Australia's Afterpay to expand in 4 continents as online shopping surges

Australian firm Afterpay laid out plans to expand its buy-now, pay-later (BNPL) service to at least four continents to capitalize on the online shopping boom triggered by the pandemic.

The popularity of online shopping boosted growth in the BNPL sector and transformed Afterpay stocks into one of Australia’s 20 most valuable, soaring over 10-fold since March.

Afterpay also reported that its full-year loss more than halved.

Its sales in fiscal 2020 doubled from last year to $8.04 billion.

The second quarter was Afterpay’s best due to the number of sales it processed.

The Tencent-backed company is setting its sights on Asia with the acquisition of EmpatKali, a Singapore-based but Indonesia-focused BNPL.

Afterpay chief executive Anthony Eisen described the business in Indonesia as established but a very early stage position.

Afterpay also announced its launch into Canada and would also venture into mainland Europe, starting with France, Spain, and Italy and possibly expanding to Portugal and Germany.