Groupon's Full-Year Revenue Forecast Hit by Strong Dollar

Groupon forecast full-year revenue well below analyst expectations, hurt by a stronger dollar and weaker-than-expected billings, a key metric reflecting the gross amount collected from customers.

Groupon, which once dominated the fast-growing online coupons arena, has been struggling to rev up sales and profit as it battles stiff competition from smaller companies as well as online giants such as Amazon and Google.

In April, Groupon agreed to sell a 46 percent stake in its loss-making South Korean business Ticket Monster for $360 million as part of its turnaround efforts.

Groupon on Tuesday forecast 2015 revenue of between $3.15 billion and $3.3 billion, below the $3.53 billion analysts on average were expecting, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

The company, which got about 36 percent of total revenue from outside North America in the first quarter, said it expected changes in foreign exchange rates to hurt full-year revenue by 700 basis points.

The dollar, which rose about 9 percent against a basket of currencies in the first three months of the year, had a $51.3 million negative impact on quarterly revenue, Groupon said.

Groupon reported gross billings of $1.55 billion for the first quarter, well below the average analyst estimate of $1.86 billion, according to market research firm FactSet StreetAccount.

Net loss attributable to Groupon narrowed to $14.3 million, or two cents per share, for the quarter ended March 31, from $37.8 million, or six cents per share, a year earlier.

Excluding items, the company earned three cents per share, beating the average analyst estimate of a profit of one cent per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Revenue rose to $750.4 million from $728.4 million, but missed analyst expectations of $812.2 million.

The Chicago, Illinois-based company’s shares closed at $6.84 on the Nasdaq on Tuesday. The stock fell 2 percent to $6.70 in extended trading.

(Reporting by Devika Krishna Kumar and Kshtiz Goliya in Bengaluru; Nandita Bose in Chicago; Editing by Simon Jennings)

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

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