{"id":839962,"date":"2025-10-15T09:26:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-15T07:26:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=839962"},"modified":"2025-10-15T09:27:03","modified_gmt":"2025-10-15T07:27:03","slug":"south-africas-newest-dollar-billionaire-sees-huge-jump-in-profits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/technology\/839962\/south-africas-newest-dollar-billionaire-sees-huge-jump-in-profits\/","title":{"rendered":"South Africa’s newest dollar billionaire sees huge jump in profits"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Karooooo, the owner of Cartrack, has seen another large jump in profit and customer numbers, with the group looking for further expansion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the group’s interim results for the half year ended 31 August 2025, the group\u2019s revenue increased by 20% to R2.6 billion, and subscription revenue increased 19% to R2.3 billion.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cartrack\u2019s total revenue increased 19% to R2.36 billion, primarily due to its subscription-based business model. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cartrack\u2019s subscription revenue jumped 19% to a record of R2.3 billion in HY 2026, while subscription revenue represented 98% of Cartrack\u2019s total revenue. Cartrack subscribers increased 15% to over 2.4 million customers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Karooooo Logistics\u2019s revenue jumped by 29% to R261 million. Profit for the period was R517 million, up 17.2% from R441 million the year prior.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group\u2019s operating expenses increased 17% to R1 billion, with Cartrack seeing investments in infrastructure and headcount to support territorial expansion and distribution growth. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cartrack\u2019s sales and marketing expenses increased 32% to R390 million over the year, but the group said that this was able to increase its customer acquisition. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cartrack\u2019s general and administration expenses increased 12% to R472 million, which reflects its ability to manage costs while building infrastructure prudently. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, it expects these costs to gradually rise continuously to support and drive growth. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cartrack also provided for expected credit losses of R49 million. Regarding the group\u2019s financials, its operating profit increased 18% to R708 million. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earnings per share increased 17% to R16.43. When considering the costs of a secondary offering<\/a>, adjusted earnings per share increased 16% to R16.83. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group\u2019s founder, Zak Calisto, offered and sold 1.5 million ordinary shares to the public for $75 million (about R1.3 billion) in June 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before the sale, Calisto owned 65% of Karooooo shares, with another 10% of the company tied to him via a standing agreement, giving him beneficial voting rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following the disposal, his direct ownership dropped to around 58%. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the group’s market capitalisation sitting at $1.74 billion, Calisto’s share is still valued at $1 billion, making him a dollar billionaire just from his stake in Karooooo alone. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the Period Ended August 31<\/strong><\/th>Six Months Ended 2025<\/strong><\/th>Six Months Ended 2024<\/strong><\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
Revenue<\/strong> (R’000)<\/td>2,620,911<\/td>2,188,546<\/td><\/tr>
Cost of sales<\/strong> (R’000)<\/td>(835,174)<\/td>(662,469)<\/td><\/tr>
Gross profit<\/strong> (R’000)<\/td>1,785,737<\/td>1,526,077<\/td><\/tr>
Other income<\/strong> (R’000)<\/td>7,701<\/td>5,966<\/td><\/tr>
Operating expenses<\/strong> (R’000)<\/td>(1,085,623)<\/td>(930,904)<\/td><\/tr>
Operating profit<\/strong> (R’000)<\/td>707,815<\/td>601,139<\/td><\/tr>
Profit before taxation<\/strong> (R’000)<\/td>665,268<\/td>570,898<\/td><\/tr>
Profit for the period<\/strong> (R’000)<\/td>517,443<\/strong><\/td>441,049<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Profit attributable to:<\/strong><\/td><\/td><\/td><\/tr>
\u2013 Owners of the parent (R’000)<\/td>507,671<\/td>433,127<\/td><\/tr>
\u2013 Non-controlling interest (R’000)<\/td>9,772<\/td>7,922<\/td><\/tr>
Earnings per share (ZAR)<\/strong><\/td><\/td><\/td><\/tr>
\u2013 Basic and diluted<\/td>16.43<\/td>14.02<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Outlook<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Looking ahead, the group said it remains firmly positioned for growth, operating in an expanding and largely underpenetrated market fueled by robust customer demand. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis demand is driven by a heightened focus on digitisation, the need to improve operational efficiency and reduce costs, and increasing attention to safety in physical operations.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur proven and profitable business model, underpinned by a strong balance sheet and healthy cash position, gives us multiple levers for expansion.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe believe our continuous investment in AI products, platform and customer experience will generate robust results in the future. We remain confident that our track record of success, specifically our ability to generate healthy cash flows, is sustainable.\u201d
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Karooooo, the owner of Cartrack, continues to see a strong rise in customer numbers and earnings, with the company now valued at $1.74 billion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":782001,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9878],"tags":[9150,22558],"class_list":["post-839962","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology","tag-cartrack","tag-karooooo"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/839962","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=839962"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/839962\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":839974,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/839962\/revisions\/839974"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/782001"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=839962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=839962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=839962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}