Egyptian transport start-up Swvl sees profit by 2024

Swvl Holdings

12/08/2021 15:00

* Swvl plans to list on Nasdaq in fourth quarter
    * Expects to operate in Europe, Asia, LatAm by 2025
    * Projects $170 mln in profits by 2025
    * Looks to expand in logistics, advertising, financial
services

    By Ehab Farouk and Mohamed Sayed
    CAIRO, Aug 12 (Reuters) - Transport start-up Swvl, based in
Dubai and Cairo, expects to turn its first profit in 2024 as it
expands into new countries, its chief financial officer Youssef
Salem said on Thursday.
    Swvl last month announced a merger with U.S.-based Queen's
Gambit Growth Capital  GMBT.O  that will allow the company to
list on the U.S. Nasdaq stock exchange.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2P41VK 
    Founded in Egypt in 2017, Swvl operates a digital platform
that allows passengers to reserve and pay for rides with
participating buses along fixed routes. 
    It now operates in 10 cities in six countries and makes more
than 3 million trips a month, a number it aims to increase to 2
million a day by 2025. 
    "Swvl will turn profitable in 2024 after investments and
operating costs of about $136 million. We then aim to earn more
than $170 million in 2025," Salem told Reuters. 
    Swvl's administrative offices are in Dubai and its main
operations in Cairo. 
    Its capital of more than $100 million will increase to $550
million after it completes a merger with Queen's Gambit by the
end of the year. 
    It plans to list on Nasdaq in the fourth quarter of 2021 and
    is studying a possible listing on the Egyptian Exchange in
2022/23. 
    The company aims to expand to 30 cities in 20 countries by
2025, including in southern and western Europe, Brazil, Mexico,
the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia, Salem said. 
    It will expand into other activities such as logistics,
advertising and financial services beginning in 2023, he added. 
    This should help to increase Swvl's revenue to $800 million
in 2024 from a projected $79 million this year and $26 million
in 2020 and $100,000 in 2017. It expects revenue to exceed $1
billion in 2025. 
    The company has 600 employees, 400 of whom are in Egypt, and
a network of 5,000 buses, 3,000 of which are in Egypt. 
    

 (Writing by Patrick Werr and Mahmoud Mourad; editing by Jane
Merriman)
 ((patrick.werr@thomsonreuters.com;))