Jumia Technologies AG reported a pretax loss of $97.56 million for the 2024 financial year, a slight 1% improvement from the previous year, as revenue declined, according to an audited financial statement released today.
Despite ongoing cost-saving initiatives and efforts to boost revenue-generating activities, the company's losses remained relatively stable. Looking ahead, Jumia expects further improvement in 2025. “We forecast loss before income tax to be in the range of negative $65 million to negative $70 million, a year-over-year decrease of 33% and 28%, respectively,” Jumia stated in its 2025 outlook.
Revenue for 2024 came in at $167.49 million, marking a 10% decline from $186.40 million in 2023. Cost of revenue fell 14.3% to $67.96 million from $79.30 million in the prior year, leading to a 7% drop in gross profit, which stood at $99.53 million compared to $107.10 million in 2023.
Stringent cost management helped Jumia reduce its operating loss to $66 million from $73.3 million in the previous year. Loss before income tax from continuing operations remained relatively flat at $97.6 million versus $98.6 million in 2023.
A rise in finance costs kept losses from continuing operations nearly unchanged year-over-year. The company’s Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) totaled $720.6 million, down 4% from the previous year. However, Jumia expects GMV to grow between 10% and 15% in 2025, reaching $795 million to $830 million, excluding foreign exchange impacts.
Jumia’s adjusted EBITDA loss narrowed by 12% to $51.3 million from $58.2 million in 2023. The company's liquidity position improved, with cash reserves reaching $133.9 million, up $13.4 million from 2023, bolstered by net proceeds from the August 2024 At-the-Market (ATM) offering. In contrast, 2023 saw a liquidity decline of $106.9 million.
Net cash used in operating activities decreased to $57.2 million from $73.0 million in 2023. Marketplace revenue, which includes third-party sales, marketing, advertising, and value-added services, fell 31% to $22.8 million year-over-year, or 11% on an adjusted basis. The decline was primarily attributed to currency devaluations and lower commissions from corporate third-party sales in Egypt, which began contributing to revenue in the fourth quarter of 2023.
The CEO of Jumia, Francis Dufay highlighted key achievements and optimism for the future. “I am proud of what we have accomplished in 2024. We saw robust growth in secondary cities, expanded our supply from international sellers, and further improved marketing efficiency.
“In the fourth quarter, excluding South Africa and Tunisia, we achieved strong acceleration in our key usage metrics, with Physical Goods Orders and Quarterly Active Customers increasing by 18% and 8% year-over-year, respectively, without an increase in marketing costs.
“We closed the year on a high note with strong Black Friday sales, underscoring that our strategy is working. As we look ahead to 2025, I am optimistic about Jumia’s future.
“The business is stronger and more efficient than it was just two years ago, and I believe we have a good opportunity ahead of us. Our priorities for the year are to build on this momentum by driving top-line growth and improving operational efficiencies," he said.
“We plan to double down on expansion outside the main urban centers, expand our product assortment with competitive pricing, and strengthen relationships with international sellers.
“To improve our path to profitability, we will continue to enforce cost discipline and enhance operational and marketing efficiency. I am confident that we are well-positioned to deliver sustainable growth and achieve profitability,” the Jumia boss added.
Jumia also provided an optimistic forecast for 2025. “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 15% and 20% year-over-year,” the company stated.
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