Aug 13, 2026 earnings call — Record TPV growth and raised guidance
TPV reached $17.7 billion, up 92% year-over-year, and management raised 2026 TPV guidance to 60% to 70%.
Revenue $0.4B (est $0.4B) · EPS $0.18 (est $0.18)
Key quotes
"TPV reached $17.7 billion, accelerating to 92% year-over-year, the highest growth rate since the first quarter of 2022."
"And finally, our operating leverage is improving with operating profit as a percentage of gross profit, up 6 percentage points quarter-over-quarter to reach 50%."
"We will soon launch dMore, our merchant of record solution through which dLocal acts as the legal seller on behalf of the merchant, allowing us to offer our clients a more comprehensive go-to-market solution."
Analyst Q&A 7
Why TPV grew so much and take rate?
Q (Daer Labarta · Goldman Sachs): He asked what caused the very large TPV jump, whether anything unexpected happened, and asked about the one merchant that affected the statement and how to think about take rate vs TPV growth.
A: Management said the surge was driven by ride-hailing and travel, and a very large global ride-hailing merchant rapidly expanded in LATAM and other markets. They said that when merchants spike volume they hit lower pricing tiers, which lowers the headline take rate but still adds incremental gross profit. Excluding that one large ride-hailing merchant, take rate would have been relatively flat sequentially.
"If you look at the vertical performance quarterly, I think it paints a picture in terms of phenomenal strength around ride-hailing and travel primarily." — Pedro Arnt (CEO)
Effect of tax and FX on guidance
Q (James Friedman · Susquehanna International Group): He asked whether the one-time tax and FX effects were quantified and how they affect the annual operating profit growth guidance.
A: Management said the Q1 one-off tax item, when normalized, implies a tax rate near 15% to 16% for Q1 and Q2 and that this normalized rate is a guide for the remainder of the year. They also said FX headwinds on volume are included in materials and are hard to predict, and that a $4.4 million prior-year tax item plus currency headwinds led them to leave the operating profit guidance unchanged rather than adjust it out.
"If you normalize for that item in Q1, the tax rate was about 15% in Q1 and Q2, so around 16%." — Guillermo Perez (CFO)
Will cutting costs hurt growth?
Q (Guilherme Grespan · JPMorgan): He asked whether slowing hiring and costs could reduce the strong TPV and revenue momentum, since investments may have driven that growth.
A: Management acknowledged there is always a link between investment and growth. They said the second-half cost reduction is driven by three factors: no prior-year tax impact, no World Cup marketing spend in H2, and expected operating leverage from automations and AI replacing headcount. They expect those changes to deliver leverage without necessarily hurting top-line growth.
"There's obviously always a relationship between what you're investing and how you're growing." — Pedro Arnt (CEO)
Will Q4 margins carry into 2027?
Q (Pedro Leduc · Itau BBA): He asked if the strong exit pace this year implies even more momentum in 2027 and how reinvestments should be modeled into next year.
A: Management said it is premature to give 2027 guidance and warned against linearly projecting Q4 exit margins into the full year 2027. They said 2027 spend will likely be more evenly spread and they remain committed to consistent full-year operating leverage versus 2026, but not to carry Q4 exit rate directly into 2027.
"Full year '27 versus '26, certainly, we're committed to very consistent operating leverage, but not necessarily Q4 exit rate to '27 full year." — Pedro Arnt (CEO)
FX spreads and new products/merchants trend
Q (Matthew Coad · Truist): He asked to unpack the FX spreads impact (Vietnam) and whether that headwind may reverse, and asked for an update on new merchants and new products vs original expectations plus detail on merchant of record.
A: Management said pockets like Vietnam showed high FX spreads in Q1 that compressed by Q2; such pockets move across markets and volatility should lessen unless new dislocations occur. They said directionally more of the incremental TPV came from share-of-wallet gains in the existing book and less from new merchants and new products. Regarding merchant of record, they said it takes on local entity setup, tax filing and other statutory work so merchants can enter new countries faster, and it allows a higher take rate.
"Directionally, if we were to update that data, you would see more performance from share of wallet gains of the existing book, less from new merchants and less from new products." — Pedro Arnt (CEO)
Why Mexico gross profit fell
Q (Camila Villaça Azevedo · UBS): She asked why Mexico had sequential gross profit decline despite strong TPV and what cost pressures and price-tier effects explain that.
A: Management said Mexico had very strong TPV and revenue growth (64% year-on-year) but gross profit lagged due to a decline in pricing power that was not large enough to offset higher costs. They said costs as a percentage of TPV are slightly up and that better scale and negotiation with payment processors should reduce processing costs and align gross profit growth with revenue.
"So what's happening in Mexico is the decline in our pricing power which is not that marked, that's why revenues continue to grow 64%, have been significantly offset by not being able to push down our cost structure." — Pedro Arnt (CEO)
Why gaining more share and take rate impact
Q (Neha Agarwala · HSBC): She asked which factors (conversion, price, platform breadth) are most important in winning more share with existing merchants and whether that will accelerate take rate compression.
A: Management said wins are a mix of conversion rate, price and service model/quality; different merchants and verticals weight those factors differently. They explained the large merchant ramp showed multi-market relationships let them scale volume quickly at a lower take rate while remaining accretive to gross profit, and they expect a deceleration in the rate of take-rate decline rather than an accelerating compression into year-end.
"It's a combination of conversion rate, price and obviously also service model and quality of service." — Pedro Arnt (CEO)