Xero Swings to 1st Half Profit, Maintains Fiscal Year Costs Forecast

By Stuart Condie

SYDNEY--Xero swung to a first-half profit and maintained its full-year expense target after the cloud-accounting software provider lifted revenue by 21%.

The New Zealand-based company on Thursday reported a net profit of 54.1 million New Zealand dollars (US$32.1 million) for the six months through September, compared with a NZ$16.1 million loss a year earlier.

Revenue rose to NZ$799.5 million, from NZ$658.5 million. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization rose 90% to NZ$206.1 million as Xero reduced its operating-expenses-to-operating-revenue ratio to 79.1% from 83.9% a year earlier.

Xero still expects that to fall to about 75% across the whole of fiscal 2024 due to changes that include a previous 15% reduction in workforce.

Xero did not declare a dividend. The average analyst forecast had been for a net profit of NZ$63 million and revenue of NZ$804 million, according to data compiled by analysts.

Write to Stuart Condie at stuart.condie@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 08, 2023 17:09 ET (22:09 GMT)

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