Jumia Technologies Q4 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

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Provided by Quartr
February 20, 2025

There are 6 speakers on the call.

Operator

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for standing by. Welcome to Jumia's Results Conference Call for the Fourth Quarter of twenty twenty four. At this time, all participants are in a listen only mode. And after the management's prepared remarks, there will be a question and answer session.

Operator

I would now like to turn the call over to Ignatius Njoku, Head of Investor Relations for Jumia. Please go ahead.

Speaker 1

Thank you. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us today for our fourth quarter twenty twenty four earnings call. With us today are Francis Toufe, CEO of Jumia and Antoine Melet Mezzeret, Executive Vice President, Finance and Operations. We would like to remind you that our discussions today will include forward looking statements.

Speaker 1

Actual results may differ materially from those indicated in the forward looking statements. Moreover, these forward looking statements may speak only to our expectations as of today. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise these statements. For a discussion of some of the risk factors that could cause actual results to differ from the forward looking statements expressed today, please see the Risk Factor section of our Annual Report on Form 20 F as published on 03/28/2024, as well as our other submissions with the SEC. In addition, on this call, we will refer to certain financial measures not reported in accordance with IFRS.

Speaker 1

You can find reconciliations of these non IFRS financial measures to the corresponding IFRS financial measures in our earnings press release, which is available on our Investor Relations website. With that, I'll hand it over to Francis.

Speaker 2

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. I will start the call with an update on the business and greater detail on our growth strategy for 2025 and beyond. I will then turn things over to Antoine for a deeper look at our financials. Overall, 2024 was a year marked by continued progress against our strategic growth initiatives. Our focus was on building the business and positioning Jumia for long term success.

Speaker 2

Throughout the year, we extended our reach beyond main urban centers into upcountry markets, expanded our product assortments, improved our cost structure and enhanced our logistics capabilities, driving higher customer engagement and improved unit economics. Towards the end of the year, we streamlined operations by consolidating our warehouse footprint and exiting our non strategic markets, South Africa and Tunisia. Following these exits, we continue to operate in nine countries. These strategic actions have been crucial to our success. Excluding South Africa and Tunisia, our core marketplace business accelerated in Q4 twenty twenty four.

Speaker 2

Physical goods order grew by 18% year over year with even strong growth in December, highlighting the increased demand on our platform. Quarterly active customers increased by 8%, underscoring the strength of our platform and the value we deliver. Notably, these results were achieved while reducing marketing spend from $6,200,000 in Q4 twenty twenty three to $4,800,000 in Q4 twenty twenty four, demonstrating our commitment to impactful cost efficient marketing strategies. A key growth driver in Q4 twenty twenty four was our Black Friday sales event, our largest of the year held across nine countries in November. The strong performance of the event demonstrates our ability to provide the right product at the right price for Africa's value conscious customers.

Speaker 2

In Q4 twenty twenty four, demand was particularly robust in priority categories such as electronics and phones. In this quarter, our expanding international sourcing played a significant role in the success with 3,400,000 gross items sourced from international sellers mostly from China accounting for 31% of gross items up 61% year over year. We also strengthened our Black Friday partnerships with global brands like L'Oreal and Xiaomi, both top sponsors of the events. Operationally, we continue to improve our efficiency in the customer experience. Our net promoter score rose to 63 in Q4 twenty twenty four, a 17 points year over year increase, while our ninety day repurchase rate increased three seventy five basis points year over year, reflecting stronger customer loyalty and satisfaction.

Speaker 2

Notably, 40% of our new customers who placed an order in Q3 twenty twenty four made another purchase within ninety days, up from 37% in Q3 twenty twenty three. Despite strong momentum and robust customer demand, macro headwinds continue to affect our performance. GMV declined 12% in USD, but grew 13% year over year in constant currency, reflecting the impact of early twenty twenty four currency devaluations and the reduction in corporate sales. As a reminder, beginning in Q4 twenty twenty three, Jumia benefited from strong corporate sales to local and regional distributors, particularly in Egypt. However, this trend reversed in Q4 twenty twenty four, highlighting the cyclical nature of demand.

Speaker 2

Average order value for physical goods orders decreased from $45.5 in Q4 twenty twenty three to $35.5 in Q4 twenty twenty four. This decline was driven by currency devaluations and lower corporate sales. We view this mix shift as an opportunity to improve our relevance in selected categories, improve order level profitability and support healthy usage growth. Revenue in the quarter was $45,700,000 down 23% year over year in USD and down 2% in constant currency, driven by the same factors that I've just mentioned. Adjusted EBITDA was negative $13,700,000 compared to negative $600,000 in Q4 twenty twenty three.

Speaker 2

Loss before income tax from continuing operations was $17,600,000 in the quarter compared to $17,100,000 in Q4 twenty twenty three. Antoine will elaborate shortly on Q4 twenty twenty four loss before income tax from continuing operations. Cash burn for the quarter was $30,600,000 compared to $26,800,000 in Q4 twenty twenty three. This was primarily driven by the following: onetime termination costs of $1,300,000 related to the closure of our operations in South Africa and Tunisia working capital increase of $13,500,000 aligned with our strategy to expand assortment and secure more goods at competitive prices While we significantly increased our working capital in the second half of twenty twenty four, we expect smaller adjustments in the future. Capital expenditure of $1,800,000 primarily invested in logistics equipment, or fulfillment centers opened in 2024 and the payment of $2,100,000 of equity transaction costs from the August at the market offering.

Speaker 2

Looking ahead, we are confident in our path forward. Ploomia is a much stronger and much more efficient business than it was just two years ago. We have introduced greater operational discipline, started a clear usage growth trajectory and established a solid foundation to build upon in the coming years. In 2025, we will continue building on this foundation with a focus on two key areas: driving top line growth and achieving broader operational efficiencies to enhance profitability and strengthen cash flow. We see multiple levers to drive growth.

Speaker 2

First, upcountry expansion. We are doubling down on upcountry expansion to unlock new markets and address underserved regions without increasing fixed costs. Demand outside main urban centers remained strong with upcountry orders accounting for 56% of Q4 twenty twenty four and fifty four % of full year 2024 orders, up from 4948% in Q4 twenty twenty three and full year 2023, respectively. Leveraging our differentiated logistics network and deep partnerships with third party providers, we are expanding pickup stations outside main urban centers. We believe this expansion will drive lower fulfillment costs while strengthening customer trust and engagements.

Speaker 2

Our extensive 3PL network represents a competitive moat of our other e commerce players lacking the necessary infrastructure for delivery beyond major cities. Second, product assortment expansion. We plan to expand our product assortment at affordable prices by sourcing directly from international sellers. This approach allows us to procure high demand products directly from key manufacturing countries like China and Turkey. China remains a strong sourcing hub and we are strengthening our teams and deepening supplier relationships.

Speaker 2

Our progress in international sourcing is evident in our twenty twenty four full year performance with 9,500,000 gross items sourced from international sellers mostly from China, accounting from 28% of gross items, up 38% year over year. Outside China, while diversifying our sourcing network by onboarding new sellers and adding products from other countries including Egypt and Turkey. In late twenty twenty four, we partnered with Hepseborrada, a leading Turkish e commerce platform to introduce affordable Turkish brands to Jumia. Building on this momentum, we will continue scaling our international sourcing initiative to drive rapid expansion. Third, customer and seller experience.

Speaker 2

In 2024, we updated our seller platform to streamline and simplify the seller experience. Beyond growth, driving greater efficiency is critical to achieving breakeven. We remain focused on marketing efficiency by prioritizing low cost of free channels such as our revamped CRM and localized offline channels like paper catalogs, reminiscent of the iconic sales catalog in The U. S. These offline strategies, including bottom of the pyramid initiatives, drive strong engagements and credibility.

Speaker 2

We are also increasing our Jforce presence with the number of active Jforce agents reaching 29,000 in Q4 twenty twenty four, representing a 39% increase year over year. Looking ahead to 2025, we plan to further expand our J Force presence, particularly in regions outside the main urban centers. Then in logistics, we aim to increase productivity and benefit from our more streamlined warehouse footprint established in 2024. We're also increasing productivity with automation in our call centers, where chatbots handle more basic customer inquiries. We believe our tech platforms can scale significantly without material additional costs.

Speaker 2

Overall, I'm energized by our progress on business fundamentals, now clearly visible in usage growth and efficiency metrics. We believe we have the right strategy and the right team in place to drive meaningful expansion across the business. By driving top line growth, improving operational efficiencies and maintaining disciplined expense management, we have a clear line of sight to achieve profitability. We are delivering positive gross profit after deducting all full shipment expenses. In 2024, it was $57,600,000 which is 8% of total GMV.

Speaker 2

Hence, our focus is on building scale, while further improving efficiency. The usage trends and GMV growth trajectory we delivered this quarter give us confidence that we're on the right path. To summarize, we're optimistic about Jumia's future as two years of committed efforts are now delivering results. I'd like to thank our employees for their hard work and dedication during this time. We are now well positioned for growth and acceleration and further progress towards profitability.

Speaker 2

I will now turn the call over to Antoine for review of our financials.

Speaker 3

Thank you, Francis, and thank you everyone for joining us today. Let's start with a review of our top line performance. Fourth quarter revenue was USD 45,700,000.0, down 23% year over year and down 2% on a constant currency basis for the quarter. The decline in revenue was primarily due to lower corporate sales in Egypt. As a reminder, Jumia experienced strong corporate sales in Egypt starting Q4 twenty twenty three, driven by high volume purchases from local and regional distributors.

Speaker 3

This trend reversed in Q4 twenty twenty four as corporate buyers scaled back purchases and in macroeconomic uncertainties and shifting procurement cycles. For the full year, revenue was USD 167,500,000.0, down 10% year over year, up 17% on a constant currency basis for the year. Marketplace revenue for the fourth quarter was USD 22,800,000.0, down 31% year over year and down 11% on a constant currency basis. For the full year, marketplace revenue was USD 89,400,000.0, down 9% year over year and up 21% in constant currency. Fourth quarter revenue from first party sales was USD 22,500,000.0, down 14%, but up 8% on a constant currency basis.

Speaker 3

For the full year, revenue from first party sales was EUR 76,500,000.0, down 11%, but up 14% on a constant currency basis. Turning now to gross profits. Fourth quarter gross profit was USD 23,900,000.0, down 36% year over year or 18% on a constant currency basis. For the full year, gross profit was USD 99,500,000.0, reflecting a 7% decline year over year, but up 23% on a constant currency basis. Gross profit margin was impacted by macroeconomic headwinds, including currency devaluation and reduction in corporate sales as discussed earlier.

Speaker 3

Gross profit margin as a percentage of GMV for the fourth quarter was 12% compared to 16% in Q4 twenty twenty three. For the full year, gross profit margin stood at 14% compared to 14% in 2023. Turning to expenses, we are pleased with the progress in reducing costs and remain committed to driving further operational efficiencies in 2025. Fulfillment expense for the quarter was $12,900,000 up 11% year over year and up 36% on a constant currency basis. For the full year, fulfillment expense was USD 41,900,000.0, a 4% decrease year over year, but a 20% increase on a constant currency basis, partly driven by external factors such as fuel prices denominated in USD.

Speaker 3

Fulfillment expense per order, excluding Juniper App orders, decreased to 2.24 down 4% or up 19% year over year on a constant currency basis. Sales and advertising expense was USD 4,800,000.0 for the quarter, down 24% year over year and up 2% in constant currency, driven by targeted online marketing spend as we focus on growing orders through supply expansion with minimal incremental marketing spend. For the full year, sales and advertising expense was EUR 17,300,000.0, down 19%, but up 13% on a constant currency basis. As a percentage of GMV, sales and advertising expense was 2%, a 36 basis points decrease from Q4 twenty twenty three. For the full year, sales and advertising expense as a percent of GMV was 2% compared to 3% in 2023.

Speaker 3

Technology and content expense was USD 10,000,000 for the fourth quarter, representing an increase of 1% and up 5% in constant currency. For the full year, technology and content expense was USD 37,500,000.0, down 10% year over year and down 7% year over year in constant currency. Fourth quarter G and A expense, excluding share based payment expense was USD 12,900,000.0, up 5% year over year and 9% on a constant currency basis. It's important to note that Q4 twenty twenty three G and A cost included a USD 9,000,000 of non recurring tax benefits and for Q4 twenty twenty four, a USD 8,200,000.0 tax benefit reversal. Staff cost component of G and A expense, excluding share based compensation expense increased to USD 10,000,000, primarily driven by termination costs associated with our exit from Tunisia and South Africa.

Speaker 3

For the full year, G and A expense, excluding share based compensation expense was USD 63,400,000.0, down 8% year over year and 5% on a constant currency basis. Self cost components of G and A expense, excluding share based compensation expense, decreased to USD 34,600,000.0, down 13% year over year. Turning to profitability. Adjusted EBITDA declined to a negative 13,700,000.0 or negative 12,200,000.0 on a constant currency basis for the quarter. For the full year, adjusted EBITDA was negative USD 51,300,000.0.

Speaker 3

While we use adjusted EBITDA as a supplemental measure of operational performance, we would like to reiterate that loss before income tax from continuing operations captures items that are not included in adjusted EBITDA. One of these items is net finance costs. Net finance costs include effects related to our treasury activities, notably the impact of cash repatriation. These effects are not captured in adjusted EBITDA. In Q4 twenty twenty three, despite adjusted EBITDA being essentially at breakeven level, Sumire's loss for the period was significantly affected by the financial costs incurred from treasury activities repatriating cash to our headquarters.

Speaker 3

These costs are helpful in understanding the overall financial health of the company. By focusing on loss before income tax from continuing operations, we include these financial expenses, which helps us get a comprehensive picture of Jumia's financial performance. In Q4 twenty twenty four, the lower corporate sales reduced the need for repatriation, thereby lowering financial costs. Adjusted EBITDA does not fully reflect this change as it does not account for these financial activities. Therefore, loss before income tax from continuing operations should be considered in order to gain a fuller view of Jumia's financial state, capturing both operational efficiency and the impact of the financial results, which we believe are important to understand the company's overall progress towards sustainable profitability.

Speaker 4

Loss before income tax from continuing operations for the fourth quarter was USD 17,600,000.0, a 3% increase year over year or 19% decline

Speaker 3

on a constant currency basis. The higher loss was primarily driven by the USD 13,200,000.0 decline in gross profit largely due to reduced corporate sales in Egypt, USD Zero Point Three Million decrease in operating expenses, a EUR 12,300,000.0 reduction in net finance costs during the quarter with both partially offsetting the impact on gross profit compared to Q4 twenty twenty three. Loss before income tax from continuing operations for the full year was USD 97,600,000.0, 1 percent down year over year and 8% decline on a constant currency basis. Turning to the balance sheet and cash flow. We ended 2024 with a solid liquidity position of USD133.9 million, including USD 55,400,000.0 in cash and cash equivalents and US78.6 million dollars in term deposits and other financial assets.

Speaker 3

This compares to term deposits and other financial assets of US85.1 million dollars in Q4 twenty twenty three and USD 78,800,000.0 in Q3 twenty twenty four. Jumia's liquidity position decreased by USD 13,600,000.0 in Q4 twenty twenty four compared to a decrease of USD 26,800,000.0 in Q4 twenty twenty three. In the fourth quarter, net cash flow used in operating activities was USD 26,500,000.0, driven by approximately US1.3 million dollars in market exit costs related to South Africa and Tunisia a working capital impact of US13.5 million dollars which was driven by prepayments to suppliers and payable cycles aimed at expanding the supplier base and overall product assortment. CapEx in Q4 twenty twenty four was USD 1,800,000.0, higher than Q4 twenty twenty three due to investment to equip the new warehouses where we recently started operations. FX for the full year totaled USD 3,700,000.0.

Speaker 3

We also paid the USD 2,100,000.0 equity transaction costs from the August ATM offering. For the full year, net cash flow used for operating activities was USD 57,200,000.0. In conclusion, despite the challenging macroeconomic environment, we delivered strong usage growth underscoring that our strategy is working. We remain focused on optimizing costs, while positioning the business for long term growth and profitability. Our ongoing efforts to improve operational efficiency will remain a key priority in 2025.

Speaker 3

I will now turn the call back over to Francis for guidance.

Speaker 2

Thanks, Antoine. Let me turn to our expectations for 2025. Our focus remains on driving healthy growth, improving operational efficiency and positioning Jumia for profitability. We are currently observing favorable trends in the first quarter, giving us confidence in establishing our full year 2025 guidance as follows. We anticipate physical goods orders to grow between 1520% year over year.

Speaker 2

This reflects the strong demand for physical goods items driven by our strategic initiatives outlined earlier. GMV is projected to be between $795,000,000 and $830,000,000 in 2025, a year over year increase of 1015% respectively, excluding foreign exchange impacts. We forecast loss before income tax to be in the range of negative $65,000,000 to negative $70,000,000 a year over year decrease of 3328% respectively. Thank you all for your attention. We are now ready to take questions.

Operator

Thank you. Thank you. We have a question from Brad Erickson with RBC Capital Markets. Your line is live.

Speaker 5

Hey guys, good morning. Thanks for taking the questions. To start, Francis, just right before this, you said you're observing certain trends in Q1. Can you maybe just give us a little bit more color on kind of what you're seeing right now?

Speaker 2

Hi, Brad. Yes, of course. So we're seeing in Q1 continued progress on orders growth and usage, which gives us confidence to issue the guidance of 15 to 20 points of growth year over year. We're also seeing continued kind of strong execution and discipline on the cost side, which gives us confidence to guide on the net loss based on the improved efficiency and cost management we continue to see in Q1.

Speaker 5

Got it. That's helpful. And then on order growth, obviously, you saw the nice acceleration with kind of the added inventory for the holiday. I guess, question is like, is there anything preventing you from bringing on, say, more selection? It kind of seems like you're in some ways you're almost supply constrained.

Speaker 5

So what would be preventing you from kind of bringing on more selection, leading to incremental demand? Or is that just as simple as that's what we're seeing in kind of your full year guidance?

Speaker 2

Yes. I mean, I think we've always been very clear that the challenge is more on the supply side than the demand side in our markets. We believe there's ample demand in Africa, but it's poorly supplied overall. And we I mean, we as Jumia can really help fix that gap and solve the problem. So most of our focus has been on increasing supply and improving value for money for our customers.

Speaker 2

I would say there's no magic fix for that. It's a lot of operational improvements and a long list of actions to get there. It's not like we can double assortment tomorrow morning. It's a long process. What we see at what's happening at the moment, we see that we have I mean, we're expanding again our customer base.

Speaker 2

We're growing our orders. I mean, because we have more supply, better value for money, better price points. But it's the result of couple of years of work focusing on that plan, they have a better value for money from onboarding new suppliers, local suppliers, bringing supply from overseas, improving the tools that we give to our vendors, so it's easier for them to list, improving vendor experience, improving operations for them. It's a very long list of actions. So there's no magic fix here, but it's a continued focus to keep on growing supply, keep on growing the vendor base, local and international.

Speaker 5

Got it. That's helpful. And then just on the kind of 1P versus 3P mix, you mentioned the kind of cyclical trends in Europe sorry, in Egypt that affected things. Can you kind of just elaborate on sort of why that was? How to think about that mix and kind of your opportunities to acquire that first party inventory and how that will kind of continue to evolve in terms of the mix between first party and third party?

Speaker 2

Yes. So I think two parts to my answer. First of all, we indeed see a decline in corporate sales, which are largely first party, particularly in Egypt. So we saw reduced bulk purchases from regional distributors in Egypt, scaled back amid some level of macroeconomic uncertainty. Purchase cycles have changed.

Speaker 2

So we're hitting kind of a low point when it comes to corporate sales at company level at this stage. We acknowledge the cyclical nature of demand here, but we keep on chasing this opportunity. And then when you look at our mix between 1P and 3P, I mean, we're very clear that we're pragmatic here. We're not aiming to increase 1P. We use 1P whenever it gets us better supply and better value for money for our customers.

Speaker 2

So we don't foresee massive changes in the mix of 1P, excluding for the impact of corporate sales.

Speaker 5

Perfect. And then maybe if you could just unpack the physical order growth from the overall order growth. What's kind of behind that mix shift? And what's the AOV effect as well from that mix shift? And just kind of how to think about that going forward mix wise?

Speaker 2

Yes. Of course. So when we look at physical orders growth, it's definitely driven by all the levers we've been pulling over the past two years. So upcountry expansion, as we explained, better assortment and better value for money in pretty much all the countries, better customer experience as we've explained today and more efficient and more relevant marketing tactics in I mean, relevant to the countries where we operate. That translates into growth by category and it drives our mix also in a certain way.

Speaker 2

So we explained, I think, in one of the previous quarters that we had a mix shift towards more fashion that decreased the AOV at that time. We explained this quarter that we saw quite some success in categories such as electronics that have slightly higher AOV. The way we look at it is the following. The AOV is just a consequence of the mix. We want to be the best I mean, deliver the best value for money in each of our priority categories, fashion, beauty, smartphones, electronics and home and living.

Speaker 2

And by delivering the best value for money in each category, while we grow the best business in each country. This leads to different I mean to mix shifts and different mix of categories at country level, but we don't see it as a problem. We don't see a lower AOV as a problem because we're very, very focused on unit economics at order level. So we make sure that we maintain the right economics even if the AOV is lower, it depends on the categories. To give you a quick example, for example, for electronic accessories, the AOV would be lower than for appliances, but our take rate, the commissions we'll be making would be obviously significantly higher.

Speaker 2

So all in all, we make sure that we are profitable at order level after fulfillment costs, whatever the category and whatsoever the impact of the mix. And with that, we see the mix shift as an opportunity because it actually enables us to penetrate to increase penetration in specific categories and in our markets. It enables us to feed I mean to fuel our growth in active customers, our growth in orders this quarter. It's because we're managing to penetrate better specific categories that may have a lower AOV, but it's not a problem for our business.

Speaker 5

Yes. Understood. That's great. And then when you talk about consolidating what you've been doing in terms of consolidating your warehouse footprint and some markets, can you help us just maybe at like a market level, like what does that do efficiency wise from like a service level perspective and then obviously cost perspective? Anything you can share there would be helpful.

Speaker 2

Of course. So we had inherited early twenty twenty three, a logistics setup with massive inefficiencies. For example, in countries like Egypt or Nigeria, we had three warehouses or more in the same city. So smaller locations that required a lot of moves in between and really prevented us from getting greater efficiencies and economies of scale. So what happened in 2024 is that we have consolidated in most of our countries, we have consolidated several small warehouses of fulfillment centers into one big one.

Speaker 2

That's actually able to store more products and that enables us to have a much better control and efficiency, that productivity, security and going forward deliver much better efficiencies when you look at full shipment costs. So all those changes have been done mostly in the second half of twenty twenty four, which took us some time, took us some focus and took us some money. And that's why you also see limited improvements at the end of twenty twenty four in terms of fulfillment efficiency, so free shipment cost per order. But it gives us confidence when it comes to achieving a lot more savings on free shipment in 2025 now that the hard work, the structural work has been done.

Speaker 5

Got it. That's great. I have a maybe I have a few more here. Thanks for putting up with me. Maybe one for this one.

Speaker 5

Where are we from a kind of a fixed cost basis as we start out '25? You made a lot of reductions obviously over the past year or two. Just where are we kind of in terms of the fixed cost base here going forward?

Speaker 4

Hi. Thank you. As you saw that over 2024, we've been able to reduce drastically the cost, I mean, over the last two years. Where we are now is for sure, we are not going to divide by two the level of our staff nor the level of our tech cost. But what we believe is two things.

Speaker 4

First, we can get another 20% efficiency and that's what we are doing as we speak, so 20% of cost roughly. And the second thing is that with this cost structure, we believe we are able to operate to process between two and three times the volumes we have now. So it's a mix of cost reduction and increased efficiency.

Speaker 5

Got it. And then maybe to expand on that just a little bit, that's really helpful on the kind of volume from there. I think you've talked about this in the past of just kind of like some sort of magnitude of order volumes from current levels, what it would be necessary to achieve profitability. Can you just update kind of relative to your comments a minute ago?

Speaker 4

Yes. So I mean, if you look at our gross margin after full Finland cost, you'll see that we are in a range between 68% depending on the quarter and the volumes. And so what we believe with the fixed cost, which is fixed, sorry, is that we would require the volumes, all things being equal, to between double and triple to get to profitability.

Speaker 5

Got it. Okay, that's great. And then last one. Sorry, go ahead.

Speaker 4

I'd like to take, in Haidak, an example of something which is a big bucket of cost in our P and L, it's hosting. For the hosting is a significant cost, and we have inherited quite expensive setup from the past. Not only we've been able to reduce the costs of this contract, but the way we have set up our platform, our software now, result in a less consuming operations. So what would take ten, one year ago, consumes today five. So it's a double effect of better negotiations for the contract and better utilization of our infrastructure, which results in us believing that we could do much more volumes and not paying anything more to the hosting provider that we are using.

Speaker 5

Got it. And then last one for me. You mentioned the balance sheet obviously feeling better now given the stronger cash position. Just given kind of your inventory strategy and thinking about your volume growth guidance this year, do you feel like you are kind of where you need to be as we look forward into the year and into the holiday? I know I'm looking a little far ahead at this point, but how are you feeling from that perspective?

Speaker 4

Maybe I'll take the first part of the question and Francis will take the second one. When you look at the cash flow this year, you can see in this quarter, sorry, you can see that the impact of working cap was significant. And this illustrates what we said we would do when we raised cash in August. We were not going to increase the marketing expense, but we stick to the strategy, which consists in offering better supply. Offering better supply is buying more products and making sure in prepayments or inventory, making sure that we can be favored by the suppliers the vendors we are working with and payment terms is very important in Africa to get there.

Speaker 4

So we have increased the level of our working cap. And as Francis mentioned, we believe that we'll have only adjustment in the future, but that we are not going to increase it as we did in Q4.

Speaker 2

Yes. Adding on that, through your lines, Antoine, we explained that in Q4, we increased working capital by 13,500,000 which is significant and is in line with our strategy and what we said after the ATM. So we are going we were going to push supply and invest in supply. We believe it's a better location of our money than handing it over to I mean I think excess marketing budget, I would say. Going forward, we expect this impact quarter over quarter to really moderate.

Speaker 2

I mean, we're not going to increase working capital by such magnitude in the next quarters, definitely. And it puts us, I believe, in the right place. It really helps us to fuel growth, customer acquisition and orders growth. It puts us in the right place, so we can attract more vendors, get better value for money and better selection for customers.

Speaker 5

Got it. That's all for me. I appreciate it.

Speaker 2

Thank you, Beth.

Operator

Thank you. This does conclude the end of today's question and answer session. So I will hand it back to Mr. Dufay for any closing comments.

Speaker 2

No further comment. Thank you all for your attention and looking forward to catching up next quarter.

Operator

Thank you. This does conclude today's conference and you may disconnect your lines at this time and we thank you for your participation.

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Earnings Conference Call
Jumia Technologies Q4 2024
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