MoneyGram posted earnings that showed continued growth in online transactions, up double-digits on a year-over-year basis.
Fourth-quarter revenues at $323.7 million were off by 6.4 percent year over year, and missed estimated by $5.4 million.
Non-gaap earnings of a penny beat estimates by three cents.
Total fee-based revenues slipped 20.5 percent, to $311 million.
MoneyGram Online saw 39 percent transaction growth year on year, where international online transactions were up 113 percent and revenues grew by 53 percent.
CEO Alex Holmes said during the conference call with analysts that, “our digital transformation is at an inflection point, as we have largely addressed the main challenges from 2016.” He added that “we lessened our dependency on major partners and invested in international market expansion. We've also diversified the business by growing our direct-to-consumer digital channel.”
Management also said on the call that the direct-to-consumer digital business is reaching younger consumers and that the loyalty program is live in 12 countries. An additional 30 countries will see loyalty programs deployed in 2020.
But drilling down into individual markets, Chief Financial Officer Larry Angelilli said that the US walk-in business remains a “challenge” as that business declined on a year over year.
Management said that in the online space — a bright spot — US outbound activity saw accelerating transaction growth, at 59 percent, and revenue growth of 9 percent. And in December, according to the company, US to US sends were less than 6 percent of total money transfer revenues.
International markets saw 7 percent transaction growth and 3 percent revenue growth — and international activity was 62 percent of total money transfer revenues.
Holmes also said that trading volumes through the partnership with Ripple continue to grow. Revenue contribution from this business line stood at $8.9 million in the latest quarter, up from $2.4 million in the third quarter.
And in a nod toward the coronavirus, commentary on the conference call with analysts said that exposure as an organization to revenue from China is negligible.
Questions on the call also centered around the recently-announced partnership with Brinks. Holmes said that pilot programs between the two companies are in the works, and that cash handling and cash management can be “expensive and time-consuming. It’s a burden on our partners and … Brink’s is working to push a number of products into the market that we think will be interesting for us to partner up on.”
Elsewhere, said management, efforts tied to Visa Direct, have been instrumental in overhauling the domestic online business. FastSend will see new cross border launches, said Holmes.
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