Karooooo will continue to invest in organic growth for the time being, even as the global fleet management and vehicle tracking market experiences further consolidation.
Founder and CEO Zak Calisto said a number of growth options are available. “The one way is organic growth, which is our story,” he said. Another is a combination of organic and acquisitions, and yet another is just acquisitions.
“What I believe will happen over the next 10 to 15 years is there’ll be international consolidation. That is where you see the same brand across multiple geographies with a strong on-the-ground footprint.”
Calisto’s comments come as mergers & acquisitions (M&A) gather pace globally, with South Africa not immune to the trend.
In October 2023, Midrand-based MiX Telematics announced plans for a merger with US-listed PowerFleet. The transaction became unconditional in March 2024, with Powerfleet taking up a listing on the JSE, replacing MiX Telematics.
Powerfleet then bought Canadian-based Fleet Complete for R3.5bn in October 2024, with more than half of the deal financing coming from FirstRand’s investment banking unit, RMB. In 2023, Powerfleet finalised the acquisition of Movingdots, a German-based telematics provider.
“The fundamental thing is that there is a tremendous amount of future growth in our industry, globally, and the market is [still] quite fragmented,” Calisto said.
Moves by the likes of Powerfleet and Geotab — another US-based company in the sector — point to the start of a wave of consolidation.
In September 2025, Geotab bought Verizon Connect’s telematics business in Australia and multiple European countries, including the UK, Ireland, Italy, France, Portugal, Poland, the Netherlands and Germany.
Geotab earlier bought Spain’s Intendia and US-based BSM Technologies in 2019. A year earlier, it took over FleetCarma, a company focused on electric vehicle fleet management.
Fully organic
“We are just pure organic” for now, Calisto said. However, “in the right environment and at the right time, we will look at M&A”.
The strategy appears to be paying off. Karooooo increased subscription revenue 20% to R1.24bn in the third quarter, reporting record net subscriber additions as it expanded its distribution footprint in existing markets.
The group last week reported an 11% year-on-year increase in adjusted earnings per share to R8.54 for the three months to end-November. Operating profit rose 14% to R369m.
Cartrack subscribers increased 16% to 2.568-million, with a record net Cartrack subscriber addition of 111,478, it said.
Karooooo expects to double its business in South Africa in the next four years, with current plans to cement its leadership position by selling two new telemetry devices, Video and Cartrack Tag, to its existing customers.
In 2025, the group opened a business in Vietnam as it continued to advance its ambitions in Asia. Its long-held view is that the Southeast Asia region could be its main driver of growth.
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