At the operating level, losses rose to £201 million from £107 million in 2019.

Revolut, the London-based challenger bank led by Nikolay Storonsky, announced its numbers for the year ended December 31, 2020 on Monday. Though the financial superapp reported strong growth on various metrics including customer base, gross margins and revenue, it incurred a total loss of £168 million for the year, up 57% from 2019. (Revolut)

Revolut 2020: Key numbers and change over 2019

Adjusted revenue            £261 million       +57%

Administrative exp          £266 million       +114%

[incl Staff costs                  £170 million        +187%]

Gross profit                        £123 million        +215%

Gross margin                      49%                        +24pp

Operating loss                   £201 million        +88%

Total comp. loss                £168 million        +57%

Customer balances          £4.6 billion          +57%

Personal customers        14.5 million         +45%

“While we controlled discretionary spending, administrative costs increased to £266m (2019, £125m), reflecting continuing investment in growth and capability throughout the business, including in our Risk, Compliance and Control functions,” Revolut said in a statement.

The company said it managed growth in its customer base and added 500K business customers despite a restriction on marketing spend during the pandemic.

“As the extraordinary circumstances of 2020 drove the trend towards digital financial management we continued to innovate for customers to make their financial lives easier and accelerate daily use,” said founder & CEO Storonsky.  “We launched 24 new retail and business products, expanded into the US, Japan and Australia and launched banking services in Lithuania, all while significantly improving our profitability.”

Q1 of 2021

According to Chief Financial Officer, Mikko Salovaara, revenue in the first quarter of 2021 jumped 130% over the same quarter last year, with the number of personal customers at quarter-end totalling 15.5 million.

“Gross profit grew by more than 300% vs Q1 2020, with meaningful gross margin expansion driven by our product mix and continued ownership mentality on cost control,” he added.

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