Bleak Q3 results sink Society Pass’ shares further

Society Pass, a Vietnam-based tech firm incorporated in the US, ended nearly 10% deeper in the red on Thursday, driven down by weak quarterly results.

Dennis Nguyen, founder, chairman, and CEO of Society Pass / Photo credit: Society Pass

The company’s loss from operations widened by over 5x to US$8.4 million in the third quarter ended September 2021. Its quarterly revenue rose 7x to over US$83,500, with a major chunk of the earnings coming from online sales.

However, Society Pass’ revenue from software subscription services fell by about 10% to about US$10,000.

Society Pass – which claims to be the first Vietnamese firm to list outside its home country – has lost nearly 90% of its stock value over the past month. This share price dip comes despite a strong stock market debut last month.

The company’s shares more than tripled in value when it listed on the Nasdaq on November 9. The firm raised US$28 million as part of its IPO – US$2 million more than its initial target. The IPO raise also briefly pushed Society Pass’ market value beyond US$1 billion.

Performance of Society Pass’ stock on the Nasdaq over the past month/ Source: Google

Society Pass is a loyalty and data marketing ecosystem that owns and operates multiple ecommerce and lifestyle platforms. Since its launch in 2019, the company has amassed over 1.5 million registered users, who are served by the firm’s 3,500 registered merchants and brands.

In its regulatory filings, the company said its point-of-sale (POS) merchant clients in the F&B industry were affected by Covid-19 to temporary stop restaurant dine-ins. The firm’s largest POS client, a hotel chain, has also ceased operations in two out of its nine hotels since April 2020.

Society Pass said it is also facing challenges in onboarding new clients and continues to keep losing existing ones. The process of rebooting its recent acquisition of ecommerce platform Leflair has been disrupted by the pandemic as well. 

“Our IPO saw strong commitment from North Asian retail and institutional investors. We believe in the prevailing strength of our business will restore confidence in investors for high growth tech opportunities in Southeast Asia’s fastest growing markets,” Society Pass said in a statement to Tech in Asia.