Fawry for Banking Technology and Electronic Payments (Fawry), a leading Egyptian payment platform led by multimillionaire businessman Ashraf Sabry, reported a single-digit increase in net profit in 2021 despite a double-digit percent increase in revenue at the end of 2021.
Fawry is one of Africa’s leading fintech companies, offering more than 250 e-payment services via a network of over 105,000 service points in 300 Egyptian cities. Sabry, an Egyptian tycoon who founded the payment platform in 2008 and championed electronic bill payments in Egypt, owns 2.345 percent of the company.
According to Mubasher, despite a double-digit increase in revenue, the firm’s consolidated net profits at the end of its 2021 fiscal year, which ended on Dec. 31, increased by 8.3 percent from EGP223.56 billion ($12.02 million) in 2020 to EGP242.12 million ($13.02 million).
Fawry’s revenue increased by more than 34 percent from EGP1.23 billion ($66.16 million) in 2020 to EGP1.65 billion ($88.7 million) in 2021 as a result of the internet’s rapid adoption and increased use of internet browsing.
This strong revenue growth was fueled by its processed payment acceptance transactions, which surpassed EGP11 billion ($700.3 million) in 2021.
Fawry’s payment acceptance transactions via the online gateway increased 400 percent to EGP5 billion ($318.4 million), solidifying the company’s position as the leading fintech company in Egypt, Africa’s second-largest economy.
The company’s strong revenue growth did not translate into strong earnings growth, as profit was hampered by rising operating costs and administrative expenses as a result of its expansion plans in Egypt and across the MENA region.
During the year, Fawry announced the acquisition of a minority stake in Sudan’s largest online classifieds marketplace, Alsoug, in an effort to diversify its earnings stream.
In a statement, Sabry, Fawry’s founder and CEO, stated that the transaction, which marks the firm’s first investment foray outside of Egypt in its thirteen years of operation, is a strategic move that perfectly aligns with the firm’s long-term expansion plans.
It also represents the first foreign investment in Sudan’s technology sector in more than 25 years, since the country was cut off from the international market.
Despite delivering a resilient financial performance in 2021, management disclosed in a separate bourse filing that the company’s board recommended not to pay out cash dividends in 2021; however, the decision is still subject to approval by the ordinary general meeting.
