BUY-NOW pay-later (BNPL) firm Laybuy yesterday said it was on track to hit profitability as it reported a 32 per cent surge in the amount of cash it brings in per customer.

The Kiwi firm said its gross merchandise value had hit £64m in the UK as its average spend per customer surged in the first six months of its financial year.

Gary Rohloff, boss of the Aussielisted outfit, which is currently active in the UK, New Zealand and Australia, said the UK had driven growth across the firm.

"The UK remains our growth engine and we've made significant progress over the past quarter and are on target for profitability by the end of the financial year in March,"

he said.

Default rates had tumbled on the back of investment into its fraud and credit risk management tools, Laybuy said.

The firm has tightened its lending criteria for customers, however, as concerns grow that shoppers are taking on dangerous levels of debt through BNPL products to cope with a cost of living crunch.

(c) 2022 City A.M., source Newspaper