\n<\/p>\n
Salvador Anglada, Optasia\u2019s CEO, commented:<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201c2025 was a transformative year for Optasia. We successfully completed our category-defining listing on the JSE in November and welcomed FirstRand as a strategic shareholder. These milestones provide a strong validation of our operating model and growth trajectory and significantly enhance our visibility and credibility as a leading global fintech.<\/em><\/p>\n Our exceptional operational and financial performance in 2025, together with the continued growth in\u00a0market share, customer adoption\u00a0rates\u00a0and recognition of our innovative solutions underscores the success of our strategy.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Entering 2026 from this position of strength, we are confident in our ability to deliver robust revenue and earnings growth primarily through further expansion in mobile financial services. We remain laser-focused on pursuing disciplined, responsible scaling, innovation, and geographic reach to drive long-term sustainable value whilst delivering on our vision to enable responsible financial empowerment for a more inclusive world.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Business update<\/strong><\/p>\n Optasia reported exceptional financial performance for the year ended 31 December 2025, delivering a 76% increase in revenue of $265.4 million (FY24: $151.2 million) and a 52% increase in adjusted EBITDA of $115 million (FY24: $75.1 million), exceeding the guidance provided at the time of its IPO in November 2025.<\/p>\n Annual credit facilitated for Optasia\u2019s business partners increased substantially by 44% to $5.5 billion (FY24: $3.8 billion). The Group also improved monetisation across its platform, with take rate increasing to 4.8% (FY24: 4.0%), reflecting the growing contribution of Micro Financing Solutions (MFS).<\/p>\n Adjusted EBITDA margin remains resilient at 43.2% (FY24: 49.7%), moderating slightly due to the costs associated with micro-lending. This shift reflects the deliberate strategic evolution toward micro finance services which have stronger underlying unit economics and higher profit per unit of distribution.\u00a0This is\u00a0evidenced\u00a0by the improvement in Adjusted EBITDA to Distributed Value, which increased to 2.1% (FY24: 2.0%).\u00a0Disciplined cost management and continuous operational optimisation remain central to sustaining long-term value creation.<\/p>\n Reported earnings for the year were impacted by one-off costs associated with the Group\u2019s listing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange in November 2025. These relate to capital transaction costs and IPO-related management compensation incurred as part of the listing process. Excluding these non-recurring items, Normalised Net Income increased 57.1% to $57.8 million (FY24: $36.8 million), reflecting the strong underlying operating performance of the Group during the year.<\/p>\n Optasia continued to generate positive operating cash flow in 2025, with adjusted free cash flow increasing by 41% to $44.9 million, and adjusted free cash flow conversion of 39%. Cash conversion improved strongly in the second half of the year, with adjusted free cash flow of 53% following stabilising net working capital changes. This strong cash generation supported reinvestment in growth and product development while maintaining a healthy balance sheet.<\/p>\n Net working capital increased to $107.2 million (FY24: $65.8 million), equivalent to 40.4% of revenue, in line with 40% guided at IPO, with levels improving and stabilising during the second half of the year. This was primarily driven by strong growth in MFS revenues, where invoicing and collection cycles are typically longer. Total debt outstanding as at 31 December 2025 amounted to $106.8 million (FY24: $88.2 million).<\/p>\n Optasia continued to scale responsibly during the year while maintaining a low default rate of 1.2%, in line with IPO guidance which accounts for the accelerated scaling of micro-lending services. This low default rate demonstrates the effectiveness of the Group\u2019s AI-driven credit decisioning and disciplined risk management framework.<\/p>\n Growth was driven by expansion into additional markets, stronger utilisation across existing partner ecosystems and the onboarding of new distribution partners, together with the continued development of new financial services capabilities on the platform. These developments continue to diversify Optasia\u2019s revenue base while strengthening the resilience of the platform across multiple geographies. Eight new deployments launched during the year, with MFS expanding into new markets including Cameroon, Ghana and Congo-Brazzaville, and Airtime Credit Solutions (\u2018ACS\u2019) into markets including Liberia, Eswatini and Malaysia.<\/p>\n The total number of users interacting with the Group\u2019s services increased by 43% year-on-year, surpassing 432 million. This growth provides evidence of improved adoption across our platform.<\/p>\n MFS continued to grow strongly during the year, with revenue growing 149% year-on-year. This growth reflects increasing demand for digital credit services across the platform. MFS now accounts for 63% of group revenue as Optasia advances its strategic product mix evolution to expand its financial services offering and strengthen unit economics.<\/p>\n Airtime Credit Solutions remains a core service within the platform, supporting customer engagement and acting as a key entry point into broader financial services. ACS continues to grow at pace, with revenues increasing 17.4% year-on-year.<\/p>\n Strategic Outlook<\/strong><\/p>\n Optasia\u2019s strategic priority is to diversify growth and replicate its proven model in large, underpenetrated markets\u00a0while extending responsible digital financial access to millions of\u00a0additional\u00a0underserved customers. To this end, the Group remains actively focused on expanding its geographic footprint across Africa and accelerating its presence in Asia while deepening service penetration\u00a0in existing\u00a0markets.<\/p>\n This expansion is supported by its ecosystem-led approach, which brings together mobile network operators, mobile money providers, digital\u00a0banks\u00a0and financial institutions to enable financial access at true scale.<\/p>\n In 2026 the Group expects to launch several new deployments and expand its suite of credit scoring and digital lending solutions across existing and additional markets. Ongoing rollouts across Africa, Asia and the Middle East are expected to generate new revenue streams and further strengthen the Group\u2019s market presence.\u00a0<\/p>\n Technology and product innovation remain a core strategic differentiator for Optasia in 2026. Ongoing\u00a0investment\u00a0and\u00a0advances in AI and machine learning are expected to further amplify the Group\u2019s capabilities, driving greater precision,\u00a0efficiency\u00a0and scalability.\u00a0 In parallel, the Group plans to broaden the functionality of its platform and progress the development of complementary products designed to meet diverse local\u00a0market needs.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Group also expects to\u00a0benefit\u00a0from its strategic partnership with FirstRand Bank, which creates substantial opportunities for collaboration across product development,\u00a0market\u00a0expansion\u00a0and funding structures.\u00a0<\/p>\n Strong trading performance in 2026 year to date continues to position the Group for sustained growth and profitability. Near-term revenue and earnings growth, driven primarily by continued expansion in MFS, are expected to outperform IPO guidelines.<\/p>\n Medium term ambitions focus on sustaining healthy low to mid-twenties growth across revenue, adjusted EBITDA and net income, supported by geographic expansion, deeper penetration and continued product innovation.<\/p>\n Events subsequent to 2025 financial year end<\/strong><\/p>\n Optasia announced today that it had entered into an agreement to acquire Finergi Global FZCO (Finergi), for an initial upfront consideration of $30 million, with a contingent deferred cash consideration of $10 million, payable upon meeting defined performance milestones.<\/p>\n Finergi is a technology company that uses patented technology to provide real-time credit access through prepaid electricity systems, enabling it to transform essential services into a platform for financial inclusion.<\/p>\n Finergi has successfully built a scalable platform and secured initial contracts that validate its product and market fit. With patents secured in 24 countries and applications filed in four additional jurisdictions, Finergi\u2019s proprietary IP positions it as a first mover in utilities credit, creating a high-margin, direct-to-consumer platform with multiple cross-sell opportunities.<\/p>\n Underpinned by a large and growing addressable market for electricity credit advances, Finergi is positioned to expand rapidly over the next 12 months, leveraging its innovative product offering and existing client pipeline of utility providers, governments, and financial service partners to address the structural short-term credit gap.<\/p>\n The acquisition allows Optasia to participate in this anticipated growth from an early stage in a market where scale and depth of integration create long-term defensibility and platform optionality. This transaction marks an important first step for Optasia in advancing on its strategic plan to expand through new ecosystems beyond telcos to deliver financial services to the world\u2019s underbanked.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n \n