Rakuten Expects Operating Loss in H1

Rakuten, Inc. has published its financial results for the first half of 2020. Although it reported an uptick in revenues, it has closed out the period at an operating loss year on year.

Rakuten posted revenue of ¥678.8 billion during the six months ended on the 30th of June 2020. In the same period of the previous year, where revenue was ¥586.6 billion, revenue has increased by 15.7%. This was according to the report published on Tuesday.

Moreover, Rakuten actually reported an operating loss of ¥20.7 billion in the first half of 2020. This was opposed to a ¥111.9 billion operating profit in H1 of 2019, stronger by 24.8% on a yearly scale.

The Japanese eCommerce company and  operator of a foreign exchange (forex) broker saw a net loss of ¥27.8 billion. And that was for the six month period.

For H1 of 2019, it reported a 54.9% increase in net income reaching ¥99.9 billion.

Rakuten Fintech Segment Stays Strong

The company’s FinTech segment includes its securities business. Its segment revenue increased by 21.2 percent, rising from ¥232.6 billion to ¥281.8 billion.

Profit for Rakuten’s fintech segment came in at ¥41.1 billion for the first half of this year. This was according to the financial report.

Moreover, this is also stronger on a year on year comparison, representing a growth of 19.5 percent.

Rakuten said in its financial report on Tuesday, in securities services, the membership base continued to rapidly expand. Additionally, an increase in domestic stock market commissions and FX commissions contributed to an increase in revenue and income.

The fintech segment for the company covers a range of its services. These were relating to banking and securities, credit cards, life insurance, general insurance and e-money.