Airtasker ready to benefit from cost of living crunch as revenue jumps
The digital outsourcing company says a high inflationary environment was likely to be ‘win’ for the company as Australians look for cheap labour and ways to boost their income.
Rising labour costs combined with belt tightening amid a cost of living crunch could be a windfall opportunity for outsourcing company Airtasker.
The listed company said it was well positioned to benefit from an inflationary macro environment with rising costs likely to turn more households to the platform in search of flexible labour, which on average was cheaper than traditional sources.
Airtasker said 70 per cent of jobs advertised on the platform were essential tasks and not discretionary, which were unlikely to be impacted by households tightening their belts.
Airtasker co-founder and CEO Tim Fung said supplementing a potential increase in demand would be a growing number of Australians looking to supplement their income by side hustling to combat the cost of living crunch.
Despite no quantitative guidance provided for the 2023 fiscal year, Mr Fung said Airtasker’s business model could accelerate growth in an inflationary environment.
Airtasker hoped to maintain a 93 per cent gross margin recorded in the past financial year with the launch of a cost management program to reduce its fixed cost base and “enable a clear path to sustained positive cashflow”.
Upbeat optimism from the company did not translate into a bump in the Airtasker’s share price, which fell 3.5 per cent to 42c on Tuesday — taking total losses for the year to 50 per cent.
Airtasker reported a $20.3m loss in the past financial year, 110 per cent higher than the previous period due to significant one-off costs. No dividend was declared for the period.
Mr Fung said the loss was “not representative of the underlying and future financial performance of the group”, with share-based payments, the acquisition of Oneflare and one-off IPO costs weighing on the result.
“The Oneflare business is performing ahead of expectations and integration is underway with a program of initiatives to combine network effects and deliver cost efficiencies tracking to plan,” Mr Fung said.
Statutory revenue in the 12 months to June increased 18.4 per cent to $31.4m, while more than $180m of gross marketplace volume was generated in Australia in FY22.
“This strong growth was achieved despite significant local and macro headwinds including Covid-19 related government mandated lockdowns, excess rain and flooding and a nationwide labour shortage demonstrating a highly adaptive and resilient Airtasker marketplace business model,” Mr Fung said.
Mr Fung said the June quarter of the 2022 financial year best illustrated the underlying performance of business given that the period was not impacted by Covid-19 lockdowns or restrictions. In the fourth quarter, Airtasker delivered 38.3 per cent jump in gross merchandise volume (GMV) to $54.4m and revenue up 30.6 per cent to $9m.
Airtasker’s British unit saw supply and demand doubled with GMV up 114.7 per cent as Mr Fung said the company aimed to “carefully balance supply and demand” to drive marketplace activity and grow GMV.
Demand also surged in its US business as Airtasker focused on a steadily increasing flow of job opportunities (posted tasks).
More Coverage
Federal Labor on a collision course with miners over green push
The federal government has made a powerful enemy for itself in the west after the Chamber of Minerals and Energy WA said it would fight Labor’s push for so-called nature-positive laws.
Lawsuit levels claims of staff exploitation against Lovisa
Costume jewellery chain Lovisa’s mostly young female staff were exploited, not given proper meal and rest breaks, and even forced to pay for and wear its products each shift, a lawsuit alleges.