Jumia Technologies (NYSE:JMIA) reported fourth-quarter 2025 results that management said showed accelerating demand for its Africa-focused e-commerce model alongside continued progress on cost efficiency and cash discipline. On the company’s earnings call, CEO Francis Dufay said 2025 was the year Jumia demonstrated it can “scale with the right economics,” citing improving profitability metrics and reduced cash burn, while reaffirming a goal of adjusted EBITDA break-even and positive cash flow in the fourth quarter of 2026.
Fourth-quarter operating trends and growth
Dufay said fourth-quarter momentum was driven by strengthening demand and improved execution across markets, with seasonal events such as Black Friday contributing to volume acceleration. Adjusted for perimeter effects, physical goods GMV grew 38% year-over-year and physical goods orders increased 32%. Quarterly active customers rose 26% year-over-year on the same basis, and the company highlighted improving retention, with 46% of new customers from the third quarter of 2025 making a repeat purchase within 90 days, up from 42% in the prior-year period.
Revenue, margins, and cost efficiencies
Executive Vice President of Finance and Operations Antoine Maillet-Mezeray said fourth-quarter revenue totaled $61.4 million, up 34% year-over-year (24% on a constant currency basis). Marketplace revenue was $31.0 million, up 36% year-over-year (24% constant currency), and first-party sales revenue was $29.1 million, up 33% year-over-year (23% constant currency). Dufay said first-party sales represented 49% of total revenue and referenced continued strength from international partnerships, including Starlink in Nigeria and Kenya.
Gross profit was $34.2 million, up 43% year-over-year (31% constant currency), and gross profit margin as a percentage of GMV was 12.2%, up from 11.6% in the fourth quarter of 2024. Maillet-Mezeray said the company entered 2026 having implemented broad-based increases in commissions across most countries, which management expects to support gross profit growth going forward. Dufay later characterized take-rate expansion as a “gradual effect” that comes from scale, annual commission improvements, and increased advertising monetization.
On expenses, the company emphasized structural cost reductions and operating leverage:
- Fulfillment: Fulfillment expense was $14.8 million, up 15% year-over-year due to higher volumes. Fulfillment cost per order, excluding JumiaPay app orders, improved to $1.97, down 12% year-over-year (down 20% constant currency). Management cited productivity gains, call center automation, and improved logistics partner rates, and said a new round of third-party logistics renegotiations in January 2026 secured “meaningful cost savings.”
- Technology and content: Technology and content expense was $9.4 million, down 6% year-over-year (down 8% constant currency), driven by headcount optimization, automation, platform simplification, and renegotiated vendor contracts including cloud infrastructure.
- G&A: Fourth-quarter G&A expense excluding share-based payment expense was $13.0 million, up 1% year-over-year (down 3% constant currency). Staff costs within G&A, excluding share-based compensation, decreased 18% to $8.2 million.
- Sales and advertising: Sales and advertising expense rose to $7.0 million, up 47% year-over-year (up 39% constant currency), reflecting what management described as targeted investment in customer acquisition, particularly in high-ROI online channels.
Adjusted EBITDA loss narrowed to $7.3 million from $13.3 million a year earlier, and loss before income tax was $9.7 million, a 45% decrease year-over-year (17% decline constant currency). The fourth quarter of 2025 included a $4.3 million tax benefit, compared with an $8.4 million tax benefit in the fourth quarter of 2024.
Cash burn, liquidity, and capital position
Jumia ended the fourth quarter with liquidity of $77.8 million, including $76.7 million in cash and cash equivalents and $1.2 million in term deposits and other financial assets. Liquidity decreased by $4.7 million in the quarter, compared with a $13.6 million decrease in the prior-year quarter. Net cash flow used in operating activities was $1.7 million, including a positive working capital impact of $9.6 million, which management linked to higher volumes, improved payment flows, and stronger bargaining power with large third-party accounts.
Dufay said the company may look “opportunistically” at financing options but reiterated that, based on the current trajectory, management believes existing liquidity is sufficient to reach profitability without raising additional capital. In response to analyst questions, he said additional liquidity could hypothetically support working capital to secure more assortment and prices, incremental marketing, or tech and product investments to drive efficiency, but emphasized that the company believes it has what it needs to reach profitability without new capital.
Country performance, footprint changes, and competitive environment
Management highlighted performance across key markets. In Nigeria, physical goods GMV increased 50% year-over-year and orders grew 33%. Kenya posted 50% growth in orders and 48% growth in physical goods GMV. Ivory Coast orders rose 15% and GMV increased 31%, which management attributed to higher-value baskets and improved mix. Egypt’s physical goods orders increased 23% and physical goods GMV grew 2%; excluding corporate sales, physical goods GMV grew 56%, which the company described as confirming a market recovery. Ghana delivered 82% growth in orders and 124% growth in physical goods GMV. The “other markets” portfolio posted 18% physical goods GMV growth and a 16% increase in orders.
Jumia also announced in February 2026 that it would cease operations in Algeria, which represented about 2% of GMV in 2025. Management said the exit is expected to have short-term impacts from employee and lease exit costs and asset liquidation, but should simplify the footprint over the medium to long term and allow resources to be focused on markets with stronger growth and profitability profiles.
On competition, Dufay said the environment remained “rational,” with less aggressive behavior from certain global entrants in selected countries, including Nigeria. He also pointed to increased regulatory scrutiny of non-resident and cross-border platforms, citing a new tax on profits of non-resident e-commerce platforms in Ivory Coast and Ghana’s VAT Amendment Act requiring non-resident digital and e-commerce platforms supplying services into Ghana to register for VAT and comply with local requirements.
2026 outlook and priorities
For full-year 2026, management guided for GMV growth of 27% to 32% year-over-year, adjusted for perimeter effects, and adjusted EBITDA in the range of negative $25 million to negative $30 million. For the first quarter, the company projected GMV growth of 27% to 32% year-over-year (adjusted for perimeter effects) and said it expects higher cash outflows due to typical seasonality and annual contract renewals for technology and insurance, along with one-time costs related to exiting Algeria.
Dufay said the company’s 2026 priorities include accelerating top-line growth, strengthening assortment and affordability, expanding and optimizing marketing channels such as CRM, paid online marketing, SEO, and affiliate partnerships, and driving further operating leverage. He also highlighted the potential to scale higher-margin revenue streams, including advertising and Jumia Delivery.
In the question-and-answer session, management said assortment and market coverage were key structural growth drivers, with marketing playing a larger role in the second half of 2025. Dufay said Jumia expects to manage capacity with existing fulfillment infrastructure through the end of 2026, and “maybe the end of 2027,” and believes its tech stack can handle “two or three times” 2025 volumes without major additional investment.
Advertising was cited as an area where execution lagged expectations in 2025. Management said advertising revenue was roughly 1% of GMV in the fourth quarter and targeted a longer-term level closer to 2% over several years. Dufay said the company implemented a new Sponsored Products platform in 2025 and reorganized teams and processes to improve performance in 2026.
About Jumia Technologies (NYSE:JMIA)
Jumia Technologies AG (NYSE: JMIA) operates as a leading e-commerce and technology platform in Africa, facilitating online retail, logistics and digital payments. The company’s marketplace connects millions of consumers with a diverse array of sellers offering electronics, fashion, home goods, groceries and more. Beyond its core retail services, Jumia has developed JumiaPay, a payment solution that enables secure transactions both on and off its platform, and Jumia Logistics, which provides end-to-end delivery and fulfillment support across the continent.
Jumia serves a broad geographic footprint in Africa, with operations in key markets such as Nigeria, Egypt, Kenya, Morocco, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Uganda, Tunisia and South Africa.
