By Micah Maidenberg 



  StoneCo Ltd. said Tuesday it has seen some better conditions so far in the second quarter, after its clients struggled with shutdowns of economic activity in Brazil tied to the spread of the coronavirus in the South American country starting in March. 


  The technology company focused on processing payments and offering other services to smaller Brazilian businesses said growth in total payment volumes improved in April and so far in May versus the second half of March, as Covid-19 hit Brazil. 


  Total payment volumes measures the value of payments processed through the StoneCo platform. 


  "While we began to see a gradual but significant recovery in April, which has continued into May, many of our clients' business activities remain partially or completely shut down," StoneCo said. 


  The company expects to report a pretax profit margin, following certain adjustments, of 20% to 24% in the second quarter. 


  "We expect to see the greatest impact from Covid-19 in the second quarter," the company said. 


  StoneCo cut its workforce by 20% this month as the efforts to halt the spread of the virus in Brazil hurt business activity among its customers. 


  Write to Micah Maidenberg at micah.maidenberg@wsj.com