By Adriano Marchese

Shopify Inc. expects to continue to reap the benefits of the sustained momentum in digital commerce trends as well as U.S. stimulus money distributed in March, anticipating operating income to grow above its 2020 levels.

The Ottawa-based e-commerce company said it generated higher-than-anticipated revenue in the first half, while its costs were kept lower than planned in the period.

As a result, Shopify sees adjusted operating income in the year--a metric which excludes exceptional costs--to be above that achieved in 2020, which came in at $437.4 million.

Revenue is still anticipated to grow rapidly in the full year but at a lower rate than in 2020 as fewer merchants are expect to join compared with the previous year.

The company said this should mean that e-commerce business, though still growing, should be increasing at a more normalized pace compared with that of the prior year as consumer-spending trends return to services and offline retail, but still higher than any year prior to 2020.

Write to Adriano Marchese at adriano.marchese@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

07-28-21 0804ET