African online retailer Jumia's Q3 losses narrow with further fall expected

Jumia Technologies AG

15/11/2023 13:35

JOHANNESBURG, Nov 15 (Reuters) - African e-commerce firm
Jumia Technologies  JMIA.N  said on Wednesday that cost savings
had helped it reduce third quarter losses by 67% from a year
earlier, with a further sharp drop expected this year.
    Jumia is aggressively cutting costs in order to turn
profitable, including head count reductions, scaling back the
range of products offered such as groceries and reducing
delivery services not related to its e-commerce business.
    The first Africa-focused tech start-up to list on the New
York Stock Exchange reported an adjusted earnings before
interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) loss of
$15 million in the three months to Sept.30 from a loss of $46
million in the same period of 2022.
    Chief executive Francis Dufay said the significant reduction
in losses and cash utilisation had secured the company a
liquidity position that will enable it "to work on fundamental,
long-term improvements" to grow its core business.
    Jumia had a liquidity position of $147 million at the end of
September.
    It now expects an adjusted 2023 EBITDA loss of $80 million
to $90 million compared to the previously communicated range of
$90 million to $100 million. 
    Revenue fell 11% year on year to $45 million, hit by weaker
currencies in several markets, but was up 19% in constant
currency terms.
    Quarterly active consumers fell 24.3% to 2.3 million,
largely driven by deliberate decisions to focus on core
categories and reduce consumer incentives.
    Inflation effects persisted in the period, affecting both
consumers' spending power and sellers' ability to source goods
from abroad, Jumia said.    

 (Reporting by Nqobile Dludla; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)
 ((nqobile.dludla@thomsonreuters.com; +27103461066;))