Jumia Technologies AG

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for standing by. Welcome to Jumia's Results Conference Call for the first quarter of 2026. 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. With us today are Francis Dufay, CEO of Jumia, and Antoine Mellet-Miseret, Executive Vice President, Finance and Operations. We'll start by covering the safe harbor. We would like to remind you that our discussions today will include forward-looking statements. 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 factors section of our annual report on Form 20F as published on February 24, 2026, 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. 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 will hand the call over to Francis.

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining Jumia's first quarter 2026 earnings call. 2025 was the year we demonstrated the resilience and scalability of our model. And 26 is the year we plan to demonstrate our path to profitability. View 1.26 showed that our momentum towards profitability is continuing and in several important ways, accelerating. Over the past few years, Jumia has been building an e-commerce model designed specifically for Africa, adapted to the unique structural, supply, logistical and consumer realities of our markets. In 2025, We proved that this model delivers scale with improving economics, and Q126 confirmed that the flywheel is turning. This foundation drove our strong operating momentum in the first quarter. GMV grew 32% year-over-year, adjusted for perimeter effects. Growth was broad-based across our core markets, reflecting the continued strengthening of our market-state fundamentals and efficient execution. profitability metrics continued to move in the right direction. Adjusted EBITDA loss narrowed to $10.7 million from $15.7 million in Q1-25. The business absorbed higher volumes with increasing efficiency while maintaining a disciplined approach on costs. Excluding the one-time cost related to our Algeria exit in February 26, adjusted EBITDA loss would have been $9.7 million, reflecting an underlying improvement of 38% year-over-year in our core business. Based on the progress we made in 25 and the momentum continuing into Q1 26, we remain focused on achieving our target of adjusted EBITDA break-even and positive cash flow in the fourth quarter of 26 and delivering full-year profitability and positive cash flow in 27. I should also note that that we are monitoring the broader macro environment, including cost increases in memory chips and the ongoing geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, as well as their potential effects on global supply chains, shipping costs, and commodity prices. While we have observed limited impact on our business to date, we remain attentive to downstream risks, including potential pressure on smartphone component availability and transport costs. We believe the resilience of our model and diversity of our supplier base positions us well to navigate this uncertain environment. Notwithstanding these external matters, we reiterate our guidance for 2026. Let me walk you through the key highlights of the quarter. Usage trends remain strong across our platform. Adjusted for perimeter effects, physical goods orders grew 31% year-over-year, driven by expanding in-country geographic coverage, improved assortment, and sustain consumer demand. Our focus remains currently on physical goods, which accounted for nearly all orders in GMV this quarter. Digital transactions through the JumiaPay app now represent a residual share of our orders, as we continue to prioritize transactions with stronger economics. Relatedly, TPV and JumiaPayment gateway transactions have become less meaningful as indicators of our operating performance, And, effective as of the first quarter of 26, we will discontinue the quarterly disclosure of these KPIs. Adjusting for parameter effects, quarterly active customers increased 25% year-over-year, reflecting continued traction in both acquisition and retention. Repeat behavior continued to improve, with 47% of new customers from Q4 25 making a repeat purchase within 90 days, up from 45% in Q4 24. Demand was broad-based across electronics, home and living, fashion and beauty, and consistent across most countries, reflecting a similar quality of execution and inputs across our markets. Adjusted for perimeter effects, GMV grew 32% year-over-year in reported currency. Average order value for physical goods increased to $36 from $35 in Q1-25. Revenue totaled $50.6 billion, up 39% year-over-year, driven by higher usage and improved motivation. First-party sales represented 46% of total revenue, supported by continued strength from international partnerships, including Starlink in Nigeria and Kenya. Now turning to profitability. The progress made over the past three years continues to translate into measurable operating leverage. Cost improvements across general administrative, technology and fulfillment are structural. In addition, we renegotiated third-party logistics contracts in February and March and implemented increases in commissions and take-raise across most countries in mid-January 26. This reflects the scale of our platform and improved service levels delivered to sellers. Importantly, these commission increases had limited impact on growth, validating our strategy of progressive monetization increases on the back of greater volumes and better seller experience. We also drove meaningful growth in higher margin revenue streams with marketing and advertising revenue up 44% year-over-year and value-added services revenue nearly tripling, which both reflect improved platform monetization. These changes are consistent across markets and reflect stronger marketplace fundamentals. Fulfillment cost per order was $2.06 flat year-over-year on a reported basis. or down 10% year-over-year on a constant currency basis. This reflects productivity gains and economies of scale in fulfillment operations, increased call center automation and improved logistics partner rates. Most fulfillment operating expenses are incurred in local markets and denominated in local currencies. Technology and content expenses declined 8% year-over-year, reflecting ongoing headcount optimization, automation, platform simplification and the benefit of renegotiated seller agreements, including cloud infrastructure. As a result, adjusted EBITDA loss narrowed to $10.7 million from $15.7 million in Q125. Loss before income tax was $17.8 billion, an 8% increase year-over-year, or 21% decline on a constant currency basis, primarily reflecting non-cash foreign exchange losses. Quarterly cash burn increased to $15.3 million in Q126 compared to $4.7 million in Q425. The shift from the previous quarter is consistent with typical seasonal dynamics. This compares favorably to the $23.2 million decrease in liquidity in Q125, demonstrating improvement in our financial trajectory. Now turning to operational highlights and execution at the country level. Q126 demonstrated continued execution strength across our markets. Supply fundamentals remained solid, with improvements in both local and international sourcing. Growth was supported by strong performance across multiple categories, with fashion and beauty among the top contributors to items sold growth year over year, and with international items continuing to gain share. Efficient marketing deployment, including CRM, paid online, SEO channels, supported customer acquisition at Attractive Unit Economics. In the first quarter, we sold 4.9 million gross items internationally, up 87% year-over-year, adjusted for perimeter effects. This reflects the continued scaling of our Chinese seller base, as well as growing volume from our supply base from affordable fashion in Turkey. Operationally, we continued to extend our reach beyond major urban centres. Orders from upcountry regions accounted for 62% of total volumes, up from 58% in the prior year quarter, both adjusted for parameter effects. These regions are delivering strong growth while benefiting from a cost structure that scales efficiently with volume. In secondary cities, we are addressing clear customer pain points, including limited product availability and elevated prices from local traders. As a result, our value proposition continues to resonate strongly driving both adoption and repeat purchase. Now at the country level. Nigeria delivered a strong quarter. Physical goods GMV increased 42% year-over-year. Sustainable growth was driven by a broad range of categories, with home and living performing particularly strongly, alongside continued traction from upcountry expansion, where a large part of the addressable market remains untapped. We opened over 80 additional pickup stations during the quarter, further extending our delivery network. I should note that Nigeria experienced a significant increase in local fuel prices during March, which created headwinds in our 3PL cost negotiations. However, consumer demand remains sustained and strong. Kenya performed strongly, with physical goods GMV up just below 50% for over a year. Performance was driven by continued strong supply fundamentals and efficient marketing, despite similar headwinds to other countries in the phones category. Strong performance in home and living, driven by local suppliers, and in fashion, driven by international suppliers, more than offset the type of supply in phones. Kenya remains a relatively underpenetrated market for Jumia with vast opportunities upcountry, and we continue to invest in expanding our reach. Ivory Coast growth gradually moderated over the course of the quarter. Physical goods GMV was up 16% year-over-year. Growth was affected by two converging headwinds. First, supply disruption in appliances, which is market-specific, and in smartphones, which is a global dynamic. Both felt directly in a market where we have our highest penetration levels. And second, a sharp decline in regulated cocoa farmgate prices, down nearly 60% effective in March 26, which reduced the purchasing power of a large share of the upcountry population. Cocoa is the primary exporter of Ivory Coast, and approximately 6 million people depend on it for their livelihoods. This is a meaningful demand-side headwind that we expect to persist in the second quarter. However, we remain confident in the fundamentals of our business in Ivory Coast, where we hold a very strong position with a trusted brand and healthy monetization. Egypt's performance this quarter confirmed sustained recovery. Physical goods GMV grew 3% year-over-year, excluding corporate sales, which were still material in Q125 but have since been deprioritized. Physical goods GMV grew 56% year-over-year, confirming genuine market-level recovery. Very strong dynamics on the supply side of our marketplace are driving top-line acceleration, supported by improved assortment and settlement engagements. Our buy-now-pay-later offering continued to gain traction, with strong penetration in high-value categories. Egypt experienced a fuel price increase in March as well, which we are monitoring. However, core marketplace dynamics remain positive. We are also expanding our delivery network through pickup stations in more remote regions, which are poorly served by physical retail. Ghana delivered an exceptional first quarter, with physical goods GMV increasing 142%, driven by a country expansion, a scaling of local marketplace, and strong supply from international sellers. Ghana was largely unaffected by the disruption in the electronics segment. Our current focus is to continue building logistics capacity to sustain this rapid expansion with stronger customer experience and cost efficiency. Our other market portfolio also performed well, collectively delivering 10% physical goods GMV growth. Uganda experienced a nearly one-week Internet blackout during the quarter, temporarily impacting volumes, though the market still delivered growth for the period. In February 26, we completed our exit from Algeria, which represented approximately 2% of GMV in 2025. The wind-down resulted in total one-time exit costs of approximately $1 million, reflecting employee termination benefits and asset impairments. which were all recognized in our Q1 26 results. Over the medium to long term, this decision simplifies our footprint and improves operational focus, allowing us to allocate resources more efficiently towards markets with stronger growth and profitability profiles. We have not seen significant changes in our competitive environment in Q1 26. The softening of competitive intensity trends observed in the second half of 25 have continued with competitive intensity remaining subdued across our core markets. The recent disruption of air freight going through the Middle East is expected to create headwinds for non-resident platforms that rely on direct international shipping, contributing to a more level playing field for locally embedded operators like Junia. Most of our supply comes via sea freight, which was not impacted. We are also seeing increased regulatory scrutiny on cross-border platforms across several of our markets, further reinforcing this dynamic. We are navigating an international environment that is evolving quickly, with two main developments having the potential to impact our business. First, the memory chips and CPU price increases. We saw a delayed impact on entry-level phone prices and the availability of components for products like smart TVs taking place gradually over Q1. Phone prices increased by approximately 20% between late 25 and early April. We do not see this as a fundamental long-term shift, but it is impacting our business in the near term as supply chains reorganize. Distributors remain temporarily reluctant to release fresh inventory, while prices may increase further, and although cheaper inventory in some markets is still temporarily competing with our more recent supply. We are mitigating this by diversifying our supply base for smartphones and scaling our marketplace across both local and international sellers. Second, the war in the Middle East. The most immediate impact was the disruption of air freight through the UAE from Asia, which affected some smartphone distributors. Supply routes have since reorganized through other hubs. There are also delayed effects. Disruption to helium supplies creates additional uncertainty for chips production, and the majority of our markets have seen fuel prices begin to rise from March, which is expected to weigh on local logistics costs. particularly for middle-mile trucking operations run by our local partners. The impact on our Q1 P&L has been limited, with extra costs primarily in Nigeria. If high fuel prices persist, we should expect greater pressure in Q2, potentially partially offsetting the savings from our 3PL rates in the renegotiations. That said, our strategy of building pickup stations throughout countries is very helpful in this regard, as it means that we have already de-correlated a significant share of our delivery costs from fuel prices. In particular, 74% of our ship packages are fulfilled through pickup stations rather than door delivery in Q126, up from 67% in Q125, both adjusted for perimeter effects. We have also taken steps to electrify our last mile delivery fleet in Uganda and we are looking to replicate this successful pilot in more countries as we continue to reduce our dependence on fuel in logistics operations. 25 was the year when we showed that our business model is on the right track. It delivered growth and improved economics at the same time. 26 is the year when we intend to show that this model will take us to profitability. In this regard, Q1 is a strong data point that is consistent with Q425 trends. We see sustained growth despite an uncertain environment, continued operational leverage, and improved unit economics across the whole P&L, resulting in significantly reduced losses. We are committed to delivering the trajectory to breakeven by chasing more scale in a disciplined way, improving operational execution, and further streamlining our fixed cost base. While we are currently navigating an uncertain international environment, we believe that our business fundamentals, which were rebuilt from 22 to 25, mostly in much tougher times than this, are strong. We do expect some temporary disruption, but it does not change our mid-term profitability targets or our belief in junior long-term opportunity for growth. With that, I will now turn the call over to Antoine to walk you through the financials in more details.

Thank you, Francis, and thank you, everyone, for joining us today. I will now walk you through our financial performance for the first quarter. Starting with revenue, first quarter revenue reached $50.6 million up 39% year-over-year, or up 28% on a constant currency basis. Results reflect sustained customer demand and consistent execution across our platform. Marketplace revenue for the first quarter totaled 27 million USD, up 50% year-over-year, and up 35% on a constant currency basis. Third-party sales were 23.2 million USD, up 45% year-over-year, or up 31% on a constant currency basis. Growth was driven by solid performance in the marketplace, including healthy usage trends and higher effective take rates. Marketing and advertising revenue was 2.2 million USD, up 44% year-over-year, or up 31% on a constant currency basis. The improvement was driven by continued growth in sponsor products, supported by strong tools rolled out in mid-2025 that increased seller adoption, improved return on ad spend, and drove greater density and competition on our marketplace. With advertising revenue currently representing roughly 1% of GMB, as we are improving this figure, we see meaningful opportunity to scale this profitable source of revenue. Value-added services revenue was 1.7 million USD in the first quarter of 2026, compared to 0.6 million USD in the first quarter of 2025, driven by strong growth in our housing field, reflecting higher volumes flowing through our storage infrastructure, largely driven by demand from Chinese sellers and improved monetization of our warehousing services. Revenue from first-party sales was 23.1 million USD, up 30% year-over-year, or up 21% year-over-year on a constant currency basis, driven by strong momentum with key international brands. Turning to gross profit. First quarter gross profit were 29.4 million USD, up 48% year-on-year, or up 33% year-on-year on a constant currency basis. Gross profit margin as a percentage of GMB increased by 160 bits to 13.9% for the quarter, compared to 12.3% in the first quarter of 2025, reflecting continued progress in marketplace monetization. As we entered 2026, we implemented broad-based increases in commissions across most countries, leveraging the scale and improved service levels we have built with sellers. Q1 2026 was already tracking the expected impact, with gross profit margin expanding by 160 dips year-over-year, marketing and advertising revenue up 44%, and value-added services revenue nearly tripling. We expect these trends to continue supporting gross profit growth going forward. Now moving to expenses. We continue to see the benefits of our cost initiatives in the first quarter, with additional improvements expected to materialize over the coming quarters. Fulfillment expense for the first quarter was 12.2 million USD, up 29% year-over-year and up 17% in constant currency, primarily due to higher volumes. Fulfillment expense per order, excluding JumiaPay app orders, was $2.06 flat year-over-year, or down 10% year-over-year on a constant currency basis, reflecting productivity gains and economies of scale in fulfillment operations, increased call center automation, and improved logistics partner rates. Sales and advertising expense was 5.1 million USD for the first quarter, up 64% year-over-year, and up 54% in constant currency. We view this increase positively. We are scaling high ROI marketing investment on the back of stronger product fundamentals, improved quality of service, and higher platform reliability driving not only top-line growth but also better unit economics as higher volumes and improved customer retention contribute directly to operate leverage and margin improvement. Technology and content expense was 8.9 million for the first quarter, representing a decrease of 8% year-over-year or a decrease of 10% on a constant currency basis, driven primarily by continued headcount optimization and ongoing renegotiated seller contracts. First quarter G&E expense, excluding share-based compensation expense, was 16.8 million at 4% year-over-year and down 3% on the constant currency basis. The year-over-year increase was primarily driven by staff costs with general and administrative expense, excluding share-based compensation expense, which increased by 16% to 9.1 million USD, driven by approximately 0.8 million USD in one-time termination benefits related to our Algeria exit and the appreciation of local currencies against the US dollar, compared to the first quarter of 2025. We continue to streamline the organization. The total headcount has declined by 8% since December 31st, 2024, with just over 1,900 80 employees on payroll as of March 31, 2026. At the end of the fourth quarter of 2022, when current leadership was installed, we had 4,318 employees. We are actively working to further reduce headcount, continue process automation, and leverage AI tools. We expect to reduce our headcount by at least an additional 200 full-time employees over the next two quarters. More broadly, AI and automation are becoming meaningful drivers of efficiency across Lumia. We are deploying AI tools across corporations, finance processes, headcount efficiency programs, and our technology organization, encompassing cybersecurity monitoring and software development, which supported the net FT reduction and road efficiency gains throughout Lumia. Importantly, AI is also helping us solve problems on the ground. In logistics, it improves routing and reduces failed deliveries. In customer services, it enables faster resolution with fewer agents. And in seller's operation, it streamlines onboarding and compliance monitoring. This is not only reducing cost, but also improving the quality of service we deliver to customers and sellers, reflecting our ongoing commitment to structural cost efficiency. Turning to profitability, adjusted EBITDA for the quarter was negative 10.7 million or negative 10.9 million on a constant currency basis. Loss before income tax was 17.8 million, an 8% increase year-over-year or 21% decline on a constant currency basis, primarily reflecting non-cash foreign exchange losses. Turning to the balance sheet and cash flow, We ended the first quarter with a liquidity position of 62.6 million, including 61.5 million USD in cash and cash equivalent, and 1.1 million in term deposits and other financial assets. Our liquidity position decreased by 15.3 million in Q1 2026, compared to a decrease of 23.2 million in Q1 2025. Net cash flow used in operating activity was 12.5 million in the quarter, including a broadly neutral working capital contribution. The improvement reflects the continued strengthening of our marketplace firewall, driven by higher volumes, improved payment flows, and stronger bargaining power with large third-party accounts. In summary, we delivered another quarter of solid execution and strong top-line growth, while continuing to improve cost-efficiency. progress on structural cost reductions, automation and cash discipline-raising forces, our confidence in meeting our near-term objectives, and moving closer to profitability. Looking ahead, we remain focused on operational discipline, margin expansion, and prudent and informed capital allocation, possession in junior for sustainable growth and long-term value creation. I now turn the call back over to Francis for a discussion of our outdated guidance.