Lesaka Technologies Inc (LSAK) 2024 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Lesaka Technologies webcast and conference call for the third quarter of fiscal 2024. As a reminder, the webcast is being recorded and the presentation can be accessed through the webcast link as well as dialing into the Zoom conference dial-in numbers provided. Management will address any questions you may have at the end of this presentation. For those joining us via the webcast, you can ask your questions live by raising your hand at Zoom. For joining via the Zoom teleconference line, you cannot ask your questions live.

大家好，歡迎收看 Lesaka Technologies 2024 財年第三季網路廣播和電話會議。提醒一下，網路廣播正在錄製中，可以透過網路廣播連結以及撥打提供的 Zoom 會議撥入號碼來存取簡報。管理層將在本演示結束時解答您可能提出的任何問題。對於透過網路直播加入我們的人，您可以透過 Zoom 舉手現場提問。對於透過 Zoom 電話會議線路加入，您無法現場提問。

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

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

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 U.S. dollars under U.S. GAAP. However, it is important to note that our operational currency is the South African rand, and as such we analyze our performance in the South African rand. In this presentation, we will discuss our results in South African rand, which is non-GAAP. This assist investors' understanding of the underlying trends in our business. As you know, the company's results can be significantly affected by the currency fluctuation between the dollar and the rand.

在本次電話會議中，我們將做出前瞻性陳述，我請您查看我們的表格 10-Q 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人，我們以美元報告結果。公認會計準則。然而，值得注意的是，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。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，公司的業績可能會受到美元和蘭特之間的貨幣波動的重大影響。

Taking a quick look at today's agenda, Ali Mazanderani, Chairman of Lesaka, will give an update of the key developments and progress on strategic objectives. Steve Heilbron, Head of the Merchant Division and Corporate Development, 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 performance this quarter. Naeem Kola, Group CFO, will present a detailed overview of our financial performance for the 3 months ended March 31, 2024, and update you on the Q4 and full year guidance.

快速瀏覽一下今天的議程，萊薩卡董事長阿里·馬贊德拉尼 (Ali Mazanderani) 將介紹戰略目標的關鍵進展和進展的最新情況。商家部門和企業發展主管 Steve Heilbron 將介紹商家部門的最新情況，隨後 Lesaka Southern Africa 執行長 Lincoln Mali 將向我們介紹本季消費者部門的業績。集團財務長 Naeem Kola 將詳細概述我們截至 2024 年 3 月 31 日的三個月的財務業績，並向您介紹第四季度和全年指導的最新情況。

With all that said, I'd now like to turn the call over to Ali.

話雖如此，我現在想把電話轉給阿里。

Good morning and good afternoon, and welcome to the third quarter 2024 earnings webcast and conference call. Today, we report another quarter of growth and improvement in financial performance. Lesaka is not recognizable from 2 years ago when we announced the closing of the Connect acquisition and introduced our consumer turnaround plans.

早上好，下午好，歡迎來到 2024 年第三季收益網路廣播和電話會議。今天，我們報告了財務業績又一個季度的成長和改善。兩年前，當我們宣布完成 Connect 收購併推出我們的消費者周轉計畫時，Lesaka 就已經不為人所知了。

Our 9-month year-to-date revenue of ZAR 7.8 billion is up 14% year-on-year in constant currency terms, and our EBITDA of ZAR 501 million is up 69% in constant currency terms. In the last quarter, we have achieved revenue of ZAR 2.6 billion and EBITDA of ZAR 183 million. We have reduced our net debt to Group adjusted EBITDA to 2.6x this quarter from 4.2x in Q3 2023, and we now have two successive quarters of positive fundamental earnings per share.

以固定匯率計算，我們今年迄今 9 個月的營收為 78 億南非蘭特，年增 14%；以固定匯率計算，我們的 EBITDA 為 5.01 億南非蘭特，成長 69%。上季度，我們實現了 26 億南非蘭特的營收和 1.83 億南非蘭特的 EBITDA。我們已將集團調整後 EBITDA 的淨債務從 2023 年第三季的 4.2 倍減少到本季的 2.6 倍，現在我們已經連續兩季實現每股基本獲利。

We have consistently delivered on the expectation set and indeed exceeded our EBITDA guidance for the period and revised upwards that guidance for the full financial year. With the signing and announcement of the Adumo transaction yesterday, which remains subject to shareholder votes and regulatory approvals, we anticipate continuing to consolidate the market and cement our position as the leading independent fintech platform in Southern Africa. Our primary market is currently South Africa with its 62 million population and $381 billion economy. But with Adumo, we augment our presence in Namibia, Botswana, and Zambia and expand into Kenya. Together, this represents a 140 million population addressable market, larger than that of Mexico or Japan.

我們始終如一地實現了設定的預期，並且確實超出了該期間的 EBITDA 指導，並上調了整個財政年度的指導。隨著昨天 Adumo 交易的簽署和宣布（該交易仍有待股東投票和監管部門批准），我們預計將繼續鞏固市場並鞏固我們作為南部非洲領先的獨立金融科技平台的地位。目前我們的主要市場是擁有 6,200 萬人口和 3,810 億美元經濟的南非。但透過 Adumo，我們擴大了在納米比亞、波札那和尚比亞的業務，並擴展到肯亞。這代表了一個擁有 1.4 億人口的潛在市場，比墨西哥或日本還要大。

Post completion, Lesaka will be a company with over 3,300 employees across these 5 countries. We'll be processing more than ZAR 40 billion in card, ZAR 100 billion in VAS and ZAR 110 billion in cash throughput. We will have over 1.7 million active consumers, 89,000 micro merchants or informal traders, as they have previously been referred to, and 29,000 traditional merchants along with 100 enterprise clients.

完成後，Lesaka 將成為這 5 個國家擁有超過 3,300 名員工的公司。我們將處理超過 400 億南非蘭特的銀行卡、1,000 億南非蘭特的加值服務和 1,100 億南非蘭特的現金吞吐量。我們將擁有超過 170 萬活躍消費者、89,000 個微型商家或先前提到的非正式貿易商、29,000 個傳統商家以及 100 個企業客戶。

We have developed a rich and broad product suite that provides us with a distinctive competitive advantage in serving each of these customer segments. Indeed, it is through the lens of building out of the customer value proposition that we will be representing the business going forward.

我們開發了豐富而廣泛的產品套件，為我們在服務每個客戶群時提供了獨特的競爭優勢。事實上，我們將透過建構客戶價值主張來代表業務的發展。

We see the business as having 4 broad customer types: Consumers, micro merchants, merchants, and enterprise clients. The business leadership will be organized around those verticals, and it is through the lens of the unit economics of those customers that we will guide our capital allocation decisions. Each vertical operates different brands with their own value proposition, although there is overlap and mutually reinforcing dynamics.

我們認為該業務有 4 種廣泛的客戶類型：消費者、微商、商家和企業客戶。業務領導層將圍繞這些垂直領域進行組織，我們將透過這些客戶的單位經濟效益來指導我們的資本配置決策。每個垂直行業都經營著具有自己價值主張的不同品牌，儘管存在重疊和相輔相成的動力。

We are unique in the market in addressing this range of customers, and that position will allow us to take advantage of economies of scale and deliver not just best-in-class product, but also value through the flywheel of our platform and interconnected product offering.

我們在滿足此類客戶方面在市場上是獨一無二的，這一地位將使我們能夠利用規模經濟，不僅提供一流的產品，而且還透過我們平台的飛輪和互連產品提供價值。

The economic environment in Southern Africa remains a challenge, and we do not anticipate any major change in the economic outlook. However, Lesaka is not an index on the economy, and we are not bound by national economic growth forecasts. We are an index on disruption, inefficiency is our competitor, and inefficiency is rife in our markets. With most service providers targeting narrow segments with monoline products, we have underserviced merchants and consumers, pouring legacy provision to corporates and expensive and unreliable transaction processing in the country. Through innovation, we will continue to pioneer and deliver growth in both revenue and profitability. It is exciting times for Lesaka.

南部非洲的經濟環境仍然是一個挑戰，我們預期經濟前景不會有重大變化。然而，萊薩卡不是經濟指數，我們不受國家經濟成長預測的約束。我們是顛覆性指數，低效率是我們的競爭對手，低效率在我們的市場中很常見。由於大多數服務提供者都以單一產品瞄準狹窄的細分市場，因此我們對商家和消費者的服務不足，向企業提供遺留服務，並在該國進行昂貴且不可靠的交易處理。透過創新，我們將持續開拓並實現收入和獲利能力的成長。對萊薩卡來說，這是一個令人興奮的時刻。

I'll now hand over to Steve, who will talk to the merchant segment.

我現在將交給史蒂夫，他將與商業部門交談。

Thank you, Ali. 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 risks and improve working capital and business efficiencies. 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.

謝謝你，阿里。我們的產品組合涵蓋提高消費者便利性和在我們的商家購物的產品和服務，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。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 risks.

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。

We ended the third quarter with over 80,250 devices deployed in the micro-merchant market, representing a 12% year-on-year growth rate. Core to our device placement strategy is the decision to focus on quality business by retaining high volume and profitable clients and optimizing our existing fleet, which is reflected in a healthy throughput and margin per device.

截至第三季末，我們在微商市場部署了超過 80,250 台設備，年增 12%。我們的設備佈局策略的核心是決定透過保留大批量和盈利的客戶並優化我們現有的機群來專注於高品質業務，這反映在每個設備的健康吞吐量和利潤上。

At a throughput level, excluding international money transfers, we experienced a 36% year-on-year growth rate. We saw pleasing growth in our traditional VAS products of electricity, airtime, and gaming and strong growth driven by our continued momentum in the uptake of our supplier payments platform by micro merchants.

在吞吐量水準上，不包括國際匯款，我們的年成長率為 36%。我們看到電力、通話時間和遊戲等傳統增值服務產品取得了令人欣喜的成長，並且在微商家對供應商支付平台的持續採用勢頭的推動下實現了強勁成長。

As we continue to populate our supplier platform, we should see these volumes continue to outperform. Whilst a lower-margin product, it's a key value add to our merchants and their suppliers as it significantly reduces their cash risks. Further, it drives our Kazang Vaults cash business as merchants use their cash to top-up their wallets to pay their suppliers. We are now processing over ZAR 2 billion per quarter on our supplier payment platform. Supplier payment throughput volumes increased approximately 100% in the third quarter compared to a year ago and now accounts for approximately 35% of our VAS throughput volumes compared to approximately 25% a year ago.

隨著我們繼續填充我們的供應商平台，我們應該會看到這些數量繼續跑贏大盤。雖然這是一種利潤率較低的產品，但它對我們的商家及其供應商來說是一個關鍵的附加價值，因為它顯著降低了他們的現金風險。此外，它還推動了我們的 Kazang Vaults 現金業務，因為商家使用現金充值錢包以向供應商付款。目前，我們的供應商支付平台每季處理超過 20 億南非蘭特。與去年同期相比，第三季供應商付款吞吐量成長了約 100%，目前占我們 VAS 吞吐量的約 35%，而去年同期約為 25%。

As mentioned last quarter, we've 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. This is a very low-margin product for us, limiting the impact on profitability.

正如上個季度所提到的，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，這影響了該行業，從這張圖中可以清楚地看出。這對我們來說是一個利潤率非常低的產品，限制了對獲利能力的影響。

Our card acquiring business is operated through Kazang Pay in the micro merchant market and through Card Connect in the merchant market. Our installed card-enabled devices increased by 20% year-on-year to over 50,200, primarily driven by Kazang Pay and demonstrates the continued adoption of card payments in the informal economy. Kazang Pay accounts for the majority of card acquiring throughput, which grew 22% year-on-year to ZAR 3.9 billion for the quarter, implying an improved average revenue per device as our cleanup of the installed base addressed in the last 2 results takes effect. These growth rates are excellent and should be seen in the context of the economic challenges that our merchants and their customers are facing.

我們的卡收單業務在小微商家市場透過 Kazang Pay 經營，在商家市場透過 Card Connect 營運。我們安裝的支援卡的設備年增 20%，達到 50,200 多台，這主要是由 Kazang Pay 推動的，這表明卡支付在非正規經濟中的持續採用。Kazang Pay 佔卡收單吞吐量的大部分，本季同比增長22%，達到39 億南非蘭特，這意味著隨著我們在過去2 個結果中解決的安裝基礎清理工作生效，每台設備的平均收入有所提高。這些成長率非常出色，應該在我們的商家及其客戶面臨的經濟挑戰的背景下看待。

Our digital cash management offerings, Cash Connect and Kazang Vaults, effectively puts the bank in approximately 4,455 merchant stores. This cash digitization business saw a 3% year-on-year increase in throughput with a number of cash vaults increasing by 2%. This business is primarily exposed to the mid-market SME sector, which has experienced challenges over the past 24 months.

我們的數位現金管理產品 Cash Connect 和 Kazang Vaults 有效地將銀行納入約 4,455 家商家。現金數位化業務吞吐量較去年同期成長3%，金庫數量成長2%。該業務主要面向中端市場的中小企業領域，該領域在過去 24 個月中經歷了挑戰。

Our research shows that power outages have been the single biggest challenge for the retail sector. Significant numbers of retailers see high price inflation, a slowdown in consumer spending and rand-dollar volatility as major challenges for their businesses. This impacts the merchants we serve in this sector, resulting in increased bankruptcy and hence, vault upliftments, which affected the net growth in the vault [estate].

我們的研究表明，停電一直是零售業面臨的最大挑戰。大量零售商將高物價通膨、消費者支出放緩和蘭特美元波動視為其業務面臨的主要挑戰。這影響了我們在該領域服務的商家，導致破產增加，從而導致金庫提升，從而影響了金庫的淨增長[財產]。

Our Kazang Vaults business servicing micro merchants, continues to see good growth in throughput, and we anticipate this momentum to continue. We believe we can make a real difference in our micro merchants operations as we build Kazang merchant communities, enhance risk management and facilitate immediate cash availability for working capital.

我們為微型商家提供服務的 Kazang Vaults 業務的吞吐量持續保持良好成長，我們預計這種勢頭將持續下去。我們相信，透過建立 Kazang 商人社群、加強風險管理並促進營運資金的即時現金可用性，我們可以真正改變我們的微型商家營運。

Our cash business remains a vital product in our merchant offering and is a key differentiator for us in the digitization of cash. Whilst there is a trend towards digital payments, cash remains as the most significant portion of retail transactions, especially in the informal markets. Having a holistic offering through which we can deepen our customer relationship is key to our strategy.

我們的現金業務仍然是我們商家產品中的重要產品，也是我們在現金數位化方面的關鍵差異化因素。儘管存在數位支付的趨勢，但現金仍然是零售交易中最重要的部分，尤其是在非正規市場。提供全面的產品和服務來加深我們的客戶關係是我們策略的關鍵。

Over the past 2 years, our credit business has been impacted by higher interest rates and a challenging economic environment. There is demand for our credit product from our merchants and our credit proposition is an important component in enabling our merchants who we serve to compete and grow.

過去兩年，我們的信貸業務受到利率上升和充滿挑戰的經濟環境的影響。我們的商家對我們的信用產品有需求，而我們的信用主張是使我們所服務的商家能夠競爭和發展的重要組成部分。

Quick access to affordable and flexible opportunity capital is vital in every stage of a retailer's life cycle, enabling them to never miss an opportunity. Many merchants find that traditional vendors are reluctant to approve loans for business growth and that the underwriting process takes so long that the opportunity is often gone by the time a retail loan is approved.

快速獲得負擔得起且靈活的機會資本對於零售商生命週期的每個階段都至關重要，使他們能夠不錯過任何機會。許多商家發現，傳統供應商不願意批准用於業務成長的貸款，而且核保過程需要很長時間，以至於零售貸款獲得批准時機會往往已經消失。

As a fintech lender, we are addressing this gap by offering fast access to capital. Our connected app and leading data-driven fintech platform enables our retail merchants to access capital and expect funds in their bank accounts within 24 hours.

作為一家金融科技貸款機構，我們正在透過提供快速獲取資本的方式來解決這一差距。我們的互聯應用程式和領先的數據驅動的金融科技平台使我們的零售商能夠在 24 小時內獲得資金並期望資金存入其銀行帳戶。

The tough economic environment has resulted in many more of our merchants not meeting our predetermined credit criteria during this period. While this has led to marginal growth since 2022, it has protected us from credit losses with our book performing better than expected. We are cautiously optimistic that we may see a resumption in credit growth later this year. This is supported by the fact that the Capital Connect business disbursed ZAR 219 million during this quarter compared to ZAR 194 million in the comparable period last year, representing a 13% increase.

嚴峻的經濟環境導致我們的許多商家在此期間未能達到我們預定的信用標準。雖然這導致了 2022 年以來的邊際增長，但它保護了我們免受信貸損失，我們的帳面表現好於預期。我們對今年稍後信貸成長可能恢復持謹慎樂觀態度。資本通業務本季支出 2.19 億南非蘭特，較去年同期的 1.94 億南非蘭特成長 13%，這也印證了這一點。

In both these offerings, cash and capital, we are innovating at a product level with exciting solutions planned and aimed at solving for our merchants' pain points.

在這些現金和資本產品中，我們正在產品層面進行創新，並規劃了令人興奮的解決方案，旨在解決我們商家的痛點。

Our EasyPay enterprise market solution, which offers VAS, switching and bill payments through our retail partners experienced pressure over 2022 and 2023. We see this platform to be strategically important and continue to enhance our technology and management structures. With over 600 billers on the platform 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提供增值服務、轉換和帳單支付，在 2022 年和 2023 年經歷了壓力。我們認為這個平台具有重要的策略意義，並將持續增強我們的技術和管理結構。EasyPay 平台上有超過 600 個帳單機構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 performance of this business has improved and is contributing to our Merchant segment adjusted EBITDA. We saw a 6% year-on-year improvement in throughput overall and throughput from bill payments, the more profitable component of our enterprise offering increasing 13% year-on-year.

該業務的業績有所改善，並為我們的商家部門調整後的 EBITDA 做出了貢獻。我們看到整體吞吐量和帳單支付吞吐量年增了 6%，帳單支付吞吐量是我們企業產品中利潤更高的部分，比去年同期成長了 13%。

In this slide, we show the progression of the Merchant division revenue for the past 2 years. We delivered an 8% year-on-year revenue growth, which is impacted by the mix of airtime products sold in the quarter, which Naeem will explain in more detail, and the change in product mix with international money transfers reducing due to a change in the regulatory environment.

在這張投影片中，我們展示了過去兩年商家部門收入的進展。我們實現了 8% 的同比收入增長，這受到本季度銷售的通話時間產品組合的影響（Naeem 將更詳細地解釋這一點），以及由於國際匯款而減少的產品組合變化的影響在監管環境下。

On PIN-less airtime and data bundles, where we act in an agent capacity, only the commission earned is reported as revenue, whereas for PIN-based airtime, where we act as a principal, we recognize the total face value as revenue. At a gross profit level, we saw double-digit growth year-on-year from airtime products sold.

在無 PIN 通話時間和資料包中，我們以代理身份行事，僅將賺取的佣金報告為收入，而對於基於 PIN 通話時間，我們作為委託人，我們將總面值確認為收入。在毛利水準上，我們看到通話產品銷量較去年同期達到兩位數成長。

As mentioned previously, international money transfers is a very low-margin product for us, limiting the impact on profitability. Also note that quarter 2 is our strongest quarter due to seasonality. It includes the December holiday period where trading activity is higher than in other months.

如前所述，國際匯款對我們來說是一種利潤率非常低的產品，限制了對獲利能力的影響。另請注意，由於季節性原因，第二季度是我們表現最強勁的季度。其中包括 12 月假期期間，交易活動高於其他月份。

Merchant adjusted EBITDA increased 7% year-on-year to ZAR 159 million. The year-on-year growth is impacted by the prior year base effect. The prior year Q3 2023 included ZAR 6 million of EBITDA, which related to hardware sales in our NUETS business compared to ZAR 1 million this quarter. This business is dependent on client CapEx cycles. In addition, FY '23 Q3 included ZAR 6 million of EBITDA related to Kazang Pay Advance, our credit offering to micro merchants, which remains under development with our aim to relaunch in fiscal '25.

商家調整後 EBITDA 年成長 7%，達到 1.59 億南非蘭特。年比增長受到上年基數效應的影響。上一年 2023 年第三季包括 600 萬南非蘭特的 EBITDA，這與我們 NUETS 業務的硬體銷售相關，而本季為 100 萬南非蘭特。該業務取決於客戶資本支出週期。此外，23 財年第三季包括與Kazang Pay Advance 相關的600 萬南非蘭特EBITDA，這是我們向微型商家提供的信貸服務，該服務仍在開發中，我們的目標是在25 財年重新啟動。

Excluding the impact of NUETS and Kazang Pay Advance, year-on-year merchant adjusted EBITDA growth is 16%. We are pleased with the continued momentum in our Merchant division, delivering growth in revenue and profitability. The Kazang brand is increasingly recognized and respected across the Southern African economy and was awarded the most disruptive Fintech in shaping the informal economy at the Absa Commercial Payments Summit in April 2024.

排除 NUETS 和 Kazang Pay Advance 的影響，商家調整後 EBITDA 年成長 16%。我們對商家部門的持續成長動能感到滿意，實現了收入和獲利能力的成長。Kazang 品牌在南部非洲經濟體中日益受到認可和尊重，並在 2024 年 4 月舉行的 Absa 商業支付高峰會上被授予塑造非正規經濟最具顛覆性的金融科技獎。

Last quarter, I spoke about our Touchsides acquisition from Heineken, which closed on the 30th of April 2024. Touchsides is a leading data insights business with a dominant presence in the licensed tavern vertical. This is an important merchant segment targeted for growth and is highly complementary to Kazang. To date, the integration plan and work between Touchsides and our merchant division has been extremely encouraging.

上個季度，我談到了我們從 Heineken 收購 Touchsides 的事宜，該收購於 2024 年 4 月 30 日完成。Touchsides 是一家領先的數據洞察公司，在特許酒館垂直領域佔據主導地位。這是一個以成長為目標的重要商業領域，與卡贊具有高度互補性。到目前為止，Touchsides 和我們的商業部門之間的整合計劃和工作非常令人鼓舞。

Earlier this week, we announced the Adumo acquisition, which is subject to shareholder and regulatory approval. This will significantly bolster our merchant offering. This acquisition deepens our market penetration and broadens our product offering in the Merchant division.

本週早些時候，我們宣布了對 Adumo 的收購，該收購尚需股東和監管機構的批准。這將顯著增強我們的商家產品。此次收購加深了我們的市場滲透並擴大了我們在商家部門的產品供應。

We are very excited by the opportunity that lies ahead of us as we leverage our fintech platform to innovate and disrupt in the pursuit of serving our targeted customer segments. The acquisition of Touchsides and the announced definitive agreement to acquire Adumo are significant milestones for Lesaka as we build the leading fintech platform in Southern Africa. The augmentation of these product offerings allows for material cross-sell opportunities and further efficiencies in our payments ecosystem.

我們對擺在我們面前的機會感到非常興奮，因為我們利用我們的金融科技平台進行創新和顛覆，以服務我們的目標客戶群。收購 Touchsides 以及宣布收購 Adumo 的最終協議對 Lesaka 來說是重要的里程碑，因為我們在南部非洲建立了領先的金融科技平台。這些產品的增加為我們的支付生態系統帶來了實質的交叉銷售機會並進一步提高了效率。

I would now like to hand over to Lincoln, CEO, Southern Africa, to discuss the performance of the Consumer division.

我現在想請南部非洲執行長林肯討論消費者部門的表現。

Good morning and afternoon, everyone. Thank you, Steve.

大家早安、下午好。謝謝你，史蒂夫。

It's been another successful quarter for the Consumer division as we continue to build on and benefit from the hard work during our restructuring and realignment as a customer and sales focused organization. We saw gross EPE account activations of 63,000, significantly improved from 38,000 last year. We have seen a period of relative stability in the SA Post Office, which has reduced the number of grant beneficiaries switching to alternative financial institutions.

對於消費者部門來說，這是另一個成功的季度，因為我們作為一個以客戶和銷售為中心的組織，在重組和調整過程中繼續努力並從中受益。我們看到 EPE 帳戶總啟動量為 63,000 個，比去年的 38,000 個顯著提高。我們看到南澳郵局經歷了一段相對穩定的時期，這減少了轉向替代金融機構的補助金受益人的數量。

After accounting for churn, which was fairly stable during the quarter, we had 28,000 new account activations. Natural churn is effecter of the grant space as child support grant seize when a child turns 18 and as mortality impacts old age grants. We estimate the net impact to be approximately 10% to 12% per annum.

考慮到本季相當穩定的流失情況後，我們有 28,000 個新帳戶啟動。自然流失是補助金空間的影響因素，因為子女扶養補助金在孩子年滿 18 歲時就會被佔用，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%。

Our onboarding processes and activation rates are continual focus areas for our teams as we build our EPE account base and deliver additional financial services to them. We've seen very, very encouraging results from our digital channel this quarter.

在我們建立 EPE 帳戶基礎並向他們提供額外的金融服務時，我們的入職流程和啟動率是我們團隊持續關注的領域。本季我們的數位管道取得了非常非常令人鼓舞的結果。

We have a USSD and a voice branch or call center, which are becoming more meaningful contributors in our distribution network. Our voice branch averages 12,500 calls per month and is currently responsible for over 4,000 loan initiations per month with a record in March. Our USSD channel is delivering excellent results, processing 43,000 successful lending applications in quarter 3, record electricity and airtime sales in March, over 735,000 dials from 155,000 customers.

我們擁有 USSD 和語音分支機構或呼叫中心，它們正在成為我們的分銷網絡中更有意義的貢獻者。我們的語音分行平均每月接到 12,500 通電話，目前每月處理超過 4,000 筆貸款，3 月創下紀錄。我們的 USSD 管道取得了出色的成果，第三季度成功處理了 43,000 份貸款申請，3 月份的電力和通話時間銷售創紀錄，來自 155,000 名客戶的超過 735,000 個撥號。

Our (inaudible) shows that on average our account holders can spend between ZAR 100 and ZAR 200 in transport and related costs during a loan application, which is material considering the size of the loans. Interacting through our voice branch and USSD channels avoid this expense for our customers. And we will continue to invest in and improve these channels for our customers.

我們的（聽不清楚）表明，我們的帳戶持有人在貸款申請期間平均可以花費 100 至 200 南非蘭特的交通和相關費用，考慮到貸款規模，這一點很重要。透過我們的語音分支和 USSD 管道進行互動可以為我們的客戶避免這筆費用。我們將繼續為客戶投資和改善這些管道。

With our product set, we have the ability to cross-sell into the EPE account base. This is critically important as it has material impact on our ARPU as we deepen our relationships with our account holders.

憑藉我們的產品集，我們有能力向 EPE 客戶群進行交叉銷售。這一點至關重要，因為隨著我們加深與帳戶持有人的關係，它會對我們的 ARPU 產生重大影響。

A year ago, approximately 409,000 EPE account holders also had an EasyPay loan. This has increased to more than 20% to almost 500,000. Account holders that also have an EasyPay insurance policy increased more than 30% compared to last year this time. Account holders that have an EasyPay loan and an EasyPay insurance policy, that is consumer that uses all of our products, went from approximately 148,000 a year ago to more than 212,000 consumers in this quarter, representing a greater than 40% improvement year-on-year.

一年前，大約 409,000 名 EPE 帳戶持有者也獲得了 EasyPay 貸款。這一數字已增加至 20% 以上，達到近 50 萬人。此次同時擁有 EasyPay 保單的帳戶持有人比去年增加了 30% 以上。擁有 EasyPay 貸款和 EasyPay 保單的帳戶持有人，即使用我們所有產品的消費者，從一年前的約 148,000 名消費者增加到本季度的超過 212,000 名消費者，同比增長超過 40%。 。

We ended the quarter with 1.5 million active EPE customers, of which approximately 1.3 million or 87% are core permanent grant recipients. This represents a 17% year-on-year growth in our permanent recipient base with a 1% increase in the temporary grant base.

本季末，我們擁有 150 萬活躍 EPE 客戶，其中約 130 萬（即 87%）是核心永久贈款接受者。這意味著我們的永久受贈人基數年增了 17%，臨時補助金基數也增加了 1%。

As I've discussed on previous calls, Lesaka focuses on 2 growth levers in our consumer division. Firstly, growing our EPE account base, which is a function of improved and more relevant distribution and efficient onboarding and activation processes. A lot of work has gone into our physical branch network and digital channels to improve the customer experience and our internal efficiencies, which is reflecting in our EPE account growth rates mentioned above.

正如我在之前的電話會議中討論過的那樣，Lesaka 重點關注我們消費者部門的兩個成長槓桿。首先，擴大我們的 EPE 客戶群，這是改進和更相關的分銷以及高效的入職和激活流程的結果。我們在實體分行網路和數位管道上投入了大量工作，以改善客戶體驗和內部效率，這反映在我們上述的 EPE 帳戶成長率中。

Secondly, with our product set, we have the ability to cross-sell into the EPE account base. This is critically important as it has a material impact on our ARPU as we deepen our relationship with our account holder.

其次，憑藉我們的產品組合，我們有能力向 EPE 客戶群進行交叉銷售。這一點至關重要，因為隨著我們加深與帳戶持有人的關係，它會對我們的 ARPU 產生重大影響。

Our cross-sell initiatives include training of sales staff and improved technology platform, digital and print marketing initiatives, incentivization, and improved customer experience. I'm very pleased with the results we are seeing, which has led to a 15% increase in ARPU to approximately ZAR 90 over the past year despite no increase in EPE account fees and a material increase in EPE account numbers. Our EasyPay loan book increased 28% year-on-year to ZAR 509 million. Gross advances for the quarter of ZAR 416 million were up 30% compared to quarter 3 last year. Our loan loss ratio remained stable at approximately 6% on an annualized basis.

我們的交叉銷售計劃包括銷售人員培訓和改進的技術平台、數位和印刷行銷計劃、激勵和改善的客戶體驗。我對我們所看到的結果感到非常滿意，儘管 EPE 帳戶費用沒有增加，而且 EPE 帳戶數量大幅增加，但 ARPU 在過去一年中增長了 15%，達到約 90 南非蘭特。我們的 EasyPay 貸款總額年增 28% 至 5.09 億南非蘭特。該季度的預付款總額為 4.16 億南非蘭特，與去年第三季相比成長了 30%。以年化計算，我們的貸款損失率穩定在6%左右。

The excellent momentum in adoption of our EasyPay insurance product continued in this quarter with active policies increasing to 414,000 at quarter end, a growth of 34% from last year. Our insurance book penetration increased from approximately 25% a year ago to over 30% at the end of Q3, whilst retaining its very high premium collection rate of 96% and a low annual lapse rate of approximately 7% compared to the industry reported annual lapse rate of over 22% per year.

本季度，EasyPay 保險產品的採用持續保持良好勢頭，截至季度末，活躍保單數量增至 414,000 份，較去年增長 34%。我們的保險帳簿滲透率從一年前的約25% 增至第三季末的30% 以上，同時保持了96% 的極高保費收取率以及與行業報告的年失效率相比約7% 的低年失效率年增率超過22%。

I get so excited when I see these results as well as the quality of our books. It is evident that all the planning and hard work of our teams across the country is paying off. Importantly, it is also evidenced that our grant beneficiaries recognized the value of our offerings and that we are making a real difference in their lives.

當我看到這些結果以及我們書籍的品質時，我感到非常興奮。顯然，我們全國各地團隊的所有規劃和辛勤工作正在得到回報。重要的是，還有證據表明我們的贈款受益人認識到我們產品的價值，並且我們正在為他們的生活帶來真正的改變。

With our rightsized cost base and key operational metrics all improving, the consumer division has become a significant contributor to Lesaka's performance. Our revenues have improved 19% year-on-year. And with our operational leverage, we have increased our segment adjusted EBITDA to ZAR 82 million, up from ZAR 30 million a year ago. I would like to congratulate the team on an excellent result.

隨著我們調整成本基礎和關鍵營運指標的全面改善，消費者部門已成為 Lesaka 績效的重要貢獻者。我們的營收年增了 19%。憑藉我們的營運槓桿，我們將部門調整後 EBITDA 從一年前的 3,000 萬南非蘭特增至 8,200 萬南非蘭特。我謹祝賀團隊取得優異成績。

Taking off my consumer head for a moment as Southern Africa CEO, I'd like to warmly welcome all the employees of Adumo and Paul into the group. We're extremely excited about joining forces with you as we build a leading fintech platform in Southern Africa. We see growth and opportunity in all of our markets and look forward to capturing this as we integrate our businesses.

身為南部非洲首席執行官，我暫時拋開消費者的頭腦，熱烈歡迎 Adumo 和 Paul 的所有員工加入集團。我們非常高興能與您攜手在南部非洲建立領先的金融科技平台。我們在所有市場中都看到了成長和機遇，並期待在整合業務時抓住這一點。

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 result.

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. The third quarter of fiscal 2024 was another quarter of year-on-year growth and improvement in our financial performance, reflecting positive operational momentum in both divisions. This was achieved despite a challenging trading environment in South Africa. We also made strategic progress positioning Lesaka as a leading fintech.

謝謝你，林肯。2024 財年第三季度是我們財務業績年增和改善的又一季度，反映出兩個部門的積極營運動能。儘管南非的貿易環境充滿挑戰，但仍實現了這一目標。我們也取得了策略進展，將 Lesaka 定位為領先的金融科技公司。

Ali and Steve spoke about the Touchsides and Adumo acquisitions, which both scale and broaden our product offering. Another key strategic objective is the reduction of the net debt and leverage with an improvement in generating positive cash flow from operating activities and significant growth in the group adjusted EBITDA. A year ago, we were in a cash burn position, but we have moved to a position where our net cash provided by operating activities was ZAR 118 million this quarter compared to net cash used in operating activities of ZAR 92 million last year.

Ali 和 Steve 談到了 Touchsides 和 Adumo 的收購，這些收購既擴大了我們的產品範圍，也拓寬了我們的產品範圍。另一個關鍵策略目標是減少淨債務和槓桿，改善經營活動產生的正現金流以及集團調整後 EBITDA 的顯著成長。一年前，我們處於現金消耗狀態，但本季我們經營活動提供的淨現金為 1.18 億南非蘭特，而去年經營活動使用的淨現金為 9,200 萬南非蘭特。

As a reminder, Lesaka is a domestic filer in the United States. We report results in U.S. dollars under U.S. GAAP. However, our operational currency is South African rand. And as such, we analyze our performance in South African rand.

提醒一下，Lesaka 是美國的國內申報人。我們在 U.S. 下以美元報告結果公認會計準則。然而，我們的營運貨幣是南非蘭特。因此，我們分析了南非蘭特的表現。

Turning to our revenue and group adjusted EBITDA for the quarter, we grew revenue at 9% year-on-year from ZAR 2.4 billion to ZAR 2.6 billion, which is marginally lower than our guidance range of ZAR 2.7 billion to ZAR 2.8 billion. As Steve mentioned earlier, this relates to an increase in the percentage of PIN-less or direct top-up airtime and data bundles being sold versus PIN-based or voucher airtime.

就本季的營收和集團調整後 EBITDA 而言，我們的營收年增 9%，從 24 億蘭特增至 26 億蘭特，略低於我們 27 億蘭特至 28 億蘭特的指導範圍。正如 Steve 之前提到的，這與銷售無 PIN 碼或直接充值通話時間和資料包的百分比相對於基於 PIN 碼或優惠券通話時間的百分比增加有關。

On PIN-less airtime and data bundles, we act as an agent capacity. Only the commission earned is reported as revenue. For PIN-based airtime, will act as a principal and recognize the total face value as revenue. Our revenue is marginally lower than guidance as PIN-less airtime was higher than PIN-based airtime compared to the assumptions when we set out our guidance last year. Revenue was also slightly impacted by the change in mix with international money transfers reducing due to a change in regulatory environment. Although this impacted the revenue result at the gross profit level, we exceeded forecast, and on a group adjusted EBITDA, we exceeded the upper end of guidance.

在無 PIN 通話時間和資料包中，我們充當代理角色。僅將賺取的佣金報告為收入。對於基於 PIN 的通話時間，將充當委託人並將總面值確認為收入。我們的收入略低於指導意見，因為與我們去年制定指導意見時的假設相比，無 PIN 碼通話時間高於基於 PIN 碼的通話時間。由於監管環境的變化，國際匯款減少，收入也受到了結構變化的輕微影響。儘管這影響了毛利水準的收入結果，但我們超出了預期，就集團調整後的 EBITDA 而言，我們超出了指導上限。

It is important to note the change in the calculation of group adjusted EBITDA. These expenses, which were previously excluded from the calculation of group adjusted EBITDA, that is below the group adjusted EBITDA line, have now been included in the calculation of the group adjusted EBITDA that is above the line. This change is in response to the comments received from the staff of the SEC in March 2024 regarding our non-GAAP financial reporting. Comparative information has been adjusted to conform for the updated presentation.

值得注意的是集團調整後 EBITDA 計算的變化。這些費用之前被排除在低於集團調整後 EBITDA 線的集團調整後 EBITDA 計算之外，現在已包含在高於該線的集團調整後 EBITDA 計算中。這項變更是為了回應 SEC 工作人員在 2024 年 3 月收到的有關我們的非 GAAP 財務報告的評論。比較資訊已進行調整，以符合更新的簡報。

We reported our Q3 guidance last quarter for group adjusted EBITDA range at ZAR 170 million to ZAR 190 million. This would have been ZAR 155 million to ZAR 175 million if we included the lease expenses in the calculation of group adjusted EBITDA. On this basis, group adjusted EBITDA of $183 million for the quarter exceeded the upper end of guidance. It was strongly up year-on-year, increasing 47% compared to $125 million in Q3 2023.

我們上季報告的第三季集團調整後 EBITDA 範圍為 1.7 億南非蘭特至 1.9 億南非蘭特。如果我們將租賃費用納入集團調整後 EBITDA 的計算中，則該數字為 1.55 億南非蘭特至 1.75 億南非蘭特。在此基礎上，該季度集團調整後 EBITDA 為 1.83 億美元，超出了指導上限。年比強勁成長，與 2023 年第三季的 1.25 億美元相比成長了 47%。

From a balance sheet perspective, leverage ratios improved as we focus on reducing debt and growing group adjusted EBITDA. I am pleased to report that we continue to see improvement in our net debt-to-group adjusted EBITDA ratio, which reduced to 2.6x at quarter end compared to 2.9x at the end of quarter 2 2024 and 4.2x a year ago.

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，我們繼續看到淨債務與集團調整後 EBITDA 比率有所改善，季度末該比率降至 2.6 倍，而 2024 年第二季度末為 2.9 倍，一年前為 4.2 倍。

Looking at consolidated income statement for the quarter, we grew revenue by 9% to ZAR 2.61 billion compared to Q3 2023. In U.S. dollars, consolidated revenue was $138 million for the quarter, up 3% compared to $135 million in Q3 2023, negatively impacted by the 5% depreciation of the rand against the dollar over the period. Operating income increased to ZAR 15 million compared to an operating loss of ZAR 33 million a year ago. Operating income for Q3 2024 includes ZAR 12 million or $0.6 million once-off transaction costs related to the acquisition of Adumo. Depreciation and amortization of ZAR 109 million includes ZAR 67 million related to amortization of acquired intangibles from the Connect Group acquisition. Acquired asset amortization is both a non-operational and a non-cash charge.

從本季的合併損益表來看，與 2023 年第三季相比，我們的營收成長了 9%，達到 26.1 億南非蘭特。以美元計算，本季合併營收為 1.38 億美元，較 2023 年第三季的 1.35 億美元成長 3%，受到蘭特兌美元同期貶值 5% 的負面影響。營業收入增至 1,500 萬南非蘭特，而一年前營業虧損為 3,300 萬南非蘭特。2024 年第三季的營業收入包括 1,200 萬南非蘭特或與收購 Adumo 相關的一次性交易成本 60 萬美元。1.09 億南非蘭特的折舊和攤銷包括 6,700 萬南非蘭特，與收購 Connect Group 所獲得的無形資產的攤銷有關。所獲得的資產攤銷既是非營運費用也是非現金費用。

Our net interest expense decreased 8% to ZAR 75 million in Q3 2024 from ZAR 81 million in Q2 2024 through further cash optimization measures across the group. The benchmark interest rate in South Africa remained unchanged over this period. Similarly, Q3 2024 versus Q3 2023 decreased 8% to further cash optimization measures despite the increase in the benchmark interest rate in South Africa in Q3 2024 compared to Q3 2023.

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 年第二季的 8,100 萬南非蘭特下降 8%，至 2024 年第三季的 7,500 萬南非蘭特。南非基準利率在此期間維持不變。同樣，儘管南非 2024 年第三季的基準利率較 2023 年第三季有所上升，但為了進一步實施現金優化措施，2024 年第三季較 2023 年第三季下降了 8%。

Net income before tax, but excluding the non-operational and noncash PPA charge, improved year-on-year to ZAR 8 million compared to a loss of ZAR 53 million in Q3 2023. Net loss before tax narrowed to ZAR 60 million for Q3 2024 compared to a net loss of ZAR 120 million a year ago, a 50% year-on-year improvement, which would have been greater but for the ZAR 12 million once-off transaction costs related to the acquisition of Adumo.

稅前淨利（不包括非營運和非現金購電協議費用）年增至 800 萬南非蘭特，而 2023 年第三季為虧損 5,300 萬南非蘭特。與一年前的淨虧損1.2 億南非蘭特相比，2024 年第三季稅前淨虧損收窄至6,000 萬南非蘭特，年增50%，如果沒有1,200 萬南非蘭特的一次性交易，這一數字本來會更大與收購 Adumo 相關的費用。

Net loss before tax in Q2 2024 included ZAR 18 million, $1 million noncash gain related to the release of foreign currency translation reserve upon liquidation of a dormant subsidiary. Excluding the impact of these one-off costs, net loss improved 8% in Q3 2024 compared to Q2 2024.

2024 年第二季的稅前淨虧損包括 1,800 萬南非蘭特，以及與休眠子公司清算後釋放外幣換算儲備金相關的 100 萬美元非現金收益。排除這些一次性成本的影響，2024 年第三季的淨虧損比 2024 年第二季減少了 8%。

Net income before taxes, adding back the ZAR 67 million related to amortization of acquired intangibles for the quarter and ZAR 12 million of one-off cost, is ZAR 20 million compared to a loss of ZAR 53 million in Q3 2023.

稅前淨利潤，加上與本季收購無形資產攤銷相關的6,700 萬南非蘭特和一次性成本1,200 萬南非蘭特，為2,000 萬南非蘭特，而2023 年第三季虧損5,300 萬南非蘭特。

At a divisional level, Merchant delivered an 8% revenue increase year-on-year. Quarter-on-quarter revenue reduced 5% due to seasonality, with quarter 2 benefiting from the higher volumes over the main holiday and festive season.

在部門層面，Merchant 的營收年增 8%。由於季節性因素，季度收入下降了 5%，第二季度受益於主要假期和節日期間銷售的增加。

In the Consumer division, revenues grew 19% year-on-year and 8% quarter-on-quarter. We saw good momentum in the EPE account activations in the last 2 quarters, which, coupled with effective loan and insurance cross-selling initiatives, has led to a very encouraging result. Year-on-year, the Merchant division reported a segment adjusted EBITDA of ZAR 159 million compared to ZAR 149 million in Q3 2023.

消費者部門的營收年增 19%，季增 8%。我們看到過去兩個季度 EPE 帳戶啟動的良好勢頭，再加上有效的貸款和保險交叉銷售舉措，帶來了非常令人鼓舞的結果。與去年同期相比，商家部門報告的部門調整後 EBITDA 為 1.59 億南非蘭特，而 2023 年第三季為 1.49 億南非蘭特。

Excluding the impact of NUETS and Kazang Pay Advance, which together contributed ZAR 12 million in the prior year versus ZAR 1 million this year, year-on-year merchant adjusted EBITDA growth was 16%.

剔除 NUETS 和 Kazang Pay Advance 的影響（上年度合計貢獻 1,200 萬南非蘭特，今年貢獻 100 萬南非蘭特），商戶調整後 EBITDA 較去年同期成長 16%。

The Consumer division delivered a segment adjusted EBITDA of ZAR 82 million for Q3 2024 compared to ZAR 30 million for Q3 2023, equating to a 178% increase benefiting from strong revenue growth and cost saving initiatives implemented in FY 2023.

消費者部門2024 年第三季的部門調整後EBITDA 為8,200 萬南非蘭特，而2023 年第三季為3,000 萬南非蘭特，相當於成長了178%，受益於強勁的營收成長和2023 財年實施的成本節約措施。

Quarter-on-quarter, the Consumer division grew segment adjusted EBITDA by 49%. Strategic initiatives to grow the Consumer division and deepen our relationship with consumers through cross-selling are yielding positive results.

消費者部門調整後 EBITDA 較上季成長 49%。透過交叉銷售發展消費者部門並加深與消費者關係的策略舉措正在取得積極成果。

Group cost of ZAR 42 million were flat compared to Q3 2023. We experienced continued improvement in our financial performance in the third quarter of 2024 with profitability improving 9% quarter-on-quarter and 47% year-on-year. Sequential quarter-on-quarter growth at the group level was achieved despite the seasonal trends that led to a stronger quarter 2 in both divisions due to the higher-than-average transaction volumes in December.

集團成本為 4,200 萬南非蘭特，與 2023 年第三季相比持平。2024 年第三季度，我們的財務表現持續改善，獲利能力較上季提高 9%，年增 47%。儘管由於 12 月交易量高於平均水平，季節性趨勢導致兩個部門第二季度表現強勁，但集團層面仍實現了環比增長。

Fundamental earnings per share, which excludes nonoperating items, continued its strong growth momentum in Q3, improving 73% quarter-on-quarter to $0.45 and up over 100% from a loss of $0.35 a year ago. In management's view, this is the appropriate earnings per share measure given the adjustment for one-off items, nonrepeatable items, PPA amortization and other noncash items.

剔除非經營項目的每股基本收益在第三季度繼續保持強勁增長勢頭，環比增長 73% 至 0.45 美元，比一年前的虧損 0.35 美元增長超過 100%。管理層認為，考慮到對一次性專案、不可重複專案、購電協議攤銷和其他非現金專案的調整，這是適當的每股收益衡量標準。

As an indication of the transformation of Lesaka on a year-to-date basis, fundamental earnings per share is at ZAR 0.64 compared to a loss of ZAR 1.87 last year this time, a swing of ZAR 2.51 per share. From a cash flow perspective, we saw continued momentum, achieving positive net cash provided by operating activities. We reported ZAR 362 million in net cash provided by operating activities. However, this includes ZAR 244 million related to Kazang Pay, which is unusually high given Q3 ended on an Easter Sunday, so included 3 days of unsettled trading. Excluding the impact thereof, the net cash provided by operating activities of ZAR 118 million for the quarter compared to ZAR 75 million in quarter 2 and a net cash used in operating activities of ZAR 92 million a year ago.

作為 Lesaka 年初至今轉型的標誌，每股基本收益為 0.64 南非蘭特，而去年同期虧損 1.87 蘭特，每股波動 2.51 南非蘭特。從現金流的角度來看，我們看到了持續的勢頭，實現了經營活動提供的正淨現金。我們報告經營活動提供的淨現金為 3.62 億南非蘭特。然而，這包括與 Kazang Pay 相關的 2.44 億南非蘭特，考慮到第三季於復活節週日結束，這一數字異常高，因此包括 3 天未結算的交易。排除其影響，本季經營活動提供的現金淨額為 1.18 億南非蘭特，而第二季為 7,500 萬南非蘭特，一年前經營活動使用的淨現金為 9,200 萬南非蘭特。

On a year-to-date basis, cash provided by operating activities is ZAR 190 million for the past 3 quarters compared to ZAR 163 million net cash used in operating activities in the first 3 quarters of last year.

年初至今，過去三個季度經營活動提供的現金為 1.9 億南非蘭特，而去年前三個季度經營活動使用的淨現金為 1.63 億南非蘭特。

I'm extremely proud of our team's hard work in the transformational turnaround from a cash burn 12 months ago to a positive cash quarter after quarter today. We generated ZAR 175 million operating cash flow before interest paid, tax paid, working capital-related items and the movement in loan book funding. We define this as the cash generated from business operations and consider it an appropriate indicator of our conversion of EBITDA to cash. This is an increase of 24% compared to ZAR 141 million generated in Q3 2023.

我對我們團隊的辛勤工作感到非常自豪，他們從 12 個月前的現金消耗轉變為今天一個又一個季度的正現金流。我們產生了 1.75 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資金變動之前。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 年第三季的 1.41 億南非蘭特相比，成長了 24%。

The ZAR 70 million movement in the loan book funding relates primarily to the net growth in the Capital Connect business over the quarter. As discussed earlier, our working capital was impacted by the quarter end falling on Easter Sunday. Excluding the impact thereof, net cash generated in working capital before interest activities was ZAR 62 million for the quarter compared to ZAR 30 million in net cash utilized last quarter.

貸款帳簿資金的 7,000 萬南非蘭特變動主要與本季資本通業務的淨成長有關。如前所述，我們的營運資金受到復活節週日季度末的影響。排除其影響，本季利息活動前營運資本產生的淨現金為 6,200 萬南非蘭特，而上季使用的淨現金為 3,000 萬南非蘭特。

As mentioned, we are pleased with the cash generation of our business and the progress we have made in this regard. Our actual cash on hand at quarter end was ZAR 1 billion. However, adjusted for the ZAR 244 million related to working capital settlement on Kazang Pay, net cash was ZAR 798 million. Our net debt-to-EBITDA ratio is calculated as a net debt at the specific date divided by the annualized group adjusted EBITDA for the quarter. For Q3 2024, this improved to 2.6x compared to 4.2x a year ago and 2.9x at the end of quarter 2, another very pleasing improvement.

如前所述，我們對我們業務的現金產生以及我們在這方面取得的進展感到滿意。季度末我們實際手頭現金為 10 億南非蘭特。然而，在調整與 Kazang Pay 營運資金結算相關的 2.44 億南非蘭特後，淨現金為 7.98 億南非蘭特。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 年第三季度，這一數字與一年前的 4.2 倍和第二季度末的 2.9 倍相比提高至 2.6 倍，這是另一個非常令人高興的改進。

Capital expenditure for the quarter amounted to ZAR 56 million with ZAR 46 million relating to growth CapEx, primarily in the Merchant division relating to Kazang devices and cash vaults, both of which deliver strong IRRs. We are very encouraged by 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 that we did in FY '23.

本季的資本支出為 5,600 萬南非蘭特，其中 4,600 萬南非蘭特與成長資本支出相關，主要是與 Kazang 設備和現金庫相關的商業部門，這兩個部門都提供了強勁的 IRR。我們對本季的整體業績感到非常鼓舞，因為我們看到消費者部門的全部潛力受益於我們在 23 財年所做的費用削減帶來的收入成長和利潤率擴張。

In the Merchant division continuing its growth of key KPI metrics, we have an exciting journey ahead of us, building on this platform and accelerating our growth through the opportunities from Touchsides and Adumo.

在商家部門繼續關鍵 KPI 指標的成長中，我們前面有一段激動人心的旅程，在此平台上進行構建，並透過 Touchsides 和 Adumo 的機會加速我們的成長。

For the full financial year 2024, we reaffirm our revenue guidance of between ZAR 10.7 billion and ZAR 11.7 billion. However, due to the mix of PIN and PIN-less data and airtime sales differing from our forecast and the resulting impact of the revenue due to the accounting treatment of each, we anticipate coming in at the lower end of the guidance range. This only impacts the revenue recognition of data and airtime sales, not profitability thereof.

對於 2024 年整個財年，我們重申營收指引為 107 億蘭特至 117 億蘭特。然而，由於 PIN 和無 PIN 數據以及通話時間銷售的混合與我們的預測不同，以及由於每個數據的會計處理而對收入產生的影響，我們預計將處於指導範圍的下限。這僅影響數據和通話銷售的收入確認，而不影響其獲利能力。

Turning to group adjusted EBITDA guidance. For FY '24, we are raising our group adjusted EBITDA guidance. Previously, we excluded lease expenses from the calculation of group adjusted EBITDA and we guided that our group adjusted EBITDA, excluding the impact of lease expenses for FY '24, would be between ZAR 680 million to ZAR 740 million. On the same basis, that is excluding the impact of lease expenses, our group adjusted EBITDA is now expected to be higher at between ZAR 740 million to ZAR 760 million.

轉向集團調整後的 EBITDA 指導。對於 24 財年，我們正在提高集團調整後 EBITDA 指引值。先前，我們在集團調整後EBITDA 的計算中排除了租賃費用，並且我們預計，排除24 財年租賃費用的影響，我們集團調整後的EBITDA 將在6.8 億南非蘭特至7.4 億南非蘭特之間。在同樣的基礎上，排除租賃費用的影響，我們集團調整後的 EBITDA 目前預計將達到 7.4 億南非蘭特至 7.6 億南非蘭特之間。

As mentioned, we received a comment from the SEC during Q3 regarding our non-GAAP reporting, specifically relating to group adjusted EBITDA. It is important to note comparative information for our group adjusted EBITDA has been adjusted to conform for the updated presentation. And going forward, group adjusted EBITDA and the guidance thereof will include the impact of lease expenses. On this basis, group adjusted EBITDA, including lease expenses, we expect it to be between ZAR 685 million to ZAR 705 million for FY '24 compared to ZAR 446 million for FY '23. This represents more than a 50% growth year-on-year.

如前所述，我們在第三季收到了 SEC 關於我們的非 GAAP 報告的評論，特別是與集團調整後 EBITDA 相關的評論。值得注意的是，我們集團調整後的 EBITDA 的比較資訊已調整，以符合更新的簡報。展望未來，集團調整後的 EBITDA 及其指引將包括租賃費用的影響。在此基礎上，集團調整後的 EBITDA（包括租賃費用），我們預計 24 財年將在 6.85 億南非蘭特至 7.05 億南非蘭特之間，而 23 財年為 4.46 億南非蘭特。這意味著同比增長超過 50%。

This guidance excludes the impact of the anticipated completion of Adumo transaction. We will provide our guidance for FY '25 in September when we report our results for the year ended 30 June 2024.

本指引不包括預期完成 Adumo 交易的影響。我們將在 9 月報告截至 2024 年 6 月 30 日的年度業績時提供 25 財年的指導。

Thank you for attending our Q3 results presentation. We'll now address any questions you may have for the team.

感謝您參加我們的第三季業績發表會。我們現在將解決您向團隊提出的任何問題。

(Operator Instructions) And now we're going to take our first question from Frank Geng of Briarwood.

（操作員說明） 現在我們將回答來自 Briarwood 的 Frank Geng 的第一個問題。

Congrats on the quarter, everyone, and on the Adumo transaction. Just wanted to quickly ask on the Adumo deal. Any indications on the valuation of the deal? Anything on sort of the historical growth rates on the asset in the past? And indication of when the deal might be done and sort of the process from here?

恭喜本季、所有人以及 Adumo 交易。只是想快速詢問有關阿杜莫交易的情況。有關交易估值的任何跡象嗎？有關該資產過去的歷史增長率的資訊嗎？並表明交易何時可以完成以及從這裡開始的流程排序？

So the purchase consideration implies an EV to EBITDA multiple of approximately 9x. And then on the core Adumo business, has a stand-alone growth profile of circa 20% normalized year-on-year EBITDA growth in rand terms. In terms of process, the transaction is subject to shareholder approval, and there is a process that needs to be gone through in that respect. We've commenced the process to prepare for the shareholder meeting, and it's expected to culminate in a meeting in August with proxy materials expected to be circulated in late June. And those materials will contain substantially more details regarding Adumo's business and will include its historical financial statements and the required unaudited pro forma statements.

因此，購買考量意味著 EV 與 EBITDA 的倍數約為 9 倍。然後，在核心 Adumo 業務上，以蘭特計算，正常化 EBITDA 年成長約 20%。從流程上看，本次交易須經股東批准，需要走一個流程。我們已經開始籌備股東大會，預計在 8 月舉行一次會議，代理材料預計將在 6 月下旬分發。這些資料將包含有關 Adumo 業務的更多詳細信息，並將包括其歷史財務報表和所需的未經審計的備考報表。

Our next question comes from Raj Sharma of B. Riley Securities.

我們的下一個問題來自 B. Riley Securities 的 Raj Sharma。

So I'd like to ask a few questions on the Adumo deal. Firstly, just what is the -- what was and what is the strategic rationale for doing the deal?

所以我想問一些關於阿杜莫交易的問題。首先，交易的戰略理由是什麼？

So I mean, I think, Raj, the presentation sort of outlined aspects of that. I think there is clearly benefits associated with the augmentation of the talent pool, benefits associated with the scale, benefits associated with reinforcing our position also in neighboring geographies. But the core benefit is that the business has augmentative qualities in both the consumer and the merchant divisions. And what I would like to do is probably ask Lincoln in that respect to talk on the consumer side and Steve on the merchant side.

所以我的意思是，拉吉，我的演講概述了這一點。我認為，顯然有與擴大人才庫相關的好處、與規模相關的好處、與加強我們在鄰近地區的地位相關的好處。但核心好處是，該業務在消費者和商業部門都有增強的品質。我想做的可能是請林肯在消費者方面談論這方面的問題，並請史蒂夫在商人方面談論這方面的問題。

Thanks so much, Ali. Right. If you think about our consumer business, we have been laser focused on the consumer grant space where we've got more than 1.5 million active customers. We've been asked a number of times as to when will we start to think of a broader market outside the grant space. What this does is to start to give us an eye into that base. With Adumo Payouts -- they've got about 245,000 active customers that they've got through our Adumo Payouts.

非常感謝，阿里。正確的。如果您考慮我們的消費者業務，您會發現我們一直專注於消費者補助領域，我們在該領域擁有超過 150 萬活躍客戶。我們多次被問到何時開始考慮資助空間之外更廣泛的市場。這樣做的目的是讓我們開始關注這個基地。借助 Adumo Payouts，他們透過 Adumo Payouts 獲得了大約 245,000 名活躍客戶。

We can start to now see that as where we can start to put credit in insurance, whereas in other solutions, into that base. So it starts to move our customer base from the 1.5 million active customers that we have to now 1.7 million customers and start to give us the opportunities to go beyond the social grant space while we still have the engine of the EPE base and our core focus, but it starts to give us an opportunity to broaden our business beyond that. Steve?

我們現在可以開始將其視為我們可以開始將信貸投入保險的地方，而在其他解決方案中，我們可以開始將信貸投入該基礎。因此，它開始將我們的客戶群從我們現有的150 萬活躍客戶轉移到現在的170 萬客戶，並開始為我們提供超越社會補助空間的機會，同時我們仍然擁有EPE 基礎的引擎和我們的核心重點，但它開始給我們一個擴大業務範圍的機會。史蒂夫？

From a merchant perspective, and I think Ali touched that the exciting thing from a former merchant perspective is it gives us much deeper penetration in terms of that particular segment. And it takes us now to servicing in the formal segment north of 290-odd-thousand merchants. It significantly bolsters our card acquiring capability in the formal merchant space as well as taking us into the software point-of-sales business.

從商人的角度來看，我認為阿里從前商人的角度來看令人興奮的事情是它使我們在該特定細分市場方面有了更深入的滲透。現在，我們開始為 29 萬多家商家以北的正規市場提供服務。它大大增強了我們在正規商家領域的卡收單能力，並將我們帶入軟體銷售點業務。

I think further to that, the opportunity for us to take our cash, our VASs and our credit offering across the channel is further broadened and it enhances our unit economics, both in terms of our cost of client acquisition as well as our lifetime value from a customer perspective. So as you've understood from a merchant perspective, historically, we've had significant growth in our micro merchant space. But in our former merchant space, this gives us, again, real strength in the card and software space which when added to our cash and credit gives us a bundled offering, which we think will allow us to be a lot more competitive as we take our offering to this niche.

我進一步認為，我們跨通路獲取現金、加值服務和信貸產品的機會進一步擴大，並且提高了我們的單位經濟效益，無論是在客戶獲取成本方面，還是在客戶終身價值方面。正如您從商家的角度所理解的那樣，從歷史上看，我們的微型商家領域取得了顯著的成長。但在我們以前的商業領域，這再次為我們帶來了卡片和軟體領域的真正實力，當添加到我們的現金和信貸中時，這為我們提供了捆綁產品，我們認為這將使我們在採取行動時更具競爭力。

I have a couple of questions, if I can, for Naeem. Are you assuming any debt with the transaction? Can you talk about the terms on the debt, and would you look to refinance it? And then also I have a question on you funding the cash portion of proceeds via internal financing. Can you elaborate on that, please?

如果可以的話，我有幾個問題想問納伊姆。您是否在交易中承擔任何債務？您能談談債務條款嗎？我還有一個關於您透過內部融資為收益的現金部分提供資金的問題。能詳細說明一下嗎？

Raj, yes. So look, I think to answer the question, I'll answer the second part first. In terms of the cash funding internally, we are in the process of selling down our position as you're aware on the (inaudible) stock that we hold. And we're fairly confident that we'd be able to use that to fund a cash portion of the proceeds that we need to do.

拉吉，是的。所以看，我想回答這個問題，我會先回答第二部分。就內部現金融資而言，如您所知，我們正在出售我們持有的（聽不清楚）股票。我們非常有信心能夠用它來資助我們需要做的收益的現金部分。

In terms of the debt, the debt position on Adumo is quite low. And we have facilities in place under our current structure to be able to fund a further portion to settle some of the funding requirements that we need. So we're not seeing or expecting any increase in cost of funding. We are seeing this to be beneficial to us from an overall leverage ratio as well.

從債務來看，Adumo 的債務狀況相當低。我們在目前的結構下擁有適當的設施，能夠提供更多資金來滿足我們所需的一些資金需求。因此，我們沒有看到或預期融資成本會增加。我們認為，從整體槓桿率來看，這也對我們有利。

And then just last question. Would Adumo's EBITDA profitability compare more to the merchant or to consumer in terms of the margins?

然後是最後一個問題。就利潤率而言，Adumo 的 EBITDA 獲利能力與商家或消費者相比是否更高？

It's definitely more aligned towards the merchant side of the business. Most of their products are very similar to our merchant side of the business, Raj.

它肯定更適合商家方面的業務。他們的大多數產品與我們的商業部門 Raj 非常相似。

And would you also have the airtime fees in the principal agency issue with Adumo?

您是否還會在與 Adumo 的主要代理問題中收取通話費？

We see that as an opportunity because currently, the Adumo business does not do any VAS services through their channels. That definitely will be one of our cross-sell opportunities that we would add on to their platform. So that would be an opportunity for us. And I think if the question is that are we going to have this PIN versus PIN-less, it is something that we would need to forecast a lot more accurately.

我們認為這是一個機會，因為目前 Adumo 業務並未透過其管道提供任何增值服務。這肯定是我們添加到他們平台上的交叉銷售機會之一。所以這對我們來說是一個機會。我認為，如果問題是我們將使用 PIN 碼還是無 PIN 碼，那麼我們需要更準確地預測。

Our next question comes from [Sven Thorson Banker]. He submitted, consumer has seen remarkable growth in full year '24 with margins widening significantly. Loan insurance penetration rates are up considerably. How much scope is there to increase these penetration rates?

我們的下一個問題來自[斯文·托森·班克]。他表示，2024 年全年消費者成長顯著，利潤率顯著擴大。貸款保險滲透率大幅上升。提高這些滲透率的空間有多大？

I think there are opportunities. We have got our staff well trained. I think they are engaging with our customers. We can penetrate more into our base. And I think that when you start to see how ARPU has grown, it means that there is more opportunity to penetrate in that base and more of an opportunity for us to have more cross-sell opportunities. So we do see still much more scope. You see, what, 30% on the insurance side. So there is space to do much more in there, and we are focused on that a lot.

我認為有機會。我們的員工訓練有素。我認為他們正在與我們的客戶互動。我們可以更深入地滲透到我們的基地。我認為，當你開始看到 ARPU 的成長情況時，這意味著我們有更多的機會滲透到這個基礎，也意味著我們有更多的機會獲得更多的交叉銷售機會。所以我們確實看到了更大的範圍。你看，保險方面有 30%。因此，那裡有空間可以做更多的事情，我們非常關注這一點。

And I think we've shared for the first time where the EPE plus loan plus insurance looks like now, and you can see the scope for that to grow in the short and medium term.

我認為我們第一次分享了 EPE 加貸款加保險現在的樣子，你可以看到它在短期和中期的成長空間。

And our final question today comes from Theo O'Neill of Hill's research.

今天我們的最後一個問題來自希爾的西奧·奧尼爾的研究。

Okay. Questions for Lincoln here. You mentioned cross-selling a couple of times on the call. And I was wondering did you see anything surprising in the cross-selling success? And what do you see as critical for continuing success in cross-selling?

好的。林肯的問題在這裡。您在電話會議中多次提到交叉銷售。我想知道您在交叉銷售的成功中看到了什麼令人驚訝的事情嗎？您認為交叉銷售持續成功的關鍵是什麼？

No, we're not surprised. It's part of our stated aims. We said up front that we will grow our EPE base and we'd cross-sell into that base. And what we've been doing from a marketing point of view has created the need and the momentum. Secondly, we've invested in digital channel capabilities that enable people now to get a loan through our USSD channel, which we've seen grow and be able to do that through the call center. And thirdly, we've created capacity for lead generation. So that also is helping us. And then lastly and most importantly, training our staff, and now suddenly the customers are giving each other feedback about the benefits that they're getting from Lesaka so that it's not only what you get from a transaction point of view, we can be able now to give you a loan, we can give you an insurance, and we have now added value added services in working with our colleagues at Kazang. So we want to broaden our solution set. And so we see more opportunities going forward.

不，我們並不感到驚訝。這是我們既定目標的一部分。我們事先說過，我們將擴大我們的 EPE 基地，並且我們將向該基地進行交叉銷售。從行銷的角度來看，我們一直在做的事情創造了需求和動力。其次，我們投資了數位通路功能，使人們現在能夠透過我們的 USSD 管道獲得貸款，我們已經看到該管道的成長，並且能夠透過呼叫中心做到這一點。第三，我們創造了潛在客戶開發能力。所以這對我們也有幫助。最後也是最重要的是，培訓我們的員工，現在客戶突然互相反饋他們從 Lesaka 獲得的好處，這樣這不僅是您從交易的角度獲得的，我們還能夠現在為您提供貸款，我們可以為您提供保險，並且我們現在與Kazang 的同事合作提供增值服務。因此，我們希望擴大我們的解決方案集。因此，我們看到未來有更多機會。

And you -- in the prepared remarks, you identified inflation hitting certain expenses. I was wondering if you could give us some more detail on your thoughts there, what you're seeing.

而您，在準備好的演講中，您指出通貨膨脹會影響某些支出。我想知道您是否可以向我們提供更多有關您的想法和所看到的細節。

Sorry, the context of our comment on inflation was really just the impact it has on the retail merchant, and it refers specifically to the formal market where we've seen those merchants have been through a process of COVID. We had the period of disruption in South Africa a year ago and then a dampening in consumer demand. So that was the context of that comment. I hope that answers your question. Yes.

抱歉，我們對通貨膨脹發表評論的背景實際上只是它對零售商的影​​響，它特別指我們看到這些商家經歷了新冠疫情過程的正式市場。一年前，我們在南非經歷了一段混亂時期，然後消費者需求受到抑制。這就是該評論的背景。我希望這能回答你的問題。是的。

Yes, it does.

是的，它確實。

Well, thank you, gentlemen. That concludes the Q&A session. There are no more questions in queue. This concludes the call. So we thank everybody for participating and look forward to our next quarterly update.

好的，謝謝你們，先生們。問答環節到此結束。隊列中沒有更多問題。通話就此結束。因此，我們感謝大家的參與，並期待我們的下一個季度更新。