Revenue grows 15% to £1.21B; underlying PBT margin reaches 21%, exceeding medium-term target of 13%–16%.

Financial Performance: Revenue and Profitability

Wise plc reported revenue of £1,211.9 million for the financial year ended 31 March 2025, up 15% from £1,052.0 million in FY2024, according to the company's annual report. Underlying income—which includes the first 1% interest yield on customer balances—reached £1,362.3 million, increasing 16% year-on-year (18% in constant currency). Underlying profit before tax grew 17% to £282.1 million, representing an underlying PBT margin of 21%, well above management's medium-term target range of 13%–16%.

On a reported basis, profit before tax was £565 million, yielding a reported PBT margin of 34%. The divergence between reported and underlying profitability reflects £594.3 million in interest income earned on customer balances, partially offset by £161.2 million in benefits paid on those balances and £328.1 million in cost of sales. Reported profit after tax margin was not explicitly disclosed in the annual report, but the reported PBT margin serves as a proxy for earnings quality. EBITDA margin and PAT margin figures commonly cited in third-party summaries—24.6% and 13.7%, respectively—are not directly verifiable from Wise's published FY2025 accounts and should be treated with caution.

Amount (GBP millions) (GBP millions)Source: Orionmano Industries

Customer and Volume Growth: Scaling the Network

Active customers reached 15.6 million, up 21% year-on-year, with 5.9 million new customers completing their first cross-border transaction during the period. Cross-border volume rose 23% to £145.2 billion, split between personal volume growth of 22% and business volume growth of 24%. Business customer growth sequentially accelerated in Q4 FY2025, as Wise resumed onboarding business customers in the US and UK following a pause in H2 FY2024, and business cross-border volumes grew at a faster rate than active customers driven by increasing volume per customer.

Customer holdings increased 33% to £21.5 billion, comprising £17.1 billion in customer balances (up 29%) and £4.5 billion in assets under custody (up 52%). The growth in customer holdings reflects deepening account adoption: approximately 50% of personal customers and 60% of business customers now use multiple Wise features.

The cross-border take rate—the effective fee percentage on cross-border transactions—declined by 9 basis points to 58bps for the full year. By Q4 FY2025, the take rate had compressed further to 0.53%, down from 0.67% a year earlier. This pricing discipline is deliberate: Wise estimates it saved customers approximately £2 billion in fees during FY2025 through lower pricing.

Strategic Investments and Pricing Discipline

Wise's strategy combines continued price reductions with scaling investment in platform capabilities. The company lowered prices for customers during the year, reducing the cross-border take rate by 9bps to 58bps, translating into an estimated £2 billion in customer savings. Management describes this as a virtuous cycle: lower prices drive customer acquisition and volume growth, which in turn reduces unit costs and enables further price investment.

Operational scale is reflected in infrastructure improvements. More than 65% of payments now arrive in under 20 seconds, up from prior periods, demonstrating the scalability of Wise's proprietary network. Unit costs continue to decrease as the platform processes higher volumes, creating headroom for additional price cuts.

Wise tripled its investment in marketing during FY2025 and is growing its teams to support what management describes as capacity for "more than twice as many customers" with the current investment base. These investments come at a time when the cross-border payments market is becoming increasingly competitive, but Wise believes that its combination of speed, transparency, and cost efficiency will make it increasingly difficult for competitors to match its value proposition.

Outlook: Doubling Down on Platform Opportunity

Entering FY2026, Wise plans to double the annual investment in running and growing the business, as announced at the company's recent investor day. The company sees a long-term opportunity to serve significantly more than the current 15.6 million active customers, with the existing investment framework providing the operational leverage to support that expansion.

Wise enters the new fiscal year with several structural advantages. The underlying PBT margin of 21% sits comfortably above the 13%–16% medium-term target, providing a buffer that allows management to increase investment without endangering profitability. The company's capital generation remained strong in FY2025, with own funds of £1.30 billion and CET1 capital of £1.30 billion as of March 2025, according to its MIFIDPRU disclosures.

A proposed US listing, mentioned by analysts following the results, represents a potential catalyst for valuation re-rating. The cross-border payments market continues to expand, with traditional banks still capturing an estimated £200 billion in hidden fees annually. Wise's model—lowering prices while improving speed and transparency—positions it to capture incremental share even as take rates compress further.

The key tension for investors remains the balance between investment intensity and margin retention. Management's willingness to double investment while maintaining margins above medium-term targets suggests confidence in the platform's ability to generate increasing returns on capital. For a business that has more than doubled customer numbers and tripled cross-currency volume since its 2021 listing, the compounding trajectory—not any single quarterly metric—remains the central investment thesis.