Lesaka raises earnings guidance for 2026

The JSE- and Nasdaq-listed company, formerly Net1 UEPS Technologies, consists of two divisions: a merchant unit; and a consumer segment. The consumer unit focuses on products such as unsecured credit, transactional banking, microinsurance and value-added services through the EasyPay platform.

The group reaffirmed its earnings guidance for the current 2025 fiscal year as it reported results for the third quarter to March, while also disclosing expectations for 2026.

Lesaka chairperson Ali Mazanderani said: “I am pleased that we have delivered on our guidance for the quarter and can reaffirm [financial year] FY2025 full-year guidance. We are providing revenue and net revenue guidance, and projecting positive net income, for FY2026.”

He said at the midpoint of these measures this implied a 23% growth in net revenue and a 42% growth in group adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (ebitda) year on year.

For the year to end-June 2025, the group expects revenue of between R10bn and R11bn and group adjusted ebitda of between R900m and R1bn.

For 2026 the company expects to report revenue between R11.4bn and R12.2bn, an 11% increase at the top end of the guidance. Net revenue is seen at between R6.4bn and R6.9bn, while group adjusted ebitda is expected between R1.25bn and R1.45bn, 45% higher at the top end.

This comes as the group reported revenue of R2.5bn ($135.7m) for the quarter — at the midpoint of its revenue guidance − and compared with R2.6bn a year ago.

For the first nine months of the current year Lesaka’s revenue was $428m (R7.82bn).

The group, however, reported operating income of R10.9m for the period, lower than the R15m in the year-earlier period, due to the inclusion of R42.3m one-off transaction costs.

Group adjusted ebitda was up 29% to R183.3m.

Revenue for the consumer division increased 32% in local currency to R445.8m, with segment-adjusted ebitda up 65% to R117.1m.

In the merchant business, revenue fell 10% in local currency to R1.9bn, with segment-adjusted ebitda up 7% to R149.9m.