But unlike other large technology companies, Snap kept cutting this year, announcing it would shed another 10 per cent of its employees in February.
A Snap spokeswoman defended its Australian business, saying local advertisers were keen to reach its audience of eight million people here.
“We are very encouraged by the momentum of our business globally which has seen both daily active users and revenue grow,” the spokeswoman said.
“In Australia we’re focused on supporting our clients seeking to leverage Snap’s improved advertising products, and accelerate growth in this market in 2024.”
Financial documents lodged with ASIC never give a full picture of a company’s performance because they are designed to comply with technical accounting rules.
The smaller wage bill helped Snap raise its profit from Australia from $1 million in 2022 to $1.7 million in 2023, on which it paid $77,000 in income tax, taking into account various adjustments and deductions.
Like most outposts of global technology firms, Snap sends most of its money offshore in payments to its parent company, in this case in exchange for running ads on the app that account for $76 million of its revenue.
It recorded $92.2 million in cash receipts from customers, including its related parties, and paid $94 million to suppliers and employees, again including related parties.
Elsewhere, the accounts note Snap spent $44 million on services from its related parties.
Those parties named in Snap’s accounts include its Wales-based immediate parent company and its ultimate owner, the $US24 billion Nasdaq-listed Snap Inc.
By contrast, Meta reported billings of $1.3 billion from Australian advertisers in the year to December 31.
Google did not disclose that measure last year but recorded $2.01 billion in revenue and recorded $8.4 billion in “gross revenue” in 2022, the last year it revealed the full scale of its Australian business.
But there are signs Snap is starting to turn its loss-making business around. Its shares jumped 27 per cent on Friday, US time, to $US14.55 after its quarterly earnings beat analysts’ revenue expectations and the company upgraded its forecasts.
Snapchat could also be a beneficiary of TikTok’s woes in the US, where Congress passed a law requiring it to be sold within a year or be blocked in the country. Both social media companies compete for younger users, but TikTok has more.
Snap reported 422 million daily active users in its quarterly results released last week.