the first choice for consumers when it comes to personal finance. And in fact, lifestyle savings too. So let's just delve into some specific updates on how we are integrating AI across our operations. In Singapore, we recently launched a brand new cutting edge mobile app, ShopHero. Now, this app -- with this app, consumers can interact with financial products and lifestyle offers. What we're doing is essentially we're aggregating deals and offers by category and geolocation. So with this ShopHero app, consumers can not only maximize their savings now with the right credit cards, but also engage on a daily basis. So I think this frequent engagement is important for us because it allows us to gather very valuable behavioral data and insights. And these insights are going to be crucial as we refine our own offerings. Now this is where AI comes in because we harness AI and machine learning to process and standardize brand content, ensuring that the offers that we display on the app are accurately categorized and they're presented in a timely manner. The other additional benefit and key aspect of ShopHero is what I spoke about is our business model diversification, because through this app, now we are essentially opening new advertising revenue streams for our financial partners. And I think this is going to be part of our broader strategy to evolve from just being an acquisition channel, but also tapping into our partners' marketing budgets. This app is live…

Operator

Operator

Please stand by for the next question. The next question comes from Ishan Majumdar with Baptista Research. Your line is open.

Ishan Majumdar

Analyst · Baptista Research. Your line is open.

Hi, Rohith. Thank you so much for the wonderful presentation. I have a two-part question. Which of your current revenue streams you anticipate will be the biggest growth drivers in the coming three years? And the second part is, are there any new revenue models you're considering?

Rohith Murthy

Analyst · Baptista Research. Your line is open.

Thank you, sure. I think when we look at our diverse platform and revenue streams, they're already in place and each of them are experiencing growth and we've sort of very meticulously structured this to maximize our expansion and strengthen our position. So what do I mean by that? Number one, our core aggregation business. When you look at our foundational revenue stream, it comes from cards and personal loan applications. And this is something we are committed to continue to expand our market share. And we also have an opportunity to improve our conversion rates here. And we do this by optimizing our user journeys, leveraging tech, data, so that way we sort of maintain that competitive edge. So that's our core aggregation business. Number two, insurance commissions. As I mentioned, we're a licensed insurance broker. Our role in the insurance sector forms now a very substantial and expanding segment of our business. And with insurance commissions, we are able to now generate steady, uncapped revenue through these commissions. Every time a policy is sold, and this is also bolstered by, like, diverse partnerships we have with insurers across our various product lines. Three, that we've spoken about, Creatory. Creatory is really our distinctive B2B platform and by really engaging these content creators and channel partners, we now are able to access new audiences. Strong engagement from these creators. And these creators have a lot of followers. The very interesting aspect of business is also that we actively set favorable take rates, and this expands our reach across diverse demographics. Number four, advertising revenue. I spoke about the ShopHero app. Now, we're trying to really harness the extensive user base and the digital assets that we have to offer now advertising opportunities to external brands. And these are high margin revenues. The good thing is this not only diversifies our income streams, but it also sort of enhances the utility and reach of our platform. Not to mention, now we're going to be delivering substantial value to our partners and stakeholders. And finally, I think, with insurance, and as a licensed insurance broker, we're going to be generating a renewal revenue stream. We're going to be earning renewal commissions, and that will now give us a continuous recurring revenue stream. I think this is just going to be really crucial in products like motor insurance, where we know we have annual switches who typically represent a large segment of our consumer base. So I think overall when I look at these diverse revenue strategies that we have, it not only is now creating a unique sort of competitive moat that we have, but I firmly believe these are going to be the key drivers of our growth. And more importantly, what these strategies ensure is that we remain adaptable and we remain ahead of the curve in our sector.

Operator

Operator

I show no further questions at this time. I would now like to turn the call back to Rohith for closing remarks.

Rohith Murthy

Analyst

Well, I really want to thank you all for your time today. And yes, as Shaun mentioned, we will be publishing all the results. Thank you.

Operator

Operator

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.