Kakao Pay turned a profit in the first quarter, driven by growth in its offline and overseas businesses.
Kakao Pay announced on the 7th that its consolidated revenue for the first quarter was 211.9 billion won, while its operating profit recorded 4.4 billion won. Revenue increased by 20.2% compared to the same period last year, and the operating profit turned into a profit. Net income and EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) were 14.4 billion won and 12.5 billion won, respectively, achieving triple-digit profit.
The transaction volume for the first quarter increased by 8% to 44 trillion 2000 billion won compared to the same period last year. Revenue transaction volume (Revenue TPV) increased by 7% during the same period to 12 trillion 8000 billion won, accounting for 29% of the total transaction volume. Transaction volume by service grew evenly across payment, finance, and remittance. In particular, the transaction volume for offline payments grew by 42%, leading the increase. The transaction volume for overseas payments also grew by 20%.
In the first quarter, revenue growth was driven by financial services and other services. Financial services revenue increased by 60.5% year-on-year to 8.02 billion won, with a share of total revenue remaining in the 38% range for the second consecutive quarter. Revenue from other services, led by card recommendation and advertising services, grew by 47.8% during the same period. Revenue from payment services increased by 1.9% due to the expansion of transaction volume in both offline and overseas payments.
Operating costs for the first quarter amounted to 207.5 billion won, up 11.5% compared to the same period last year. The increase in operating costs reflected the rise in revenue from securities and non-life insurance subsidiaries and an increase in data operation fees. Kakao Pay recently surpassed 20 million subscribers for MyData, the first in the country.
On a standalone basis, first-quarter revenue grew by 8.9% year-on-year to 160.9 billion won, with operating profit recorded at 13.6 billion won. Net income reached 21.1 billion won. Cumulative deficits turned into retained earnings of 20.7 billion won, thanks to continuous profit improvement.