Revolut records first full year of profitability, plots global expansion
UK-based financial super-app Revolut recorded £26.3 million in profit for 2021, marking the firm’s first full year of profitability.
Revolut achieves first full year of profitability
In its long-awaited annual report for the year ending 31 December 2021, Revolut says it tripled its revenue from £220 million in 2020 to £636 million in 2021, driven in part by products including subscriptions, Revolut Business and foreign exchange and a surge in payments. The firm generated £100.3 million in adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA).
Revolut credits its strong financials in 2021 in part to a “more than 50%” increase in weekly active retail customers, along with a rise in average spend per user, which grew by 10%.
Customer deposit balances totalled £7.4 billion as of December 2021, a 58% increase from the £4.6 billion in 2020.
Nik Storonsky, CEO of Revolut, notes the neobank saw an influx of new customers over the year after it was granted a full banking licence from the European Central Bank.
For 2022, Revolut claims to have seen revenues increase by more than 30% to over £850 million.
“Revenue has grown considerably compared to FY 2021, with particularly strong growth in payments, as we welcomed millions of new customers and more people chose to travel again,” says Mikko Salovaara, CFO of Revolut.
Salovaara adds that 2022 saw the firm bring in more than nine million new customers, a 54% increase, taking it to a total of over 27 million retail customers – more than six million of which come from the UK.
Revolut also claims to have doubled its staff headcount over 2022 to more than 6,000.
Meanwhile, Revolut’s auditor, BDO, has reportedly flagged that it could not independently verify three-quarters of its £636 million revenue, claiming some of the information may be “materially misstated”.
However, a Revolut spokesperson told Reuters the bank’s stated revenue “was not in question” and that the auditor’s concerns were “remedied in 2021”.
For 2023, the challenger is now preparing to launch in new markets including New Zealand, Mexico, Brazil and India.
