Dorsey-Led Block Beats Operating Profit Estimates, Shares Surge 10%

After posting a first-quarter operational profit that above Wall Street estimates, Block Inc, the fintech business run by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, said on Thursday it has not witnessed a fall in general customer spending until April.

Even though the business, previously known as Square, posted a lower-than-expected adjusted earnings as demand for bitcoin fell owing to a drop in cryptocurrency prices, Block's shares surged 10% in extended trading.

During the quarter, the firm, which provides merchant payment services and a cryptocurrency trading platform, completed its $29 billion purchase of Australian buy-now-pay-later pioneer Afterpay Ltd.

In the financial sector's fastest-growing division, the deal established a transaction behemoth that competes with banks and digital corporations.

The gross profit for the first quarter was $92 million, which was reported under the Square and Cash app divisions. Cash App, a business that allows users to transmit payments in bitcoin, had a 26 percent increase in gross profit as a result of this.

"We anticipate Cash App and Square to expand gross profit sequentially each quarter this year, even minus Afterpay, providing the macroeconomic backdrop stays steady," said Amrita Ahuja, Chief Financial Officer.

"We haven't observed a decline in general consumer spending through April," she added, adding that Afterpay's gross merchandise value - the total value of all items sold – was set to grow 15% in April.

According to IBES statistics from Refinitiv, Block earned $195 million in operational profits, or adjusted EBITDA, above the Wall Street consensus of $136 million.

Revenue declined 22% to $3.96 billion in the three months ending March 31. The firm had an adjusted profit of 18 cents per share, which was lower than analysts' expectations of 21 cents per share.

The company's bitcoin income fell by half to $1.73 billion due to a dip in interest from regular traders as cryptocurrency prices fell following a rapid gain last year spurred by popular acceptance.