Lesaka Technologies Inc (LSAK) 2024 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Lesaka Technologies webcast and conference call for the second quarter of fiscal 2024. The webcast is being recorded. (Event Instructions)

大家好，歡迎收看 Lesaka Technologies 2024 財年第二季網路廣播與電話會議。網路廣播正在錄製中。（活動須知）

(Event Instructions)

（活動須知）

The webcast link, Zoom conference call dial-in numbers as well as the press release and supplementary investor presentation are available on the Investor Relations website at ir.lesakatech.com. Additionally, Osaka filed its Form 10-Q after the US market close yesterday, which is also available on the Lesaka Investor Relations website.

網路廣播連結、Zoom 電話會議撥入號碼以及新聞稿和補充投資者簡報可在投資者關係網站 ir.lesakatech.com 上取得。此外，大阪在昨天美國市場收盤後提交了 10-Q 表格，該表格也可在 Lesaka 投資者關係網站上取得。

As a reminder, during this call, we will be making forward-looking statements, and I ask you to look at the cautionary language contained in our Form 10-Q regarding the risks and uncertainties associated with forward-looking statements. Also, as a domestic filer in the United States, we report results in US dollars, under US GAAP. However, it is important to note that the operational currency is South African rand and as such we analyze our performance in South African rand.

提醒一下，在本次電話會議期間，我們將做出前瞻性陳述，我請您查看我們的 10-Q 表中包含的有關與前瞻性陳述相關的風險和不確定性的警示性語言。此外，作為美國的國內申報者，我們根據美國公認會計準則以美元報告結果。然而，值得注意的是，操作貨幣是南非蘭特，因此我們以南非蘭特分析我們的表現。

In this presentation, we will discuss our results in South African rand, which is non-GAAP. This assists investors' understanding of the underlying trends of our business. As you know, the company's results can be significantly affected by the currency fluctuations between the US dollar and the South African rand.

在本次演示中，我們將討論以南非蘭特（非公認會計準則）計算的結果。這有助於投資者了解我們業務的基本趨勢。如您所知，該公司的業績可能會受到美元和南非蘭特之間貨幣波動的重大影響。

Taking a quick look at today’s agenda. Chris Meyer, Group CEO of Lesaka, will start with an overview of performance highlights for the second quarter of fiscal 2024 and a review of Lesaka’s progress against its key strategic objectives. Steve Heilbron, CEO, Connect Group and Head of Merchant Division, will provide an update on the merchant division, followed by Lincoln Mali, CEO of Lesaka Southern Africa, who will take us through the consumer division’s performance this quarter.

快速瀏覽一下今天的議程。Lesaka 集團執行長 Chris Meyer 將首先概述 2024 財年第二季的業績亮點，並根據其關鍵策略目標回顧 Lesaka 的進展。Connect Group 執行長兼商家部門負責人 Steve Heilbron 將介紹商家部門的最新情況，隨後 Lesaka Southern Africa 執行長 Lincoln Mali 將向我們介紹消費者部門本季的業績。

Naeem Kola, Group CFO, will present a detailed overview of our financial performance for the three months ended December 31, 2023, and update you on the Q3 and full-year guidance. Chris will then provide some closing remarks after which Lesaka’s incoming Executive Chairman, Ali Mazanderani will introduce himself and outline his thoughts on Lesaka’s mission and strategy. Thereafter, we will open the floor for any questions you may have.

集團財務長 Naeem Kola 將詳細概述我們截至 2023 年 12 月 31 日的三個月的財務業績，並向您介紹第三季度和全年指導的最新情況。然後，克里斯將發表一些結束語，隨後萊薩卡即將上任的執行主席阿里·馬贊德拉尼 (Ali Mazanderani) 將進行自我介紹，並概述他對萊薩卡使命和戰略的看法。此後，我們將歡迎您提出任何問題。

I’d like to now turn the call over to Chris.

我現在想把電話轉給克里斯。

Good morning. Good afternoon and welcome to our second-quarter 2024 earnings webcast and conference call.

早安.下午好，歡迎觀看我們的 2024 年第二季收益網路廣播和電話會議。

Today, we are pleased to present another quarter of continued growth and improvements in financial performance. The second quarter is characterized by higher volumes in our merchant and consumer divisions over the festive season, which has buoyed performance. Full marks to the whole team who have all worked so hard over this period to make sure our customer needs were met and as a result, have delivered an excellent set of results.

今天，我們很高興地宣布又一個季度的財務業績持續成長和改​​善。第二季度的特點是節日期間我們的商業和消費者部門的銷售增加，這提振了業績。整個團隊給予滿分，他們在這段時間付出了巨大的努力，以確保我們的客戶需求得到滿足，並最終交付了一系列出色的成果。

The economic environment in South Africa remains a challenge for our merchant and consumer customers. Encouragingly, inflation has come back into SARB's target range, but interest rates are still at 14-year highs. We will hopefully see a reduction in rates during 2024, which will alleviate some pressure on consumers.

南非的經濟環境對我們的商業和消費者客戶來說仍然是一個挑戰。令人鼓舞的是，通膨已回到南非央行的目標範圍，但利率仍處於 14 年來的高點。我們預計在 2024 年看到費率下降，這將減輕消費者的一些壓力。

Load shedding or power cuts, which disrupt our merchants trading improved marginally during the past two quarters. However, we cannot as yet count on this being a long-term improvement in power supply. Overall, we do not anticipate any major change in the economic outlook for South Africa but are optimistic that our business model will remain resilient and that we will continue to deliver on both growth and profitability.

過去兩個季度，擾亂我們商家交易的減載或斷電略有改善。然而，我們目前還不能指望這會帶來電力供應的長期改善。總體而言，我們預計南非的經濟前景不會發生任何重大變化，但樂觀地認為我們的業務模式將保持彈性，並且我們將繼續實現成長和獲利。

Naeem will talk to the numbers in more detail, but I would like to note one or two highlights in our group performance. As noted, Q2 is typically our biggest quarter of the year due to the festive season. And we were very pleased to see a number of volume records achieved in the month of December and for the quarter as a whole.

納伊姆將更詳細地討論這些數字，但我想指出我們小組表現中的一兩個亮點。如前所述，由於節日，第二季通常是我們一年中最大的季度。我們很高興看到 12 月和整個季度創下了多項銷售記錄。

In particular, Kazang VAS delivered over ZAR3 billion in VAS throughput for the first time ever in the month of December, contributing to a VAS throughput record of ZAR8 billion for the quarter. Kazang Pay card monthly throughput volumes exceeded ZAR1 billion for the first time in December, achieving ZAR1.2 billion for the month and exceeding ZAR3 billion for the quarter for the first time.

特別是，Kazang VAS 在 12 月首次交付超過 30 億南非蘭特的增值服務吞吐量，為本季創造了 80 億南非蘭特的增值服務吞吐量記錄。Kazang Pay 卡 12 月月吞吐量首次突破 10 億蘭特，當月達到 12 億蘭特，季度首次超過 30 億蘭特。

The fundamental transformation of the consumer division into a customer-oriented and sales-focused business is really starting to pay off, and we are seeing record number of account activations, loan disbursements, and insurance policy sales since the turnaround of this business began. We have made great strides towards our vision to build the leading fintech platform, providing cash and digital solutions to small merchants and consumers in Southern Africa.

消費者部門向以客戶為導向、以銷售為中心的業務的根本性轉變確實開始得到回報，自從該業務開始扭虧為盈以來，我們看到帳戶激活、貸款支付和保單銷售數量創歷史新高。我們在打造領先的金融科技平台、為南部非洲的小商家和消費者提供現金和數位解決方案的願景方面取得了長足的進步。

M&A will play a role in achieving this vision, and we continue to evaluate opportunities that will enhance our market positioning. This includes bolt-on acquisitions that will provide scale to our existing offering as well as those that will help us broaden our product offering to our clients. Our M&A focus is primarily in our merchant business. During the quarter, we made an interesting and exciting acquisition in the Kazang business, Touchsides, which Steve will talk to shortly and which will broaden our offering to merchants.

併購將在實現這一願景方面發揮作用，我們將繼續評估能夠增強我們市場定位的機會。這包括補強收購，這些收購將為我們現有的產品提供規模，以及幫助我們擴大向客戶提供的產品範圍。我們的併購重點主要是我們的商業業務。在本季度，我們對 Kazang 業務 Touchsides 進行了一次有趣且令人興奮的收購，史蒂夫很快就會與該公司進行交談，這將擴大我們向商家提供的產品範圍。

From a balance sheet perspective, leverage ratios improved as we focus on reducing debt and growing group adjusted EBITDA. I'm pleased to report that we continued to see improvement in our net debt to EBITDA ratio, which reduced to 2.7 times at quarter-end compared to 3.6 times a year ago and 3.1 times at the end of 2024. We have exited our shareholding in Finbond during the quarter through a specific repurchase program and received a net cash flow of ZAR64 million in December 2023, which was used to pay down debt.

從資產負債表的角度來看，隨著我們專注於減少債務和成長集團調整後的 EBITDA，槓桿比率有所改善。我很高興地報告，我們的淨負債與 EBITDA 比率持續改善，季度末比率降至 2.7 倍，而一年前為 3.6 倍，2024 年底為 3.1 倍。我們在本季透過特定回購計畫退出了 Finbond 的股權，並於 2023 年 12 月獲得了 6,400 萬南非蘭特的淨現金流，用於償還債務。

So turning to our revenue and group adjusted EBITDA for the quarter, we grew revenue at 13% year on year from ZAR2.4 billion to ZAR2.7 billion, which is at the midpoint of our guidance range. On a quarterly basis, revenue increased 6%, partly due to seasonality. Group adjusted EBITDA came in slightly ahead of our guidance at ZAR181 million for the quarter and strongly up compared to ZAR130 million in Q2 2023. That's a year-on-year increase of 38%. And on a quarterly basis, group adjusted EBITDA was up 11%.

因此，就本季的營收和集團調整後 EBITDA 而言，我們的營收年增 13%，從 24 億南非蘭特增至 27 億南非蘭特，處於我們指引範圍的中點。按季度計算，營收成長 6%，部分原因是季節性因素。集團調整後的 EBITDA 略高於我們本季 1.81 億南非蘭特的指導，並且比 2023 年第二季的 1.3 億南非蘭特強勁增長。較去年同期成長38%。按季度計算，集團調整後 EBITDA 成長了 11%。

In our first quarter, we achieved an important milestone in delivering a profit at an operating income level for the first time in five years. In quarter two, operating income has continued to grow, delivering ZAR43 million for the quarter.

在第一季度，我們實現了一個重要的里程碑，五年來首次實現營業收入水準的利潤。第二季度，營業收入持續成長，本季營業收入達 4,300 萬南非蘭特。

This quarter saw another important milestone being achieved. Net income before tax but excluding the non-operational and non-cash PPA charge turned positive for the first time since we initiated our restructure coming in at ZAR29 million, which we are extremely proud of. And this is further evidence that our strategy is paying off and that we are quickly moving towards our goals as we deliver continued improvement in our quarterly results.

本季實現了另一個重要的里程碑。自從我們啟動重組以來，稅前淨利（不包括非營運和非現金購電協議費用）首次轉為正數，達到 2,900 萬南非蘭特，我們對此感到非常自豪。這進一步證明我們的策略正在取得成效，隨著我們季度業績的持續改善，我們正在迅速朝著我們的目標邁進。

Overall in the context of the operating environment in South Africa, I am very pleased with our quarter two results and the momentum we are taking into Q3. These are exciting times for the Lesaka with our customers continuing to demonstrate the value they see in our products and services, which underpins the resilience of our business model.

總體而言，就南非的營運環境而言，我對我們第二季的業績以及我們進入第三季的勢頭感到非常滿意。對 Lesaka 來說，這是一個令人興奮的時刻，我們的客戶繼續展示他們在我們的產品和服務中看到的價值，這支撐了我們業務模式的彈性。

And with that, I would like to hand over to Steve to take you through the performance of our merchant division.

說到這裡，我想請史蒂夫帶您了解我們商業部門的表現。

Thank you, Chris. Quarter two is a very busy period for us and our merchants. This is driven by the increased spending during the festive season, which benefits our card acquiring, our supplier payments, and cash digitalization businesses in particular. Our portfolio covers products and services, increasing consumer convenience and purchases in our merchant stores as well as physical and fintech solutions to assist our merchants reduce cash risk and improve working capital and business efficiencies.

謝謝你，克里斯。第二季對我們和我們的商家來說是非常繁忙的時期。這是由節日期間支出增加所推動的，這對我們的卡收單、供應商付款和現金數位化業務尤其有利。我們的產品組合涵蓋產品和服務、提高消費者便利性和在我們的商家購物以及實體和金融科技解決方案，以幫助我們的商家降低現金風險並提高營運資金和業務效率。

This comprehensive solution helps us understand our merchants' businesses and cash flows better, which in turn helps us drive an improved value proposition solving for our merchants pain points as they grow and compete. This is the source of our competitive advantage.

這個全面的解決方案幫助我們更了解商家的業務和現金流，從而幫助我們推動改進的價值主張，解決商家在發展和競爭過程中遇到的痛點。這就是我們競爭優勢的來源。

Our merchants use our Kazang devices to sell a range of value-added services to their customers, including data, airtime, gaming, and electricity. They can also use these devices for our supplier payments platform, allowing them to make electronic payments to approximately 700 active suppliers, greatly reducing both their and their suppliers' cash risk. We ended the second quarter with over 79,000 devices deployed in the informal markets, representing a 23% year-on-year and a 3% quarter-on-quarter growth.

我們的商家使用我們的 Kazang 設備向客戶銷售一系列增值服務，包括數據、通話時間、遊戲和電力。他們還可以將這些設備用於我們的供應商支付平台，使他們能夠向大約 700 家活躍供應商進行電子支付，從而大大降低他們及其供應商的現金風險。截至第二季末，我們在非正規市場部署了超過 79,000 台設備，年增 23%，季增 3%。

As mentioned last quarter, we have seen a significant change in product mix with international money transfers reducing due to a change in the regulatory environment, which affected the industry and can be clearly seen in this graph. Fortunately, this is a lower margin product for us, limiting the impact on profitability.

正如上季度所提到的，我們看到產品結構發生了重大變化，由於監管環境的變化，國際匯款減少，這對該行業產生了影響，從這張圖中可以清楚地看出。幸運的是，這對我們來說是一種利潤率較低的產品，限制了對獲利能力的影響。

Excluding IMT's, we saw a 51% growth in throughput year on year and 16% quarter on quarter. Our supplier payments platform continued its excellent growth on the back of partnerships with major FMCG suppliers which we discussed at our last quarterly results briefing. We continue to bring new suppliers onto our platform.

不包括 IMT，吞吐量年增 51%，季增 16%。在與主要快速消費品供應商的合作夥伴關係的支持下，我們的供應商支付平台繼續保持出色的成長，我們在上一季業績簡報中討論了這一點。我們繼續將新的供應商引入我們的平台。

Our card acquiring business is operated through our Kazang Pay business in the informal markets and through Card Connect in the formal market. Our installed card-enabled devices increased to over 48,100, representing a 40% year-on-year growth and 3% quarter-on-quarter growth now of a significantly higher base. This growth is primarily driven by Kazang Pay and demonstrates the continued adoption of card payments in the informal economy.

我們的卡收單業務在非正規市場透過 Kazang Pay 業務運營，在正規市場透過 Card Connect 營運。我們已安裝的支援卡的設備增加到超過 48,100 台，同比增長 40%，環比增長 3%，基數顯著提高。這一成長主要由 Kazang Pay 推動，顯示卡片支付在非正規經濟中的持續採用。

From a throughput perspective, we saw a 31% increase year on year. Quarter two is seasonally our best quarter, and we saw our throughput growth 15% compared to quarter one of 2024. We are pleased with these numbers considering the economic challenges our merchants and their customers are facing.

從吞吐量的角度來看，我們看到年增了31%。第二季度是我們季節性表現最好的季度，與 2024 年第一季相比，我們的吞吐量成長了 15%。考慮到我們的商家及其客戶面臨的經濟挑戰，我們對這些數字感到滿意。

Our cash vaults or cash digitalization business is primarily exposed to the formal SME market, which has been impacted by load shedding, interest rates, and consumer pressures more so than the informal market. Year on year, we saw a 1% increase in throughput on our vaults with the number of cash vaults increasing by 4% to over 4,450. On a quarterly basis, we saw better growth in Q2 with throughput up 8%, primarily due to seasonality.

我們的現金金庫或現金數位化業務主要面向正規中小企業市場，與非正規市場相比，正規中小企業市場受到減負荷、利率和消費者壓力的影響更大。與去年同期相比，我們的金庫吞吐量增加了 1%，現金金庫的數量增加了 4%，達到 4,450 多個。按季度來看，我們看到第二季的成長更好，吞吐量成長了 8%，這主要是由於季節性因素。

We had a more than 30% year-on-year growth in Kazan Vaults. This is off a low base as we extend our offering into the informal market where we believe we can make a real difference in our informal merchants operations as we build Kazang merchant communities, enhance risk management, and facilitate immediate cash availability for working capital.

喀山金庫的年增率超過 30%。這是一個較低的基礎，因為我們將我們的產品擴展到非正規市場，我們相信，當我們建立喀山商人社區、加強風險管理並促進流動資金的即時現金可用性時，我們可以在我們的非正規商人運作中發揮真正的作用。

Our credit business has been negatively impacted by high interest rates and the challenging economic environment. There is demand for this credit product from our merchants. However, the deteriorating performance and financial strength of many of our merchants means that they do not meet our credit criteria, resulting in fewer and smaller extensions.

我們的信貸業務受到高利率和充滿挑戰的經濟環境的負面影響。我們的商家對這種信貸產品有需求。然而，我們許多商家的業績和財務實力不斷惡化，意味著他們不符合我們的信用標準，導致延期數量越來越少。

While strict application of our credit criteria has led to negative growth, it has protected and maintain the quality of our book through the cycle. We are cautiously optimistic that we may have reached the bottom of the cycle, and we anticipate a more favorable operating and trading environment for our merchants, which may allow for a resumption in credit growth later in the year.

雖然嚴格應用我們的信用標準導致了負成長，但它在整個週期中保護並維持了我們書籍的品質。我們謹慎樂觀地認為，我們可能已經到達週期的底部，我們預計將為我們的商家提供更有利的營運和交易環境，這可能會在今年稍後恢復信貸成長。

In February, we announced the acquisition of Touchsides from Heineken, which we anticipate closing in March 2024. Touchsides is a leading data analytics and insights merchant service business and is highly complementary to Kazang. It has a client base of over 10,000 active points-of-sale terminals across South Africa's informal licensed taverns and processes more than 1.5 million transactions per day.

今年 2 月，我們宣布從 Heineken 收購 Touchsides，預計將於 2024 年 3 月完成。Touchsides 是一家領先的數據分析和洞察商業服務公司，與 Kazang 高度互補。該公司的客戶群遍布南非非正式許可酒館，擁有超過 10,000 個活躍的銷售點終端，每天處理超過 150 萬筆交易。

The business provides platform-as-a-service and software-as-a-service solutions to licensed tavern outlets, enabling the measurement of sales activity in real-time, management of stock levels, and informed commercial decisions such as pricing and promotional offers. The rich data and insights amassed from these terminals carry substantial value and can be monetized through relationships with a range of clients, including FMCG companies, retailers, wholesalers, route-to-market suppliers and financiers. Touchsides is an exciting acquisition and aligns with our strategy of adding scale and broadening our service offering in our merchant division.

該業務為獲得許可的酒館門市提供平台即服務和軟體即服務解決方案，支援即時衡量銷售活動、管理庫存水準以及明智的商業決策，例如定價和促銷優惠。從這些終端收集的豐富數據和見解具有巨大價值，可以透過與一系列客戶的關係來貨幣化，包括快速消費品公司、零售商、批發商、市場供應商和金融家。Touchsides 是一項令人興奮的收購，符合我們在商業部門擴大規模和擴大服務範圍的策略。

Our EasyPay enterprise market solution, which offers VAS, switching, and bill payments in the formal merchant market through our retail partners experienced pressure over 2022 and 2023. Despite this, we deem this platform to be strategically important, and we are investing in the technology, and they have improved our management structures. With over 600 billers on the platform, which are embedded into all major retail systems, EasyPay has an extensive footprint that would be very difficult to replicate.

我們的 EasyPay 企業市場解決方案透過我們的零售合作夥伴在正規商家市場提供增值服務、轉換和帳單支付，在 2022 年和 2023 年經歷了壓力。儘管如此，我們認為這個平台具有重要的策略意義，我們正在投資技術，他們也改善了我們的管理結構。EasyPay 平台上有超過 600 個記帳機構，並嵌入到所有主要零售系統中，其覆蓋範圍非常廣泛，很難複製。

The recent performance of this business is encouraging and is becoming a meaningful contributor to our merchant group adjusted EBITDA. As our interventions start paying off. We saw a 9% year-on-year improvement in throughput and 14%, quarter on quarter. We strengthened our market position in formal market VAS distribution with throughput increasing more than 30% year on year, driven mainly by electricity sales volumes.

該業務最近的表現令人鼓舞，並且正在成為我們商家集團調整後 EBITDA 的重要貢獻者。隨著我們的介入開始取得成效。我們看到吞吐量年增 9%，季增 14%。我們鞏固了在正規市場增值服務分銷領域的市場地位，吞吐量年增超過 30%，主要由售電量推動。

The merchant division revenue for the quarter was ZAR2.4 billion, representing a 13% increase year on year and 6% quarter on quarter. This reflects some seasonality in our business in quarter two. Considering the headwinds our merchants and their customers faced over this period, we are very pleased with this result. From a segment-adjusted perspective, we reported a 2% increase year on year with an 8% increase quarter on quarter.

該季度商家部門營收為24億南非蘭特，年增13%，季增6%。這反映了我們第二季度業務的一些季節性。考慮到我們的商家及其客戶在此期間面臨的阻力，我們對這一結果感到非常滿意。從細分調整的角度來看，我們報告年增 2%，環比成長 8%。

We mentioned in our Q2 results last year that the merchant group adjusted EBITDA included ZAR22.1 million related to a bulk order not expected to repeat in our terminal hardware sales business, NEUTS. Excluding the impact thereof, our merchant division, year-on-year revenue growth is 17% and adjusted EBITDA growth is 18%.

我們在去年第二季的業績中提到，商家集團調整後的 EBITDA 包括 2,210 萬南非蘭特，該訂單與我們的終端硬體銷售業務 NEUTS 中預計不會重複的批量訂單相關。排除其影響，我們的商家部門營收年增17%，調整後EBITDA成長18%。

In conclusion, we are very pleased with the top-line growth and profitability achieved in Q2, especially considering the challenging environment we are operating in and the stronger comparative quarter last year. I would like to hand over to Lincoln to take you through the consumer division results and strategy.

總而言之，我們對第二季度實現的營收成長和獲利能力感到非常滿意，特別是考慮到我們所處的充滿挑戰的環境以及去年同期的強勁表現。我想請林肯向您介紹消費者部門的結果和策略。

Good morning and afternoon, everyone. Thank you, Steve. I'm very proud as I report on the results for the second quarter today. We started our efforts to transform the Consumer division in 2021, and it has been a very difficult journey. Notwithstanding the hard yards that we have had to walk, the team's dedication and commitment to executing our strategy is not only making a real difference in people's lives, but is also delivering stronger growth and profitability each quarter.

大家早安、下午好。謝謝你，史蒂夫。今天我報告第二季的業績時，我感到非常自豪。我們從2021年開始致力於消費者部門的轉型，這是一段非常艱難的旅程。儘管我們走過了艱難的道路，但團隊對執行我們策略的奉獻和承諾不僅為人們的生活帶來了真正的改變，而且每個季度都帶來了更強勁的成長和獲利能力。

As the only financial service provider focused exclusively on grant recipients, we dedicate 100% of our resources to understanding and servicing their needs as effectively as possible through product design, fit for people distribution networks and service channels.

作為唯一專注於贈款接受者的金融服務供應商，我們投入 100% 的資源，透過產品設計、適合人群的分銷網絡和服務管道，盡可能有效地了解和滿足他們的需求。

At the last two quarters, I spoke in some detail about our initiative to grow our EPE customer base and how we are positioning ourselves to take advantage of changes in the grant distribution market. Our gross account activations continued the upward trend from approximately 60,000 in quarter 4 2023 to 76,000 in quarter 1 and now 122,000 for quarter 2.

在過去兩個季度，我詳細介紹了我們擴大 EPE 客戶群的舉措，以及我們如何定位自己以利用贈款分配市場的變化。我們的總帳戶啟動量持續呈上升趨勢，從 2023 年第四季的約 60,000 個增加到第一季的 76,000 個，現在第二季為 122,000 個。

This also compares very favorably to our gross account activations a year ago of 43,000, a year-on-year increase of 188%. Churn also improved this quarter, which resulted in a net account activation of over 92,000 compared to approximately 42,000 in quarter 1, 2024, and 10,000 in quarter 2, 2023. Natural chain is a factor in the grant space as child support grant sees when a child turns 18 and as mortality impacts old age grands. We estimate the net impact to be approximately 10% to 12% per annum.

與一年前 43,000 個帳戶啟動總數相比，這也非常有利，年成長 188%。本季客戶流失率也有所改善，淨帳戶啟動量超過 92,000 個，而 2024 年第一季約為 42,000 個，2023 年第二季為 10,000 個。自然鍊是補助金空間中的一個因素，因為子女扶養補助金在孩子年滿 18 歲時就會出現，死亡率會影響老年補助金。我們估計每年的淨影響約為 10% 至 12%。

It is very exciting to see the growth coming through after all the hard work and enthusiasm with which our teams have approached this task. Our EPE account base is a crucial number for us as we only provide our additional products and services to active EPE account holders, and we are very encouraged by the trends we are seeing.

經過我們團隊的辛勤工作和熱情完成這項任務後，看到我們的成長是非常令人興奮的。我們的 EPE 帳戶群對我們來說至關重要，因為我們只向活躍的 EPE 帳戶持有者提供額外的產品和服務，我們對所看到的趨勢感到非常鼓舞。

We ended the quarter with over 1.4 million active EPE customers, of which 85% are core permanent grant recipients, representing a 14% year-on-year and 7% quarter-on-quarter growth. It is important to maintain our EPE growth and momentum and further increase activations to provide us with the base to cross-sell and grow ARPU.

截至本季末，我們的活躍 EPE 客戶超過 140 萬，其中 85% 是核心永久贈款接受者，較去年同期成長 14%，較上季成長 7%。保持我們的 EPE 增長和勢頭並進一步增加激活，為我們提供交叉銷售和增長 ARPU 的基礎，這一點非常重要。

Our EasyPay loan book increased 26% year-on-year to ZAR503 million. Gross advances for the quarter of ZAR447 million were up 32% compared to quarter 2 last year. Our loan loss ratio remained stable at approximately 6% on an annualized basis. The excellent momentum in the adoption of our EasyPay insurance product continued in this quarter with active policies increasing to 384,000 at quarter end, a growth of 31% from last year and 7% over the quarter 1, 2024.

我們的 EasyPay 貸款總額年增 26% 至 5.03 億南非蘭特。該季度的預付款總額為 4.47 億南非蘭特，與去年第二季相比成長了 32%。以年化計算，我們的貸款損失率穩定在6%左右。本季度，我們的 EasyPay 保險產品的採用繼續保持良好勢頭，截至季度末，活躍保單數量增至 384,000 份，較去年增長 31%，較 2024 年第一季增長 7%。

Our insurance book penetration increased from approximately 25% a year ago to over 30% at the end of collection. Retaining its very high premium collection rate of 96% and a low annual rate of approximately 7% compared to the industry reported annual lapse rate of over 22% per year; an indication that our clients retain their policies for longer and are less likely to replace our policies with those offered by our competitors.

我們的保險帳簿滲透率從一年前的約 25% 增加到託收結束時的 30% 以上。與行業報告的每年超過 22% 的年失效率相比，保持 96% 的極高保費收取率和約 7% 的低年率；這表明我們的客戶保留其保單的時間更長，並且不太可能用競爭對手提供的保單取代我們的保單。

I get very excited when I see the quality of our loan in insurance books. For me, it confirms that our 100% focus on servicing the grant recipients of South Africa and designing relevant and well-priced products is making an impact on their lives. As we expand our EPE account base, we will continue to have a meaningful impact on financial inclusion in South Africa.

當我在保險帳簿上看到我們的貸款品質時，我感到非常興奮。對我來說，這證實了我們 100% 專注於為南非的受助者提供服務並設計相關且價格合理的產品正在對他們的生活產生影響。隨著我們擴大 EPE 帳戶基礎，我們將繼續對南非的金融包容性產生有意義的影響。

On the back of our excellent loan in insurance performance, our ARPU has improved from approximately ZAR74 per month a year ago to over ZAR85 per month at the end of this quarter.

憑藉我們出色的保險貸款業績，我們的 ARPU 從一年前的每月約 74 蘭特提高到本季度末的每月 85 蘭特以上。

With the success of our cross-selling and cost optimization efforts, we are now dedicating much of our energy into enhancing our financial service solutions to attract further EPE account holders. A key focus going forward will be the addition of relevant products and services as well as the continuous improvement of service delivery, which will also include enhancing our digital capabilities.

隨著我們交叉銷售和成本優化工作的成功，我們現在投入大量精力來增強我們的金融服務解決方案，以吸引更多的 EPE 帳戶持有者。未來的一個重點將是增加相關產品和服務以及不斷改進服務交付，其中還包括增強我們的數位能力。

We are also advancing initiatives with Kazang to further enhance our merchant and consumer ecosystem. The improvement in the above KPIs across the board is leading to a continual improvement in quarterly performance of the consumer division. Revenue for the quarter is ZAR313 million, representing a 16% year-on-year growth and an 8% quarter-on-quarter growth.

我們也與 Kazang 共同推動舉措，以進一步增強我們的商家和消費者生態系統。上述KPI的全面提升，帶動了消費部門季度業績的持續改善。該季度營收為3.13億南非蘭特，年增16%，季增8%。

Consumer segment adjusted EBITDA for quarter 2 was ZAR55 million compared to ZAR46 million last quarter and ZAR10 million last year. This represents a 450% year-on-year growth and a 19% quarter-on-quarter growth. We see the impact of positive jaws here as our EPE account base growth and cross-selling initiatives take effect of our rightsized cost base and improve activation processes.

消費部門第二季調整後的 EBITDA 為 5,500 萬南非蘭特，而上一季為 4,600 萬南非蘭特，去年為 1,000 萬南非蘭特。這意味著同比增長450%，環比增長19%。我們在這裡看到了積極的影響，因為我們的 EPE 客戶群成長和交叉銷售措施對我們調整後的成本基礎產生了影響，並改善了啟動流程。

In conclusion, we're extremely excited about the momentum we're building in the consumer division and the opportunity that lies ahead for us to bring true financial inclusion to South Africa's grant beneficiaries. It is at the heart of our purpose. And to be able to do this in a profitable and sustainable manner is very rewarding for all of us.

總之，我們對消費者部門正在形成的勢頭以及我們為南非贈款受益人帶來真正的金融包容性所面臨的機會感到非常興奮。這是我們目標的核心。能夠以盈利且可持續的方式做到這一點對我們所有人來說都是非常有意義的。

On behalf of the consumer team, I would like to say a huge thank you to Chris Meyer, for his support and dedication as we turn around the consumer business. And we now look forward to a new growth path under the leadership of Ali Mazanderani.

我謹代表消費者團隊向 Chris Meyer 表示衷心感謝，感謝他在我們扭轉消費者業務的過程中給予的支持和奉獻。現在，我們期待在阿里·馬贊德拉尼 (Ali Mazanderani) 的領導下開闢新的成長道路。

I would like to hand over to Naeem now, who will take you through the income statement and balance sheet in more detail and address the outlook for quarter 3 and the full year results.

我現在想把時間交給 Naeem，他將帶您更詳細地了解損益表和資產負債表，並展望第三季和全年業績的前景。

Thank you, Lincoln. As Chris said, the second quarter of fiscal 2024 year reflects positive operational momentum in both divisions, translating into improved financial performance despite the challenging trading environment. We again delivered against what we set out to do with revenue reported within our guidance range and group adjusted EBITDA exceeding the upper end of our guidance range for the quarter.

謝謝你，林肯。正如克里斯所說，2024 財年第二季反映了兩個部門的積極營運勢頭，儘管貿易環境充滿挑戰，但財務表現卻有所改善。我們再次實現了我們設定的目標，報告的收入在我們的指導範圍內，集團調整後的 EBITDA 超過了我們本季指導範圍的上限。

As a reminder, Lesaka is a domestic filer in the United States. We report results in US dollars under US GAAP. However, our operational currency is South African rand and as such, we analyze our performance in South African rand. Looking at the consolidated income statement for the quarter, we grew revenue by 13% to ZAR2.7 billion compared to Q2 2023. Revenue increased by 6% compared to Q1 2024, partly due to seasonality.

提醒一下，Lesaka 是美國的國內申報人。我們根據美國公認會計準則以美元報告結果。然而，我們的營運貨幣是南非蘭特，因此，我們以南非蘭特分析我們的表現。從本季的合併損益表來看，與 2023 年第二季相比，我們的營收成長了 13%，達到 27 億南非蘭特。與 2024 年第一季相比，營收成長了 6%，部分原因是季節性因素。

In US dollars, consolidated revenue was $144 million for the quarter, up 6% compared to $136 million in Q2 2023, negatively impacted by the 7% depreciation of the rand against the dollar over the period.

以美元計算，本季合併營收為 1.44 億美元，較 2023 年第二季的 1.36 億美元成長 6%，受到蘭特兌美元在此期間貶值 7% 的負面影響。

Operating income increased to ZAR43 million compared to ZAR4 million in Q1 and an operating loss of ZAR38 million a year ago. Operating income for Q2 2024 includes an ZAR18 million, $1 million non-cash gain related to the release of a foreign currency translation reserve upon liquidation of a dormant subsidiary. Depreciation and amortization of ZAR109 million includes ZAR67 million related to the amortization of acquired intangibles from the Connect Group acquisition.

營業收入從第一季的 400 萬南非蘭特增至 4,300 萬南非蘭特，一年前的營業虧損為 3,800 萬南非蘭特。2024 年第二季的營業收入包括 1,800 萬南非蘭特、100 萬美元的非現金收益，這些收益與在休眠子公司清算時釋放外幣換算儲備金有關。1.09 億蘭特的折舊和攤銷包括 6,700 萬蘭特，與收購 Connect Group 所獲得的無形資產的攤銷有關。

Acquired asset amortization is both a non-operational and a non-cash charge. Our net interest expense decreased 2% to ZAR81 million in Q2 2024 from ZAR83 million in Q1 2024 through further cash optimization measures across the group. Q2 2024 versus Q2 2023 is mainly impacted by the increase in the benchmark interest rate in South Africa in Q2 2024 compared to Q2 2023. Net income before income taxes, adding back ZAR67 million related to the amortization of acquired intangibles for the quarter, is ZAR29 million compared to a loss of ZAR7 million in the previous quarter and a loss of ZAR43 million in Q2 2023.

所獲得的資產攤銷既是非營運費用也是非現金費用。透過整個集團進一步的現金優化措施，我們的淨利息支出從 2024 年第一季的 8,300 萬南非蘭特下降 2%，至 2024 年第二季的 8,100 萬南非蘭特。2024 年第二季與 2023 年第二季相比，主要受到 2024 年第二季南非基準利率較 2023 年第二季上漲的影響。加上與本季收購的無形資產攤銷相關的 6,700 萬蘭特，所得稅前淨利為 2,900 萬蘭特，而上一季虧損 700 萬蘭特，2023 年第二季虧損 4,300 萬蘭特。

This quarter saw another important milestone being achieved. Fundamental loss per share, which excludes non-operating items, turned positive for the first time in over five years at ZAR0.26 per share compared to a loss of ZAR0.08 per share in quarter 1 and a loss of ZAR0.22 per share a year ago.

本季實現了另一個重要的里程碑。每股基本虧損（不包括非經營項目）五年來首次轉正，為每股 0.26 南非蘭特，而第一季每股虧損 0.08 南非蘭特，每股虧損 0.22 南非蘭特一年前。

Net income before tax, but excluding the non-operational and non-cash PPA charge turned positive for the first time since the turnaround of Lesaka began, coming in at ZAR29 million. Net loss before tax narrowed to ZAR39 million for Q2 2024 compared to a net loss of ZAR110 million a year ago, representing a 65% year-on-year improvement and a 48% improvement on the net loss of ZAR74 million in quarter 1 2024.

自 Lesaka 轉虧為盈以來，稅前淨利（但不包括非營運和非現金購電協議費用）首次轉正，達到 2,900 萬南非蘭特。與去年同期的淨虧損1.1 億南非蘭特相比，2024 年第二季稅前淨虧損收窄至3,900 萬南非蘭特，較去年同期改善65%，比2024 年第一季7,400 萬南非蘭特的淨虧損改善48%。

At a divisional level, merchant delivered a 13% revenue increase year-on-year and 6% quarter-on-quarter. We mentioned in our Q3 results last year that the merchant division included a bulk order in our terminal hardware sales business news. Excluding the impact thereof, our merchant division year-on-year revenue growth is 17%, a robust result given the challenging operating environment for merchants we serve.

從部門層級來看，商家營收年增 13%，季增 6%。我們在去年第三季的業績中提到，在我們的終端硬體銷售業務新聞中，商家部門包含了一筆大量訂單。排除其影響，我們的商家部門營收年增 17%，考慮到我們所服務商戶的經營環境充滿挑戰，這是一個強勁的業績。

In the consumer division, revenues grew 16% year-on-year. We are seeing very good momentum in EPE account activations, which is the foundation of building further annuity income in the consumer revenue base. Our lending and insurance businesses performed exceptionally well, contributing to this very encouraging result.

消費部門的營收年增16%。我們看到 EPE 帳戶啟動勢頭非常好，這是在消費者收入基礎上進一步建立年金收入的基礎。我們的貸款和保險業務表現異常出色，為這一令人鼓舞的業績做出了貢獻。

Year-on-year, the merchant division reported a segment adjusted EBITDA of ZAR163 million compared to ZAR160 million in Q2 2023. Excluding the NUETS bulk order impact of ZAR22.1 million, we would have recorded a growth of 18% in segment adjusted EBITDA. The Consumer division delivered segment adjusted EBITDA of ZAR55 million for Q2 2024 compared to ZAR10 million for Q2 2023, benefiting from strong goals and cost saving initiatives implemented in FY 2023.

與去年同期相比，商業部門報告的部門調整後 EBITDA 為 1.63 億蘭特，而 2023 年第二季為 1.6 億蘭特。排除 NUETS 大宗訂單 2,210 萬南非蘭特的影響，我們的部門調整後 EBITDA 將成長 18%。由於 2023 財年實施的堅定目標和成本節約舉措，消費者部門 2024 年第二季度的部門調整後 EBITDA 為 5500 萬南非蘭特，而 2023 年第二季度為 1000 萬南非蘭特。

Compared to Q1 2024, the consumer division has grown segment adjusted EBITDA by 19%. Group cost of ZAR38 million reduced by 5% compared to ZAR40 million in Q2 2023.

與 2024 年第一季相比，消費者部門調整後的 EBITDA 成長了 19%。集團成本為 3,800 萬蘭特，比 2023 年第二季的 4,000 萬蘭特減少了 5%。

Looking briefly at our half year results for the six months to December 31, 2023, the transformation in Lesaka's financial performance is clear. Consumer segment adjusted EBITDA for the half year was ZAR102 million compared to a loss of ZAR14 million last year, with merchant segment adjusted EBITDA of ZAR313 million. Group costs reduced 9% year-on-year, resulting in a 71% improvement in adjusted EBITDA to ZAR343 million.

簡單回顧一下截至 2023 年 12 月 31 日的六個月的半年業績，Lesaka 財務表現的轉變是顯而易見的。半年消費者部門調整後的 EBITDA 為 1.02 億蘭特，去年虧損 1,400 萬蘭特，商業部門調整後的 EBITDA 為 3.13 億蘭特。集團成本年減 9%，調整後 EBITDA 提高 71%，達到 3.43 億南非蘭特。

The group's operating income has turned positive on a half year basis to ZAR47 million compared to a loss of ZAR118 million a year ago. Adjusting for the non-operational and non-cash PPA adjustment, we delivered a positive net income before tax of ZAR22 million for the six months.

該集團半年營業收入轉正，達到 4,700 萬蘭特，而一年前則虧損 1.18 億蘭特。在調整非營運和非現金購電協議調整後，我們在這六個月內實現了 2,200 萬南非蘭特的正稅前淨利。

We experienced continued improvement in our financial performance in the second quarter of 2024 with the sequential quarterly revenue and profitability improving in both consumer and merchant divisions. As a reminder, seasonal trends lead to a slight stronger quarter 2 in both divisions due to the higher-than-average transaction volumes in December.

2024 年第二季度，我們的財務表現持續改善，消費者和商業部門的季度收入和獲利能力均有所改善。提醒一下，由於 12 月的交易量高於平均水平，季節性趨勢導致兩個部門的第二季略有強勁。

Consumer revenue increased 8% quarter-on-quarter to ZAR313 million from ZAR291 million in Q1 2024, and merchant revenue increased 6% quarter-on-quarter attributable to growth in both divisions. Similarly, the merchant segment adjusted EBITDA of ZAR163 million increased 8% quarter-on-quarter and Consumer segment adjusted EBITDA of ZAR55 million increased 19% quarter-on-quarter.

消費者營收季增 8%，從 2024 年第一季的 2.91 億南非蘭特增至 3.13 億南非蘭特；由於兩個部門的成長，商家營收季增 6%。同樣，商業部門調整後的 EBITDA 為 1.63 億蘭特，季增 8%；消費者部門調整後的 EBITDA 為 5,500 萬蘭特，季增 19%。

Fundamental earnings per share, which excludes non-operating items, turned positive in the quarter for the first time in over five years to ZAR0.26 compared to a loss of ZAR0.08 per share in quarter 1, and a loss of ZAR0.22 per share a year ago. In management's view, this is the appropriate earnings per share measure given the adjustment for one-off non-repeatable items and PPA amortization and other non-cash items.

每股基本收益（不包括非經營項目）在本季五年多來首次轉正，達到 0.26 南非蘭特，而第一季每股虧損 0.08 南非蘭特，第二季每股虧損 0.22 南非蘭特一年前每股。管理層認為，考慮到對一次性不可重複項目、購電協議攤銷和其他非現金項目的調整，這是適當的每股收益衡量標準。

From a cash flow perspective, we saw a continued momentum in achieving positive net cash provided by operating activities at ZAR11 million for the quarter, which includes an additional ZAR64 million in interest payments using the fund bond proceeds. Adjusting for this, our net cash provided by operating activities would have been approximately ZAR75 million.

從現金流的角度來看，我們看到本季經營活動提供的正淨現金持續成長，達到 1,100 萬南非蘭特，其中包括使用基金債券收益支付的額外 6,400 萬南非蘭特利息。對此進行調整後，我們經營活動提供的淨現金約為 7,500 萬南非蘭特。

We generated ZAR207 million operating cash flow before interest paid, tax paid, working capital-related items and movement in loan book funding. We define this as cash generated from business operations and consider it an appropriate indicator of our conversion of EBITDA to cash. This is an increase of 41% or ZAR16 million compared to ZAR147 million generated in Q2 2023.

我們產生了 2.07 億南非蘭特的營運現金流，扣除利息、稅金、營運資金相關項目和貸款帳簿融資變動之前的現金流量。我們將其定義為業務運營產生的現金，並認為它是我們將 EBITDA 轉換為現金的適當指標。與 2023 年第二季的 1.47 億南非蘭特相比，成長了 41%，即 1,600 萬南非蘭特。

The ZAR54 million movement in loan book funding relates primarily to the net growth in the consumer book over the quarter. Our working capital was impacted by the quarter-end falling on a public holiday and having to find an additional two days receivables in our merchant business.

貸款帳簿資金的 5,400 萬南非蘭特變動主要與本季消費者帳簿的淨成長有關。我們的營運資金受到季度末適逢公共假期的影響，並且必須在我們的商業業務中尋找額外的兩天應收帳款。

We have exited our shareholding in Finbond during the quarter through a specific repurchase program and received a net cash flow of ZAR64 million in December 2023, which was used to pay down capitalized interest. Overall, we are pleased with the cash generation in our business this quarter. Our net debt-to-EBITDA ratio is calculated as the net debt at a specific date divided by the annualized group adjusted EBITDA for the quarter. For Q2 2024, this improved to 2.7 times compared to 3.6 times a year ago, and 3.1 times at the end of quarter 1.

我們在本季透過特定回購計畫退出了 Finbond 的股權，並於 2023 年 12 月獲得了 6,400 萬南非蘭特的淨現金流，用於償還資本化利息。總體而言，我們對本季業務的現金產生感到滿意。我們的淨債務與 EBITDA 比率的計算方式為特定日期的淨債務除以該季度的年化集團調整後 EBITDA。2024 年第二季度，這一數字從一年前的 3.6 倍提高到 2.7 倍，第一季末提高到 3.1 倍。

Our new funding arrangement, in which our lenders have agreed to reduce the margin on facilities G and H on the basis of the improvement in our net debt to EBITDA ratio, was finalized effective from October 2023. Reducing our net debt remains a strategic objective for the group.

我們的新融資安排已最終確定，自 2023 年 10 月起生效，其中我們的貸方同意在我們淨債務與 EBITDA 比率改善的基礎上降低 G 和 H 融資的保證金。減少淨債務仍然是該集團的戰略目標。

Capital expenditure in Q2 2024 amounted to ZAR41 million. As we previously highlighted, this is mainly growth CapEx related to the merchant division. Our growth CapEx delivers a strong IRR on capital invested. We are very excited with the overall performance this quarter. As we are seeing the full potential of Consumer division benefiting from the revenue growth and margin expansion from expense reductions we did in FY 2023, and the merchant division continues growth on key KPI metrics. This is a base we will continue to grow on.

2024 年第二季的資本支出為 4,100 萬南非蘭特。正如我們之前所強調的，這主要是與商業部門相關的成長資本支出。我們的成長資本支出為投資資本帶來了強勁的內部報酬率。我們對本季的整體表現感到非常興奮。我們看到消費者部門的全部潛力受益於我們在 2023 財年所做的費用削減所帶來的收入成長和利潤率擴張，而商業部門的關鍵 KPI 指標也持續成長。這是我們將繼續發展的基礎。

Turning to our guidance for the third quarter. We expect revenue of ZAR2.7 billion to ZAR2.8 billion. Our guidance range for group adjusted EBITDA of ZAR170 million to ZAR190 million for Q3 is broad given that seasonal trends indicate that Q2 is usually a stronger quarter than Q3. This is due to the higher-than-average transaction volumes in December. However, we currently expect to be closer to the upper end of this range of ZAR190 million in Q3.

轉向我們第三季的指引。我們預計收入為 27 億蘭特至 28 億蘭特。鑑於季節性趨勢顯示第二季通常比第三季表現強勁，我們對第三季集團調整後 EBITDA 的指引範圍為 1.7 億南非蘭特至 1.9 億蘭特。這是由於 12 月份的交易量高於平均值。然而，我們目前預計第三季將接近 1.9 億南非蘭特這一範圍的上限。

I would also like to reaffirm our full year 2024 revenue guidance of ZAR10.7 billion to ZAR11.7 billion and group adjusted EBITDA of ZAR680 million to ZAR740 million. We anticipate the group adjusted EBITDA to come in at the top end of our full year guidance range. However, we expect full year revenue to be at the lower end of our guidance range.

我還想重申我們 2024 年全年營收指引為 107 億蘭特至 117 億蘭特，集團調整後 EBITDA 為 6.8 億蘭特至 7.4 億蘭特。我們預計集團調整後的 EBITDA 將達到我們全年指引範圍的上限。然而，我們預計全年收入將處於我們指導範圍的下限。

This is primarily due to the change in mix between pinned and pinless airtime sales during the year, primarily in our Kazang business. Accounting standards require that for pinless airtime sales we recognize our commission as revenue, but for pinned airtimes sales, we recognize the full value of the airtime as revenue, with our purchase price of airtime as a cost of sale.

這主要是由於年內固定和無固定通話時間銷售組合的變化，主要是在我們的喀山業務中。會計準則要求，對於無固定通話時間銷售，我們將佣金確認為收入，但對於固定通話時間銷售，我們將通話時間的全部價值確認為收入，並將通話時間的購買價格作為銷售成本。

So Pinless airtime sales have made up a larger percentage of airtime sales than we expected when our guidance was set at the beginning of the year, which is having a material impact on revenue recognition. Our outlook provided does not include impact of the acquisition of Touchsides or any other M&A transactions that we conclude.

因此，Pinless 通話時間銷售額在通話時間銷售額中所佔的比例比我們年初設定指引時的預期要大，這對收入確認產生了重大影響。我們提供的前景不包括收購 Touchsides 或我們達成的任何其他併購交易的影響。

Thank you. I will hand over to Chris for his closing comments.

謝謝。我將請克里斯發表結束語。

Thank you, Naeem. As detailed in our public filing in December 2023, I will be stepping down as Group CEO on the February 29, 2024. I've dedicated all my energy over the past 2.5 years to the turnaround and rebuilding of the Lesaka platform, and in doing so, spending the majority of that time apart from my family who live in the UK.

謝謝你，納伊姆。正如我們在 2023 年 12 月的公開文件中所詳述的那樣，我將於 2024 年 2 月 29 日辭去集團執行長一職。在過去的 2.5 年裡，我將所有的精力都投入到 Lesaka 平台的周轉和重建上，在此過程中，大部分時間都與居住在英國的家人分開。

I believe I've achieved what we set out to do when we started this journey, and I will be leaving Lesaka as a strong platform poised for growth and scale. The time is right for me to return to my family and hand over to a new leader who will take this extraordinary group of people into an exciting future at Lesaka.

我相信我已經實現了我們在開始這趟旅程時設定的目標，我將離開 Lesaka 作為一個準備成長和擴大規模的強大平台。現在是我回到家人身邊並將權力移交給新領導的時候了，他將帶領這群非凡的人在萊薩卡邁向激動人心的未來。

Ali Mazanderani has assumed the role of Executive Chairman as of February 1, 2024. And Ali has been integrally involved in Lesaka since 2020 and when he presented his vision and the strategy at our results in Q4 2020.

Ali Mazanderani 自 2024 年 2 月 1 日起擔任執行主席。阿里自 2020 年以來一直全面參與 Lesaka，當時他在我們 2020 年第四季的業績報告中提出了他的願景和策略。

And I'd like to welcome Ali and give him the opportunity to share a few thoughts. Ali?

我想歡迎阿里，並讓他有機會分享一些想法。阿里？

Thank you, Chris. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Chris for the excellent job he has done. He joined when the company had significant cash ban, uncertainty in the outlook of the consumer division and the need to quickly achieve scale in the merchant division. He leaves behind a cash-generating business with scale and further potential. On top of this, Lesaka has strong corporate governance, excellent leadership, and people passionate about our purpose of bringing financial inclusion to underserved communities. Under Chris' leadership, we have come a long way in a short period.

謝謝你，克里斯。我想藉此機會感謝克里斯所做的出色工作。當他加入時，公司有嚴重的現金禁令、消費者部門前景不確定以及需要快速實現商業部門的規模。他留下了一家規模龐大且潛力巨大的創收業務。除此之外，萊薩卡擁有強大的公司治理、卓越的領導力以及對我們為服務不足的社區帶來金融普惠的目標充滿熱情的人們。在克里斯的領導下，我們在短時間內取得了長足的進步。

Chris is remaining on our Board as a Non-Executive Director, and I'm delighted he is available to support me during the handover phase. I look forward to working with him in that capacity.

克里斯仍擔任我們的董事會非執行董事，我很高興他能夠在移交階段為我提供支援。我期待著以此身分與他合作。

I'm excited to take on the role of Chairman of Lesaka. And I'm very much looking forward to working with Lincoln, Steve, Naeem and the rest of the leadership team in executing our strategy. I believe they have already created the leading fintech in South Africa, and we have the potential to build on that foundation and truly establish Lesaka as the leading fintech on the continent.

我很高興擔任 Lesaka 董事長。我非常期待與 Lincoln、Steve、Naeem 以及其他領導團隊的成員合作執行我們的策略。我相信他們已經創造了南非領先的金融科技，我們有潛力在此基礎上再接再厲，真正將萊薩卡打造成非洲大陸領先的金融科技。

In 2020, I outlined our vision for Lesaka. That vision was covered by my personal and professional experience. I was brought up in South Africa on a farm in the east of the country, in Mpumalanga, the place where the sun rises. That is my emotional home. After completing Economics degrees at the University of Pretoria, I got postgraduate scholarships at Oxford University and the London School of Economics. These were subsequently augmented by an MBA at INSEAD in France and a Masters in Business Law at St. Gallen in Switzerland.

2020 年，我概述了我們對萊薩卡的願景。我的個人和專業經驗涵蓋了這個願景。我在南非長大，在該國東部普馬蘭加省的一個農場裡，那裡是太陽升起的地方。那是我的情感家園。在比勒陀利亞大學獲得經濟學學位後，我獲得了牛津大學和倫敦經濟學院的研究生獎學金。隨後又獲得了法國歐洲工商管理學院 (INSEAD) 的 MBA 學位和瑞士聖加侖 (St. Gallen) 的商法碩士學位。

I have lived and worked in many countries, experiences that have given me a global perspective, but Africa has always been close. Whether that be through my time at First National Bank, a prominent banking group in the country, or as a private equity investor, where I was intimately involved in creating the country and continents' leading credit bureau.

我在許多國家生活和工作過，這些經驗給了我全球視野，但非洲一直很接近。無論是我在美國著名銀行集團第一國民銀行的工作經歷，還是作為私募股權投資者的經歷，我都密切參與了該國和各大洲領先信用局的創建。

In the payments space, I have distinct privilege of helping to build multi-billion dollar fintechs on four continents; leaders in their respective areas: these include in Brazil, StoneCo; in India, PineLabs; in Africa and the Middle East, Network International; and in Europe, Teya: a business which I co-founded. Over the past two decades, I have been fortunate to be at the forefront of the digitization of commerce; an investment theme that I believe to be the most exciting of our generation.

在支付領域，我有幸幫助在四大洲建立價值數十億美元的金融科技公司；各自領域的領導者：其中包括巴西的 StoneCo；在印度，PineLabs；在非洲和中東，網路國際；在歐洲，Teya：我與他人共同創辦的企業。在過去的二十年裡，我有幸站在商業數位化的最前線；我認為這是我們這一代中最令人興奮的投資主題。

It is therefore a delight for me to be able to come back to the country I was shaped by and have the opportunity to serve in the industry I know best. This is an opportunity for me and us to once more build the leading fintech on the continent, taking the lessons of the past and forging a singular future. The space is open. We have a steady ship. We have the flagship, and the demographic tide is at our back, taken on the flood it will lead to fortune.

因此，我很高興能夠回到這個塑造我的國家，並有機會在我最了解的行業中服務。這對我和我們來說是一個機會，可以吸取過去的教訓，打造獨特的未來，再次打造非洲大陸領先的金融科技。空間是開放的。我們有一艘穩定的船。我們有旗艦，人口大潮就在身後，乘勢而上，就會帶來財富。

I hope you will join us on the journey. Together, I believe we will be able to look back and say: we helped make a new world. We made a better future, and we did it for the people and places that needed it most.

我希望您能加入我們的旅程。我相信，當我們一起回顧過去時，我們一定能夠說：我們幫助創造了一個新世界。我們創造了更美好的未來，並且是為了最需要它的人和地方。

And with that, I will open it up if there are any questions.

如果有任何問題，我會打開它。

Thank you, Ali. We're now going to open up the call for Q&A sessions. (Event Instructions) Raj Sharma, B. Riley.

謝謝你，阿里。我們現在將開放問答環節。（活動說明）Raj Sharma，B. Riley。

Hi, thank you for taking my questions. Congratulations on ongoing good results. My first question is for Lincoln and a couple other questions for Steve and then overall question. Lincoln, the pace of adding the EPE accounts has picked up well. Any specific new initiatives that you've implemented? Can we determine if they -- if we are making inroads into the SASSA account acquisition?

你好，謝謝你回答我的問題。祝賀持續取得的良好成果。我的第一個問題是問林肯的，還有其他幾個問題是問史蒂夫的，然後是整體問題。Lincoln，新增 EPE 帳號的步伐已經加快。您實施了哪些具體的新措施？我們能否確定他們是否－我們是否正在進軍 SASSA 帳戶收購？

Thank you, Raj. This is a continuation of all the plans we've been talking about, vetting in our people, training them, guiding them, building their relationship with SASSA, strong marketing presence on the ground, better customer service, improved digitization in how we engage our customers. All of those things have given us a competitive edge. And we now have got the fastest-growing unit as compared to other banks, except for one. So we think that, that process will continue, and we think that we can make even more in growth into that base.

謝謝你，拉傑。這是我們一直在談論的所有計劃的延續，審查我們的員工，培訓他們，指導他們，建立他們與 SASSA 的關係，強大的實地行銷存在，更好的客戶服務，改善我們與客戶互動的數位化。顧客。所有這些都給了我們競爭優勢。與其他銀行相比，我們現在擁有成長最快的部門（只有一家例外）。所以我們認為，這個過程將繼續下去，我們認為我們可以在這個基礎上做出更多的成長。

Great. Thank you. And then can you talk about the impact of load shedding? Any color on its impact going forward?

偉大的。謝謝。那麼您能談談甩負荷的影響嗎？其未來的影響有什麼顏色嗎？

Lincoln, I'm happy to take that question. Raj, thank you for the question. Nice to hear your voice. Welcome. Load shedding, I think, has become very much a part of life in South Africa. It's something that has been built in to the business model, both ours and more broadly, our merchant customer base. And we've learned to adapt. South Africa is an adaptable place, a resilient place.

林肯，我很高興回答這個問題。拉吉，謝謝你的提問。很高興聽到你的聲音。歡迎。我認為，減載已經成為南非生活的一部分。這是我們以及更廣泛的商家客戶群的商業模式中內建的東西。我們已經學會適應了。南非是一個適應性強、有彈性的地方。

I think as we said over the last couple of quarters, we've seen a reduction in the number of hours of load shedding. So there has been an improvement in the availability factor, which measures electricity supply in the country. But it's still a significant constraint in the country. And we -- at this point feel it's too early to predict any long-term improvement.

我認為正如我們在過去幾個季度所說的那樣，我們已經看到甩負荷的小時數減少。因此，衡量該國電力供應的可用性係數有所改善。但這在該國仍然是一個重大限制。目前我們認為預測任何長期改善還為時過早。

But as I say, I think it's very much built into the way of life, into the operating model for both ourselves and our customer base. And we always learn to adapt.

但正如我所說，我認為它已經融入我們自己和客戶群的生活方式、營運模式中。我們總是要學會適應。

Yeah. Thank you. And then I just had a question on the new acquisition. Is it reasonable to expect more? How did this come about this opportunity? What you -- are you hunting for little acquisitions like these? Are there more opportunities like these? And also, can you give a sense on the contribution to the top line and the valuation metric?

是的。謝謝。然後我對新收購有一個疑問。期望更多是否合理？這個機會是怎麼來的呢？你正在尋找這樣的小收購案嗎？還有更多這樣的機會嗎？另外，您能否介紹一下對營收和估值指標的貢獻？

Raj, I'll take that question as well as its broad in nature around strategy. So as we mentioned earlier in my opening remarks, M&A is an important aspect for us of building and scaling our business. We look at it in broadly two buckets: one is around adding scale, and the other is around adding to our proposition for our customer base. And largely, we see it in the merchant space, most often.

Raj，我將回答這個問題以及它圍繞戰略的廣泛本質。正如我們之前在開場白中提到的，併購是我們建立和擴大業務的重要方面。我們大致從兩個方面來看它：一是擴大規模，二是增加我們對客戶群的主張。在很大程度上，我們最常在商業領域看到它。

The Touchsides acquisition falls into the latter; it's about broadening our proposition. We're active. We look at things all the time. We're evaluating opportunities in a number of different areas. And we feel that it's an important aspect of the future growth for our business.

Touchsides 收購屬於後者；這是為了擴大我們的主張。我們很活躍。我們一直在觀察事物。我們正在評估許多不同領域的機會。我們認為這是我們業務未來成長的一個重要方面。

Ali, I don't know if you want to comment at all or I think you've covered it. All right. Thanks, Raj.

阿里，我不知道你是否想發表評論，或者我認為你已經涵蓋了。好的。謝謝，拉吉。

Thanks. Okay. And then for Steve, can you talk a little bit about the credit business deterioration of the merchants? What is your outlook -- on the strategy going forward, are you going to change credit standards? Or what are your expectations for the business -- this business going forward and this contribution -- ongoing contribution?

謝謝。好的。那麼史蒂夫，您能談談商家信貸業務惡化的情況嗎？您對未來的策略有何看法？您會改變信用標準嗎？或者您對業務的期望是什麼——業務的未來和貢獻——持續的貢獻？

At the outset, let me say actually in January this year, the month has just passed, we probably had one of our most active months from a credit perspective. So -- as I said in our reflection on the results, we felt that things were starting to improve to some extent. Our retailers had been through a tough period. We thought that credit extension could start to improve, and we're starting to see some of that come through. We didn't change our credit criteria over the last period. We simply became a lot more stringent so that we could protect any potential loss.

首先，我要說的是，實際上今年一月份，剛剛過去的一個月，從信貸角度來看，我們可能是最活躍的月份之一。因此，正如我在對結果的反思中所說，我們認為事情開始在某種程度上有所改善。我們的零售商經歷了一段艱難時期。我們認為信貸延期可能會開始改善，我們開始看到其中一些已經實現。我們在過去一段時間內沒有改變我們的信用標準。我們只是變得更加嚴格，以便我們可以保護任何潛在的損失。

But I'm glad to say that our retailers are resilient and our strategy remains, which is to continue to add participants to our platform, create the leverage network effect and credit is a very important part of that aspect, both in the formal and informal markets.

但我很高興地說，我們的零售商具有彈性，我們的策略仍然不變，那就是繼續增加參與者到我們的平台，創造槓桿網絡效應，而信用是這方面非常重要的一部分，無論是在正式或非正式方面。市場。

Great. Thank you for taking my questions. Again, excellent results and congratulations.

偉大的。感謝您回答我的問題。再次恭喜您取得了優異的成績。

Theodore O'Neill, Hills Research.

西奧多·奧尼爾，希爾斯研究中心。

Thank you very much. First question for Steve is about the Touchside acquisition. Is there opportunity to leverage the analytics that come with that acquisition across the platform, across the entire merchant division? And is AI part of that?

非常感謝。史蒂夫的第一個問題是關於 Touchside 的收購。是否有機會在整個平台、整個商業部門利用此次收購帶來的分析？人工智慧是其中的一部分嗎？

So as Chris covered, we're very excited about this opportunity for a variety of reasons. Firstly, it introduces a whole new vertical for us. So the tavern space -- and specifically, the licensed tavern space is a critical vertical in the South African informal markets. It's not an area that we have real traction in. We've been playing there for a relatively short period of time and are making good progress, but we believe this will allow us to scale significantly.

正如克里斯所說，出於多種原因，我們對這個機會感到非常興奮。首先，它為我們引入了一個全新的垂直領域。因此，酒館空間——特別是獲得許可的酒館空間是南非非正式市場的關鍵垂直領域。這不是我們真正感興趣的領域。我們在那裡工作的時間相對較短，並且取得了良好的進展，但我們相信這將使我們能夠顯著擴大規模。

We will drive very hard our card acquiring, our VAS offering as well as what this now enables us to do is to play in the Platform as a Service, Software as a Service and data monetization. So critical to this product is the fact that we see close to ZAR17 billion of value going through these terminals. We provide the merchants with a mechanism through the software to be able to track inventory, sales and promotional activity. That data is hugely valuable, and we bought it really for the data insights capability as well as to extend into the vertical with everything else that we do.

我們將非常努力地推動我們的卡收單、增值服務產品，以及現在我們能夠做的就是在平台即服務、軟體即服務和資料貨幣化方面發揮作用。對該產品來說至關重要的是，我們看到透過這些終端的價值接近 170 億南非蘭特。我們透過軟體為商家提供一種能夠追蹤庫存、銷售和促銷活動的機制。這些數據非常有價值，我們購買它實際上是為了數據洞察能力，以及與我們所做的其他一切一起擴展到垂直領域。

And to your point, it is very much within our gun sights to take that particular offering across our other verticals as well. It helps us to bring in the FMCG links and monetize that data both from the consumer and to the business.

就您而言，我們也有能力在其他垂直領域提供此特定產品。它幫助我們引入快速消費品鏈接，並將來自消費者和企業的數據貨幣化。

Thanks. And for Lincoln, I'm curious, the year-over-year quarterly ARPU was up 15%. And I was wondering if there's any particular reason that's favorable?

謝謝。我很好奇林肯的季度 ARPU 年增了 15%。我想知道是否有什麼特別的理由是有利的？

I think that if you look at both our growth in our EPE accounts, growth in our lending and growth in our insurance, all of those have been market improvements. And you've seen that a lot in December. So we had a very, very good December. So this quarter really represents as Chris pointed out earlier, record numbers of sales in our EPE, in our insurance, and in our loans. And that augurs very well for our ARPU growth.

我認為，如果你看看我們 EPE 帳戶的成長、貸款的成長和保險的成長，所有這些都是市場的改善。12 月你已經看到很多這樣的情況了。所以我們度過了一個非常非常美好的十二月。因此，正如 Chris 之前指出的那樣，本季確實代表了我們的 EPE、保險和貸款的創紀錄銷售量。這對我們的 ARPU 成長來說是一個非常好的兆頭。

Thank you very much.

非常感謝。

And thank you, Theo. hank you, Theo. We now are going to take a question from Myles Fourie submitted over the chat: Guys, does the recent acquisition of Touchsides earn merchant collaboration with AB InBev?

謝謝你，西奧。謝謝你，西奧。我們現在要回答 Myles Fourie 在聊天中提出的問題：夥計們，最近收購 Touchsides 是否贏得了與百威英博的商業合作？

I actually believe it should significantly enhance our relationship with AB InBev. The reality is we are now the Switzerland of the market. Previously, Touchsides would have been owned by Heineken. You can understand this is a data insights business and the data analytics in our hands as an independent is probably very much enhancing in terms of what we can offer in that vertical to all suppliers into the tavern space. So we actually are enthusiastic about the opportunity in our hands in relation to what we can now achieve with the likes of SAB, et cetera.

我實際上相信它應該會顯著增強我們與百威英博的關係。現實是我們現在是市場上的瑞士。此前，Touchsides 歸喜力所有。你可以理解這是一個數據洞察業務，我們作為獨立公司手中的數據分析可能會大大增強我們在垂直領域向酒館領域的所有供應商提供的服務。因此，我們實際上對我們手中的機會充滿熱情，因為我們現在可以透過 SAB 等公司實現這一目標。

Next one is a strategic question. Can I just expect more acquisitions as EBITDA increases. And as you think about your M&A strategy, are you thinking bolt-on or transformational?

接下來是一個戰略問題。隨著 EBITDA 的增加，我是否可以期待更多的收購？當您考慮併購策略時，您是在考慮補充策略還是轉型策略？

Thanks for the question. I think it's probably fairly similar to the one we received from Raj. I don't want to repeat, but we described the two sort of broad areas that we would focus on from an M&A perspective, M&A being an important aspect of our strategy to scale the business and build relevance with our customer base.

謝謝你的提問。我認為這可能與我們從 Raj 那裡收到的非常相似。我不想重複，但我們從併購的角度描述了我們將重點關注的兩個廣泛領域，併購是我們擴大業務並與客戶群建立相關性的策略的一個重要方面。

So yes, I think it's fair to say you should expect to see further activity in those buckets. The bucket is being around scale and then relevance. And we are active. We are looking at things, we're evaluating things, but we evaluate things against a very clear set of criteria with a very disciplined approach. So we want to make sure we make the right choices that can enhance this business and build the platform.

所以，是的，我認為可以公平地說，您應該期望看到這些桶中的進一步活動。桶首先是規模，然後是相關性。我們很活躍。我們正在研究事物，我們正在評估事物，但我們是根據一套非常明確的標準和非常嚴格的方法來評估事物的。因此，我們希望確保做出正確的選擇，以增強這項業務並建立平台。

Ali, I don't know if you would like to comment, give you the opportunity to maybe say something.

Ali，我不知道你是否願意發表評論，給你機會也許說點什麼。

No, thanks, Chris. I mean I need to echo what you say and say that there is opportunities in both subsectors that are represented there, and each will be assessed on a case-by-case basis.

不，謝謝，克里斯。我的意思是，我需要回應你的說法，並說這兩個分部門都有機會，並且每個部門都將根據具體情況進行評估。

Great. Last question right now, and this comes from Jared Houston of All Weather Capital. Can you guys provide an outlook for net debt-to-EBITDA post Touchside acquisition?

偉大的。現在的最後一個問題來自 All Weather Capital 的 Jared Houston。你們能否提供收購 Touchside 後淨債務與 EBITDA 的展望？

Naeem, do you want to address that?

納伊姆，你想解決這個問題嗎？

Yeah, sure. Thanks, Chris. Yeah. Look, so we're not seeing any material impact on our net debt-to-EBITDA ratio because of the Touchside acquisition. As we mentioned, the acquisition has been fully funded from our current resources, and we don't see an impact on that -- material impact coming from that.

好，當然。謝謝，克里斯。是的。看來，我們沒有看到 Touchside 收購對我們的淨債務與 EBITDA 比率產生任何重大影響。正如我們所提到的，此次收購的資金完全來自我們現有的資源，我們認為不會產生任何實質影響。

Thanks, Naeem.

謝謝，納伊姆。

This -- obviously Raj and Theo both asked about M&A. But Jared wants to know, as you think about M&A, will equity be a part of that? How will you fund M&A? How are you thinking about that strategically?

這——顯然 Raj 和 Theo 都詢問了有關併購的問題。但賈里德想知道，當你考慮併購時，股權會成為其中的一部分嗎？您將如何為併購提供資金？您如何從戰略角度考慮這一點？

Based on its merits. And one of the aspects will be how to fund a particular transaction. And so equity would play into that -- as much as debt or any other form of financing of transactions. So where it's appropriate, we would consider it, and we consider it against a number of metrics that we need to think about in that regard.

基於其優點。其中一個方面是如何為特定交易提供資金。因此，股權將與債務或任何其他形式的交易融資一樣發揮作用。因此，在適當的情況下，我們會考慮它，並且我們會根據我們需要在這方面考慮的許多指標來考慮它。

Okay. Thank you. And here's my last question from Jared: can you provide any updates on the potential of Mobikwik and a status update on where that stands?

好的。謝謝。這是 Jared 提出的最後一個問題：您能否提供有關 Mobikwik 潛力的最新情況以及其現狀的最新情況？

Yeah, look, I think as we mentioned, and it's public information that they've now submitted a rate hearing and the way to come through for an IPO in the Indian market. Where it stands at the moment is that, obviously, we're watching it very closely, and we're in close contact with management to ascertain how they're looking at this.

是的，我想正如我們所提到的，他們現在已經提交了費率聽證會以及在印度市場進行首次公開發行的方式，這是公開資訊。目前的情況顯然是，我們正在密切關注此事，我們正在與管理層保持密切聯繫，以確定他們如何看待此事。

And I think in terms of performance of MobiKwik, the performance of the business has been strong. And going forward, we would keep a watchful eye in terms of valuations as it comes closer to them doing and launching an IPO.

我認為就 MobiKwik 的業績而言，該業務的表現一直很強勁。展望未來，隨著他們進行和啟動首次公開發行（IPO）的臨近，我們將密切關注估值。

Well, thank you for that update. And that concludes the Q&A. Those are all the questions. We appreciate everybody for participating. Thank you, management.

嗯，謝謝您的更新。問答到此結束。這些就是所有的問題。我們感謝大家的參與。謝謝你，管理階層。