E-scooter sharing firm VOI pushes back profit target to fuel expansion

VNV Global AB (publ)

06/05/2021 14:29

STOCKHOLM, May 6 (Reuters) - Swedish e-scooter sharing
company VOI Technology is postponing its goal to run a profit
this year to prioritize stronger revenue growth ahead, its
finance chief said on Thursday.
    VOI, whose competitors include Tier, Lime and Bird, said in
December it would reach an annual profit in 2021 after raising
$160 million in funding to help it expand.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N2IG1WU
    But VOI Chief Financial Officer Mathias Hermansson said that
target had been postponed as the number of users had grown
unexpectedly fast, with higher gross margins than expected,
allowing higher costs in the short term.
    "And since we now have capital, we have reprioritized
profitability to growth," he told Reuters, adding VOI was
investing in areas such as safety and recruitment of additional
staff.
    Hermansson said VOI would definitely not make a profit this
year and possibly not in 2022, but perhaps in 2023. He expects
the company, which made a loss of 770 million crowns ($91
million) in 2019, to triple sales year-on-year in 2021, after
growing in 2020. 
    VOI was initially hit by lockdowns as the COVID-19 pandemic
began, but later saw demand picking up as people avoided trains
and buses to socially distance.
    Hermansson said the number of rides on VOI e-scooters had
increased by 120% in the first quarter versus a year ago, and
the firm recently registered more than 1 million rides in a
single week, its highest weekly figure ever.
    VOI, whose investors include VNV Global  VNV.ST  and
Balderton Capital, has raised $325 million in total funding
since it was founded in 2018. Hermansson said there were
currently no concrete plans to raise further capital or list on
the stock market.
    "From our perspective, as long as we have access to capital
from our owners, there is no reason right now to be listed."
    The firm, which operates in around 60 cities in Europe, is
entering Spain on Thursday after winning a tender together with
local competitor Reby. It entered the British market last
summer.
 
($1 = 8.4608 Swedish crowns)

 (Reporting by Helena Soderpalm; editing by Niklas Pollard)
 ((helena.soderpalm@thomsonreuters.com; +46 8 700 10 15; Reuters
Messaging: helena.soderpalm.reuters.com@reuters.net))