Freightos: transactions and revenues up in Q1 but losses deepen
24 / 05 / 2023
Image source: Pixels Hunter/ Shutterstock
Online booking portal Freightos saw the number of online transactions grow rapidly in the first quarter but its losses deepened during the period as a result of one-off costs.
During the first quarter, revenues at the company increased by 9.8% year on year to $4.8m on the back of a 100% increase in transactions to a record 229,000.
First quarter adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (ebitda) slipped to a loss of $5.8m this year from a loss of $3.3m last year and the company registered a net loss of $49.3m in Q1 2023 versus a $4.2m loss in 2022.
The company, which owns airfreight booking portal WebCargo, explained the net loss was largely down to a one-time non-cash share listing charge of $46.7m incurred upon the business combination with Gesher I Acquisition Corp.
The weaker adjusted performance was driven by public company costs – as it listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange in New York – and increased investment in growth.
Freigthos founder and chief executive Zvi Schreiber was positive about the performance on the back of an increase in booking transactions.
“The first quarter of 2023 set yet another record number of transactions on the Freightos platform,” he said. “Growth continued despite the headwinds from a contracting global freight market.
“We continue to see strong profit margins and positive unit economics as our ecosystem encompasses more buyers and freight service providers than ever, including a 29% year-over-year increase in the number of unique buyer users.”
He added: “Global freight’s digitalisation is continuing at the rapid pace we’ve been witnessing since 2019. We’re seeing strong, persistent adoption of instant digital bookings that span the entire freight procurement lifecycle, from manufacturers to forwarders to carriers, as well as indicators that our market share in our fastest-growing segment, air cargo eBookings, continues to expand.
“In addition, we’re seeing positive initial growth in both our payment and data solutions, which help us to continue to grow revenue.”
Chief financial officer Ran Shalev said: “Taking into account market conditions, we continue to invest in growth while carefully monitoring spending, both in terms of hirings and expenses, and have already taken actions to reduce full-year spending.
“Our Adjusted ebitda losses primarily reflect our investments in research and development and new customer acquisition which we believe will pay off handsomely given our strong retention and high-margin positive unit economics.”
