(Bloomberg) As Spotify prepares for an initial public offering, the music-streaming site has flagged a number of errors in its previous results, revealing a significant increase in losses.
According to accounts filed Wednesday in Luxembourg for Spotify Technology SA, over 2015 the company actually posted a further loss before tax of 61.8 million euros ($68 million), on top of an original deficit of 164.8 million euros. In 2014, Spotify also suffered further losses of 23.9 million euros.
The accounting errors come as Spotify showed strong growth in revenues and active users, over 2016. Annual revenue increased to 2.9 billion euros ($3.2 billion), up 55 percent from a year earlier. However, the music streamer posted a net loss of 539.2 million euros, compared with 231.4 million euros in 2015.
The world’s largest music streaming service is preparing to go public with a listing on the New York Stock Exchange and has hired Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs Group and Allen & Co. to advise on the process.
Premium revenue increased 52 percent and ad revenue was up 50 percent, while the number of monthly active users and paying subscribers increased to 126 million at the end of 2016, up from 91 million a year earlier.
Spotify put the 2016 loss down to the cost of debt and the impact of foreign exchange movements. The company borrowed a further $1 billion in March 2016.
