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One of the most exciting companies on the ASX, Afterpay Touch Group (ASX: AFT), has announced its latest global play to begin operating in the UK.
Afterpay will launch in the UK, the world's third largest e-commerce market, in the next six months.
It's expansion into the UK is underpinned by a strategic acquisition of a local buy now, pay later business ClearPay Finance Limited. The company has purchased 90 per cent of ClearPay shares from ThinkSmart Limited.
This acquisition will enable AfterPay to hit the ground running once it has secured retail partners in the region. The ClearPay brand will be transitioned out and replaced with AfterPay.
The fintech's announcement comes as Afterpay announced its FY18 results, displaying a FY18 earnings figure of $33.8 million, and revenue of $142.3 million, up 390 per cent on FY17.
Afterpay recorded a full year net loss after tax of $9 million, an improvement of 7 per cent on FY17. A portion of this loss can be attributed to costs associated with Afterpay's 2017 merger with Touch Corp.
The future for Afterpay looks bright, with 2.3 million active customers on board, and approximately 17,700 merchants utilising the e-commerce lay-by service.
Recently, Afterpay's retail event AfterYAY Day resulted in the largest underlying sales day in the company's history.
During the period, significant retailers like ASOS, Chemist Warehouse, and boohoo jumped on board the Afterpay train. The company's expansion into the United States also attracted premier retailers like Urban Outfitters to the buy now, pay later service.
Over 800 retailers in the US are now on board with Afterpay, with over 150,000 US customers using the service. Approximately $12 million of sales was generated for Aferpay from its US operations.
Shares in the fintech platform recently surged after the company announced more than $2.18 billion worth of underlying transactions had been processed through the platform in FY18; a 289 per cent increase on the previous year.
In the first quarter of FY19, the company says roughly $736 million worth of products were transacted through Afterpay, meaning the company has continued to see growth in the new financial year.
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