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PAYMENT services provider Afterpay Touch Group (ASX: APT) is reporting a massive quarterly increase in sales following some high profile partnerships with major retail players.
The company generated $367 million in first quarter sales for 2017-18, up from $271 million in the fourth quarter of FY17.
These numbers come off the back of recent partnerships with Target, Luxottica, and Petbarn, who all recently adopted the delayed online payments system.
The lay-by service now says its underlying annualised sales are on track to surpass $1.5 billion as more brands sign up to the platform.
The company now has more than 8,600 merchants on the platform, up by 2,600 from June 30.
More than 1.1 million customers now use the service, up from 841,000 at June 30, with 3,000 new customers coming on board every day.
The company says it is reinvesting its earnings into a growth agenda.
"We continue to invest strongly in the Afterpay growth agenda which is becoming increasingly apparent," says Afterpay CEO Nick Molnar.
"We are focused on progressively extracting merger synergies but at the same time adding resources and infrastructure capabilities to underpin growth opportunities."
After the company expanded into the New Zealand market earlier this year with a partnership with Trade Me, the company has extended their reach. The company now boasts brands like Overland, Kathmandu, Smith & Caugheys and Fishpond in the New Zealand market.
The company anticipates its in-store footprint will triple in size before the Christmas period to well over 4,000 stores.
In September, Jetstar became the first Australian airline to introduce the Afterpay system as a payment option for domestic flights. According to Afterpay, customer feedback from this partnership has been "very positive".
At the time of writing, shares in Afterpay Touch Group are up 8.3 per cent to $5.09.
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Business News Australia
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