Ascendiant Capital Markets LLC (“Ascendiant“) initiates equity research coverage on Society Pass Inc. (Nasdaq: SOPA) (“SoPa” or the “Company“), Southeast Asia’s (SEA) next generation, data-driven, loyalty, fintech and e-commerce ecosystem.
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Summary Points:
- Strong 2Q 2023 Revenue Growth:SoPa reported its quarterly financial results on 10 August with 2Q 2023 revenues totaling $2.2 million, representing a 338% y-o-y.
- Major M&A:Announced in July 2023, the Company entered into an agreement to acquire 95% of PT Inetindo Info (“Inetindo”), a wholly subsidiary of Story-I Limited (“Story-I”). Inetindo is a leading Indonesia-based Apple Premium Reseller and Authorised Education Partner as well as an electronic gaming retailer for several different gaming companies. The purchase price is ~$1.9 million and the deal is expected to close by September 2023. Ascendiant notes that Inetindo’s annual revenue of ~$30 million will be a significant contributor to Society Pass results going forward.
- Significant 2023 Revenue Growth and Expected Cash Profitability in 2H 2023: SoPa stated that 2023 revenue run rate can be $60 – 100 million and it expects to reach cash profitability sometime in 2H 2023.
- Focused on Loyalty Platform: SoPa’s ecosystem of technology-enabled companies synergistically work together to transform how consumers and merchants interact with one another. Its key focus is on generating customer loyalty, ease of transaction for consumers, and revenues for merchants. As more merchants and consumers in SEA register on its Society Pass platform, more transaction data is generated, and thus presenting more opportunities for creating loyalty from consumers to merchants.
- Lifestyle Platform: The Company has developed an online lifestyle, “Leflair” branded platform in Vietnam to enable consumers to purchase high-end brands in many categories. Using the company’s smart search engine, consumers search or review their favorite brands among hundreds of choices in various categories, including Apparel, Bags & Shoes, Accessories, Health & Beauty, Home & Lifestyle, International, Women, Men and Kids & Babies categories.
- Market Opportunities: Ascendiant believes that continued strong economic expansion, robust population growth, rising level of urbanization, the emergence of the middle class, and the increasing rate of adoption of mobile technology provide fast growing market opportunities for SoPa in SEA.
- Positive High Risks versus High Rewards: Overall, concerns outweighed by growth prospects and valuation. Society Pass’s main products still has long commercialization challenges ahead, but we believe the ~billion dollars market potential presents high rewards for the risks.
- Current valuation attractive: We are maintaining our BUY rating, but raising our 12-month price target to $3.75 from $3.50, based on a NPV analysis, representing significant upside from the current share price. We believe this valuation appropriately balances out the company’s high risks with its high growth prospects and large upside opportunities.
About Society Pass Inc.
Founded in 2018 as a data-driven loyalty, fintech and e-commerce ecosystem in the fast-growing markets of Vietnam, Indonesia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand, which account for more than 80% of the SEA population, and with offices located in Angeles, Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City, Jakarta, Manila, and Singapore, Society Pass Incorporated (Nasdaq: SOPA) is an acquisition-focused holding company operating 6 interconnected verticals (loyalty, digital media, travel, telecoms, lifestyle, and F&B), which seamlessly connects millions of registered consumers and hundreds of thousands of registered merchants/brands across multiple product and service categories throughout SEA.
Society Pass completed an initial public offering and began trading on the Nasdaq under the ticker SOPA in November 2021.
SoPa acquires fast growing e-commerce companies and expands its user base across a robust product and service ecosystem. SoPa integrates these complementary businesses through its signature Society Pass fintech platform and circulation of its universal loyalty points or Society Points, which has entered beta testing and is expected to launch broadly at the beginning of 2023. Society Pass loyalty program members earn and redeem Society Points and receive personalised promotions based on SoPa’s data capabilities and understanding of consumer shopping behaviour. SoPa has amassed more than 3.3 million registered consumers and over 650,000 registered merchants and brands. It has invested 2+ years building proprietary IT architecture to effectively scale and support its consumers, merchants, and acquisitions.
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Society Pass leverages technology to tailor a more personalised experience for customers in the purchase journey and to transform the entire retail value chain in SEA. SoPa operates Thoughtful Media Group, a Thailand-based, a social commerce-focused, premium digital video multi-platform network; NusaTrip, a leading Indonesia-based Online Travel Agency; VLeisure, Vietnam’s leading provider of hotel management and payment solutions; Gorilla Global, a Singapore-based, mobile network operator; Leflair.com, Vietnam’s leading lifestyle e-commerce platform; Pushkart.ph, a popular grocery delivery company in Philippines; and NextGen Retail, a Indonesia-based e-commerce platform.
For more information on Society Pass, please visit:
Website at https://www.thesocietypass.com or
LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/societypass or
Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/thesocietypass or
Twitter at https://twitter.com/society_pass or
Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/societypass/.
Cautionary Note Concerning Forward-Looking Statements
This press release may include “forward-looking statements,” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. All statements other than statements of historical fact included in this press release are forward-looking statements. When used in this press release, words such as “anticipate”, “believe”, “estimate”, “expect”, “intend” and similar expressions, as they relate to us or our management team, identify forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs of management, as well as assumptions made by, and information currently available to, the Company’s management. Actual results could differ materially from those contemplated by the forward-looking statements as a result of certain factors detailed in the Company’s filings with the SEC. All subsequent written or oral forward-looking statements attributable to us or persons acting on our behalf are qualified in their entirety by this paragraph. Forward-looking statements are subject to numerous conditions, many of which are beyond the control of the Company, including those set forth in the Risk Factors section of the Company’s registration statement and prospectus relating to the Company’s initial public offering filed with the SEC. The Company undertakes no obligation to update these statements for revisions or changes after the date of this release, except as required by law.
