UniRush Starts Paying Off for Green Dot in Q1
Green Dot’s acquisition of UniRush, a deal that closed in February, is already paying off for the company. As part of its first-quarter earnings release, Green Dot said that UniRush not only added $12 million in revenue during its first month of new ownership, but contributed to 6 percent growth in the company’s overall active card base, to 5.05 million.
For the first quarter ended March 31, Green Dot total operating revenue increased 11 percent from the same quarter last year, to approximately $253 million. “Without UniRush in the quarter, revenue was $241 million, representing year-over-year organic growth of 5.6 percent,” said Green Dot CEO Steve Streit in a conference call with analysts, according to a transcript from Seeking Alpha. The UniRush deal gave Green Dot control of the popular RushCard and a strong foothold in the payroll card market.
Net income, meanwhile, increased 23.9 percent in the first quarter, to $40.8 million.
Green Dot also reported a 5.1 percent increase in the number of tax refunds processed, to 8.6 million, with Streit describing the first quarter as the biggest tax season yet for Green Dot. He credited part of the growth to taxpayers increasingly using online service to file their taxes, which helps Green Dot because of its strong Web presence.
Green Dot’s Pay Award-winning GoBank, a checking account product available at retail stores, also is experiencing robust growth, he added. “Actives from the personal version of GoBank are up double-digits year-over-year, while [GoBank’s small business edition] is also up double-digits in each of the past three quarters,” Streit said.
GoBank was built with mobile in mind from the start, but mobile is becoming more important for Green Dot across the board. “The number of mobile app users across all our brands has nearly tripled from the same period just last year, and on the new Walmart MoneyCard, app usage has nearly quadrupled from the same period last year,” Streit continued. “Usage of our mobile app features like P2P, mobile phone check deposit, check writing and electronic bill pay are all up double digit or triple digits from a year ago.”
Green Dot is expanding MoneyPak availability as well. Now available in some 32,000 retail locations, Streit said the company is on track to add another 13,000 locations in the summer and another 8,000 locations expected in the fall.
Green Dot is a winner in the Best Incentive, Outstanding Pay Solution, Consumer Champion, Most Innovative Technology and Change Agent of the Year categories in the 2017 Pay Awards. Voting for Best-in-Category honors is open through May 31.
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