Dating-app platform Bumble Inc. BMBL on Thursday said its board had approved a $150 million share buyback program, and the company forecast full-year sales that were a tad above expectations. Shares rose 6.6% after hours. The company, the parent of its namesake app as well as the apps Badoo and Fruitz, said it expected expected second-quarter sales of $254 million to $258 million, with full-year sales growth of 16% to 19%. For the second quarter, FactSet forecast $275 million in sales, with full-year revenue of $1.06 billion, or growth of 17.4%. For its first quarter, the company reported a net loss of $2.3 million, or a penny a share, contrasting with a profit of $23.7 million, or 12 cents a share, in the same quarter last year. Revenue rose 16% to $242.9 million, compared with $210 million in the prior-year quarter. Analysts polled by FactSet expected the company to break even on a per-share basis, with sales of $241 million. Bumble app sales jumped 26%, with paying users climbing 31% to 2.3 million. “Our results demonstrate the power of our unique family of apps that help people connect with each other amid a global epidemic of loneliness,” Chief Executive Whitney Wolfe Herd said in a statement, adding that the company planned to leverage AI and machine learning for growth.
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