Economy
Jumia’s Q3 2020 Results Show Positive Rebound
Months of headwinds appear to be fading for African e-tailer, Jumia as its recently announced financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2020, have shown the company on a rebound and on its way to recovery.
Jumia, in Q3 2020, made “significant progress on the path to profitability” as evidenced by increased gross profit by 22 per cent year-over-year and decrease in the operating loss by 49 per cent year-over-year.
The firm’s payment platform, JumiaPay’s total payment volume (TPV) also increased by 50 per cent year-over-year, while annual active consumers reached 6.7 million in Q3 2020, up 23 per cent year-over-year, among other positive headlines in the quarter in review.
In more details, the financial results indicated that Jumia’s gross profit reached €23.2 million, a year-over-year increase of 22 per cent, while gross profit after fulfilment expense (GPAFE) reached €6.6 million, compared to a loss of €1.7 million in Q3 2019.
Sales & Advertising (S&A) expense was €6.2 million, the lowest quarterly amount since 2017 and a year-over-year decrease of 55 per cent. The e-commerce firm attributed this feat to a commitment to increase marketing efficiency as S&A expenses per Order decreased by 53 per cent from c. €2.0 in Q3 2019 to €0.9 in Q3 2020.
Jumia also for the first time at the group level, returned double positives in both GPAFE and S&A expenses, with the majority of countries breaking even at this level Q3 2020.
Operating loss reached a three-year low of €28.0 million, decreasing by 49 per cent year-over-year. JumiaPay TPV was €48.0 million, a year-over-year increase of 50%, more than doubling on-platform TPV penetration from 12.2 per cent of GMV in Q3 2019 to 25.6 per cent of GMV in Q3 2020.
However, GMV was €187.3 million, down 28 per cent year-over-year, as the effects of the business mix rebalancing initiated late last year continued playing out during the third quarter. But this was not enough to blind the significant path to profitability that the foregoing indices have highlighted.
Commenting Jeremy Hodara and Sacha Poignonnec, Co-Chief Executive Officers of Jumia, said, “We are making significant progress on our path to profitability with Adjusted EBITDA loss in the third quarter of 2020 decreasing by 50 per cent year-over-year.”
This positive stride is also future-proven by several innovative growth fundamentals that management of Jumia initiated and implemented over a period of time. The “business mix rebalancing” includes increased attraction of Jumia platform for everyday product categories, enhanced promotional discipline and support.
By positioning Jumia as the destination of choice for brands in Africa, over 60 brands from across geographies were on Jumia platform. Multiple enhancements across the logistics and marketing operations were also implemented; this led to a decrease in fulfilment and marketing expenses for Q3 2020 by 20 per cent and 55 per cent respectively, on a year-over-year basis.
The completion of portfolio optimisation in 2019, along with overhead rationalisation, also resulted in a decrease in General and Administrative (G&A) costs excluding share-based compensation of 24 per cent year-over-year in Q3 2020.
The continuous drive for the robust growth of JumiaPay by more than doubling the penetration of JumiaPay TPV to over 25 per cent of GMV in the third quarter of 2020 also bolstered Jumia’s positive outlook.
Attack and lawsuit over the sale of Jumia shares, the slump in share price, loss taking and recent offload of MTN Group’s equities were some of the headwinds that have challenged the e-tailer, shading its potential as a profitable enterprise.
The Q3 2020 positive trajectory no doubt, rewrites the narrative for Jumia, whose performance over the months had been swirled on many fronts.
“We believe the fundamentals of our business have never been stronger, setting a robust foundation for the long term, profitable growth of Jumia,” Hodara and Poignonnec stated.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Afriland Properties Plc helped the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange record a 0.04 per cent gain on Tuesday, December 10 as the share price of the property investment rose by 34 Kobo to N16.94 per unit from the preceding day’s N16.60 per unit.
As a result of this, the market capitalisation of the bourse went up by N380 million to remain relatively unchanged at N1.056 trillion like the previous trading day.
But the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) closed higher at 3,014.36 points after it recorded an addition of 1.09 points to Monday’s closing value of 3,013.27 points.
The NASD OTC securities exchange recorded a price loser and it was Geo-Fluids Plc, which went down by 2 Kobo to close at N3.93 per share, in contrast to the preceding day’s N3.95 per share.
During the trading session, the volume of securities bought and sold by investors increased by 95.8 per cent to 2.4 million units from the 1.2 million securities traded in the preceding session.
However, the value of shares traded yesterday slumped by 3.7 per cent to N4.9 million from the N5.07 million recorded a day earlier, as the number of deals surged by 27.3 per cent to 14 deals from 11 deals.
Geo-Fluids Plc remained the most active stock by volume (year-to-date) with 1.7 billion units sold for N3.9 billion, trailed by Okitipupa Plc with 752.2 million units valued at N7.8 billion, and Afriland Properties Plc with 297.5 million units worth N5.3 million.
Also, Aradel Holdings Plc remained the most active stock by value (year-to-date) with 108.7 million units worth N89.2 billion, followed by Okitipupa Plc with 752.2 million units valued at N7.8 billion, and Afriland Properties Plc with 297.5 million units sold for N5.3 billion.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira continued to appreciate on the US Dollar at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM), gaining 0.7 per cent or N10.23 on Tuesday, December 10 to trade at N1,542.27/$1 compared with the preceding day’s N1,552.50/$1.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)-backed Electronic Foreign Exchange Matching System (EFEMS) platform introduced to tackle speculation and improve transparency in Nigeria’s FX market has been attributed as the source of the Naira’s appreciation.
Speculators holding foreign currencies, particularly the US Dollar, have seen the value of their money drastically drop due to the appreciation of the local currency. This is forcing them to dump greenback into the system and take the domestic currency alternative- a move that has seen available FX increase.
Equally, the domestic currency improved its value against the Pound Sterling in the official market during the trading day by N6.81 to sell for N1,955.12/£1 compared with Monday’s closing price of N1,961.93/£1 and against the Euro, it gained N10.84 to close at N1,613.00/€1, in contrast to the previous day’s rate of N1,623.84/€1.
Data from the FMDQ Securities Exchange showed that the value of forex transactions significantly increased yesterday by $228.85 million or 257.2 per cent to $401.17 million from the preceding session’s $112.32 million.
However, in the parallel market, the Nigerian currency weakened against the US Dollar on Tuesday by N5 to settle at N1,625/$1 compared with the previous day’s value of N1,620/$1.
In the cryptocurrency market, Dogecoin (DOGE) lost 4.8 per cent to sell at $0.39116, Litecoin (LTC) depreciated by 3.3 per cent to trade at $110.25, Binance Coin (BNB) went south by 2.3 per cent to $681.44, Ethereum (ETH) dropped 1.6 per cent to finish at $3,671.08, and Cardano (ADA) slid by 0.5 per cent to $0.8837
Conversely, Ripple (XRP) jumped by 5.4 per cent to $2.23 amid a continued shift for the coin with its parent company seeing the benefits of a crypto-friendly regulatory environment for US-based companies.
XRP is closely related to Ripple Labs, a high-profile payments company targeted by the SEC in 2020 on allegations of selling the token as a security to U.S. investors. Ripple fully cleared a long-drawn court case in 2024.
Further, Solana (SOL) expanded by 0.8 per cent to $219.75, Bitcoin (BTC) grew by 0.4 per cent to $97,446.95, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00 each.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Oil prices rose on Tuesday, influenced by increasing demand in China, the world’s largest buyer, as well as developments in Europe and Syria, with Brent crude futures closing at $72.19 per barrel after chalking up 5 cents or 0.07 per cent while the US West Texas Intermediate finished at $68.59 a barrel after it gained 22 cents or 0.32 per cent.
China will adopt an “appropriately loose” monetary policy in 2025 as the world’s largest oil importer tries to spur economic growth. This would be the first easing of its stance in 14 years.
Chinese crude imports also grew annually for the first time in seven months, jumping in November on a year-on-year basis.
Speculation about winter demand in Europe also contributed to the rise in prices as the period has been known for high demand.
In Syria, rebels were working to form a government and restore order after the ousting of President Bashar al-Assad, with the country’s banks and oil sector set to resume work on Tuesday.
Although Syria itself is not a major oil producer, it is strategically located and has strong ties with Russia and Iran – two of the world’s largest oil producers.
Market analysts noted that the tensions in the Middle East seem contained, which led market participants to price for potentially low risks of a wider regional spillover leading to significant oil supply disruption.
The market is also looking forward to the US Federal Reserve, which is expected to make a 25 basis point cut to interest rates at the end of its December 17-18 meeting.
This move could improve oil demand in the world’s biggest economy, though traders are waiting to see if this week’s inflation data derails the cut.
Crude oil inventories in the US rose by 499,000 barrels for the week ending November 29, according to The American Petroleum Institute (API). Analysts had expected a draw of 1.30 million barrels.
For the week prior, the API reported a 1.232-million barrel build in crude inventories.
So far this year, crude oil inventories have fallen by roughly 3.4 million barrels since the beginning of the year, according to API data.
Official data from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) will be released later on Wednesday.
Also, the market is getting relief from the recent decision of selected members of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, OPEC+ to delay the rollback of 2.2 million barrels per day of oil production cuts to April from January. Another 3.6 million barrels per day in output reductions across the OPEC+ group has been extended to the end of 2026 from the end of 2025.
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