iRemit profit climbs 38% due to higher forex income

Business World, Friday, August 19, 2011

PROFITS OF cash transfer firm, I-Remit, Inc. (iRemit) climbed by around 38% in the first half due to an increase in number of transactions and foreign exchange income.

In a report to the stock exchange, iRemit said it had booked a consolidated net income of P62 million in the January to June period, up from P44.9 million in the same period last year.

“We saw a higher volume of transactions during the period, although the increase in terms of the revenue was due to the foreign exchange income,” iRemit President and Chief Operating Officer Harris Edsel D. Jacildo told BusinessWorld in a phone interview yesterday.

The company`s revenue increased by around 13% to P413.8 million from P366.4 million as transactions rose up by 3.2% and dollar remittance volume climbed by 8.9%.

“With the higher volume of transactions, we earned higher service fees for the first six months, which increased our revenue for the first semester,” Mr. Jacildo said.

“For the US dollar transactions, the higher volume of money remitted through our services translated to a higher foreign exchange income for the company,” he added. - A. R. R. Gregorio