Shares in Snapchat maker Snap jump as revenues and user numbers beat expectations

Snap’s stock has jumped by more than 25 per cent as the company beat expectations after a tough first year as a publicly listed company.

The Snapchat messaging app owner said its revenue rose 72 per cent to $285m in the three months to the end of December, beating analyst expectations, while its net loss widened to $350m, or 28 cents per share.

For the full year, Snap’s revenue rose to $825m, more than double the $404m it made last year. The company’s full-year net loss swelled to $3.4bn.

Snap also added more users than expected, with daily active users rising nearly 9m from the previous quarter to 187m, up 18 per cent year on year. Analysts had expected Snap to report 184.2m users, according to FactSet.

Snap’s shares soared more than 25 per cent in after-hours trading, reaching $17.61.

The company’s share price has traded below its $17 initial public offering (IPO) price for the majority of its time as a listed firm.

Chief executive Evan Spiegel said Snap had executed its 2017 plan to improve quality, performance and automation well.

“Our community has benefited significantly from the changes we have made throughout 2017, and we’re excited to see the impact of this hard work reflected in our daily active user growth.”

Snap has been working to boost user growth as competition with rival Facebook heats up. Facebook, which also owns Instagram, has copied many of Snapchat’s features in recent months.

Spiegel said: “We ended 2017 confident that we can grow our Snapchat community and monetize our products more efficiently than ever before. With our plans for user growth, augmented reality, and content in 2018, I have never been more excited about the future of our business.”

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