By Carolina Mandl and Noor Zainab Hussain
– Shares in Nubank rose nearly 8% in after-hours trading on Tuesday as investors welcomed a narrower fourth-quarter loss at Latin America’s most valuable fintech, which added new clients and sold more products.
The digital bank, which listed its shares in New York in December, posted a net loss of $66.2 million, down from a $107.1 million a year earlier.
Nubank, backed by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc, said its revenue more than tripled to $635.9 million from a year earlier, well above a Refinitiv consensus of $393.76 million.
Its monthly revenue per active client reached $5.60, up $2.30 from the previous quarter, boosted by new products. Costs per client fell to 90 cents a month from $1.10.
Despite a more challenging economic environment in Brazil in the fourth quarter, Nubank’s consumer lending delinquency rate remained roughly stable at 3.5%, up 0.1 percentage point from the previous quarter.
Chief Executive David Velez told analysts in a conference the company, which has 53.9 million clients, will continue to execute its strategic plan, but added that it is able to pull back if the macro environment deteriorates.
Analysts are paying close attention to Nubank’s performance as its default rate is seen as likely to deteriorate as inflation and interest rates rise.
Velez said in an interview earlier this month that Brazil’s economic downturn may represent an opportunity for Nubank to gain market share, as some players are likely to retreat amid a riskier environment.
(This story corrects revenue in third paragraph to $635.9 million, not billion)
(Reporting by Carolina Mandl in Sao Paulo and Noor Zainab Hussain in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel, Marguerita Choy and Richard Pullin)
