African online retailer Jumia's Q4 losses narrow on cost savings (Reuters)

JOHANNESBURG, Feb 16 (Reuters) - African e-commerce firm Jumia Technologies said on Thursday that cost savings had helped it reduce fourth quarter losses by 30% from a year earlier, with a further sharp drop expected this year.

Jumia is on an aggressive cost cutting journey that involves headcount reductions, scaling back offerings such as groceries and reducing delivery services not related to its e-commerce business in order to turn profitable.

The company, the first Africa-focused tech start-up to list on the New York Stock Exchange, reported an adjusted loss before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of $49.2 million in the three months ended Dec.31 from $70 million in the same period of 2021.

Chief executive Francis Dufay said in light of the encouraging signs that Jumia's cost cutting initiatives were starting to bear fruit, it expects a sharp reduction in 2023's annual adjusted EBITDA loss to $100-120 million from $207 million in 2022.

The group cut more than 900 jobs in the fourth quarter and also significantly reduced its presence in Dubai, relocating most of its remaining staff to its African offices.

It also significantly reduced its sales and advertising expenditure, by 41% year on year and scaled back its grocery offering in Algeria, Ghana, Senegal and Tunisia to reduce business complexities.

Dufay told investors on a call that Jumia had also discontinued its food delivery operations in Egypt, Ghana and Senegal, saying they were "sub-scale".

While group revenue rose by 7.1% to $66.5 million in the quarter, its marketplace active consumers fell by 15% to 3.2 million as rising inflation squeezed consumer spending while affecting sellers' ability to secure supply.

Dufay told Reuters that the group would also look to grow the business by expanding into smaller towns in existing geographies where there is under penetration of online shopping.

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