Karooooo expects to continue adding customers to its vehicle tracking platform, driven by growth in Southeast Asia where the company is investing in sales growth, while taking advantage of its new SA head office.
On Tuesday, the group said it had revised its guidance for Cartrack subscribers to 2.3-million to 2.4-million, up from 2.2-million to 2.4-million for the 2025 financial year.
Revenue for the platform is still pegged at an upper limit of R4.15bn.
Karooooo reported a strong performance for the quarter, with operating profit up 28% to R602m and earnings per share by 31% to R14.02 for the half-year to end-September. The Cartrack owner said subscribers increased 17% to 2,136,610, with net subscriber additions up 43% to 165,078 for the period.
Cartrack delivered a record operating profit of R580m, up 20%.
Karooooo Logistics reported an operating profit of R22m, a 78% increase, as the business continues to scale. The company focuses on delivery-as-a-service through third-party drivers and logistics companies.
“We delivered another strong quarter of profitable growth in the second quarter. Importantly, we recently completed the move to our newly built central office in SA, which positions us to support higher organic growth in the region,” said group founder and CEO Zak Calisto.
“In addition, we started to increase our investment in sales and marketing in Southeast Asia to capitalise on the compelling growth opportunity for the group in the region. Despite [this] increased capital allocation, we remain committed to a disciplined approach to growth as evidenced by our continued strong unit economics.”
While Karooooo has moved its headquarters to Singapore, SA continues to be its largest market, accounting for 75% of subscribers.
The group has traditionally competed locally with firms such as Mix Telematics and Altron’s Netstar and is considering extending its mobility business using data analytics and artificial intelligence.
The group was founded in 2004 and is listed on the JSE and Nasdaq.
Despite the strong financial performance, its share price dropped 5% to R722 on Tuesday, giving it a market cap of R23.4bn. It is, however, up 52% so far in 2024.
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