Optasia, the Dubai-headquartered credit technology company listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, reported a 58.1% rise in revenue to $185.3mn for the six months to 30 June 2026, driven by an 83.7% increase in its micro-financing business. But the results also showed the financial cost of a regulatory intervention in Nigeria, previously one of its largest markets.
Nigeria accounted for about 14% of group revenue in the 2025 financial year. In the second quarter of 2026, it contributed less than 4%.
The decline followed the suspension of Optasia’s airtime credit services in Nigeria in April 2026, after the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission introduced new consumer-lending rules. Services resumed progressively during the period, and the company said all of its operator partners were live again by 24 June 2026.
A multi-provider market
The resumption did not restore the previous arrangement. Optasia now operates under a multi-provider structure, in which customer allocation is decided on performance and the company competes alongside other providers for volume.
Optasia said it had not held exclusivity with its Nigerian operator partners and that operating alongside other providers “is a typical feature of its markets.” Multi-provider arrangements, it added, have been present in the Nigerian airtime-credit market for some time and are now becoming more widely adopted by operators.
The company has obtained the relevant FCCPC authorisation to operate in Nigeria. It said it continues to protect the proprietary technology, decisioning models and methodologies behind its propositions in the market.
The effect is visible in the group’s airtime credit services segment, which grew 16.6% year on year to $51.1mn — well below the 83.7% growth in micro-financing and below the 58.1% group revenue growth rate.
Ghana is the largest African market
The report does not rank countries by revenue, but Ghana is the largest named single market. It accounted for approximately 31.5% of group revenue in the first half, or about $58.4mn of the $185.3mn total. The company said Ghana “continued to perform strongly” and reflected the successful scaling of multiple propositions in a single market.
Africa as a region generated $161.5mn of group revenue in the first half, up from $103.3mn a year earlier. Europe and Asia contributed $21.6mn, and the Middle East $2.2mn.
Other African markets mentioned as growing strongly include Congo-Brazzaville. Pakistan and Indonesia also performed well, the company said. Optasia noted that its three largest markets represented about 57% of group revenue in the first half, and that it expects its geographic revenue mix to broaden as newer deployments scale.
MFS becomes the core business
The group’s growth is now concentrated in micro-financing solutions — digital credit products such as cash advances, overdrafts and merchant lending, delivered through mobile network operators, mobile-money providers, banks and other financial institutions.
MFS revenue rose 83.7% to $133.0mn and now represents about 72% of group revenue, up from 62% in the same period a year earlier. Airtime credit, the older business, is now the smaller segment.
Distributed value — the value of airtime credit and cash advances granted to end users — rose 45.9% to $3.48bn. Revenue grew faster than distributed value, lifting the group’s take rate to 5.3% from 4.9%. The company attributed the improvement to stronger monetisation and the growing contribution of MFS.
Three new deployments went live in the first half: a merchant-lending proposition in Ghana, an overdraft product in Gabon and a cash advance product in South Sudan. The merchant-lending product started with about 800 merchants in May and had expanded to more than 56,000 by July, after the period end. The Gabon overdraft reached about 150,000 customers in its first week of broader rollout.
Optasia said 12 deployments are in the delivery phase, with more than eight targeted for launch in the second half of 2026. Opportunities in South Africa, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana and Iraq are in delivery, while Kenya, Ethiopia and Mozambique are in development.
Regulatory backdrop
The Nigerian regulatory picture remains unsettled. The Federal High Court of Nigeria upheld the Digital, Electronic, Online or Non-Traditional Consumer Lending Regulations, 2025 — the DEON Regulations — while confirming that licensing authority for entry into the communications market rests with the Nigerian Communications Commission.
An industry association has appealed that judgment. Optasia is not a party to the proceedings. The company said it continues to monitor the legal and regulatory position.
Margins and cash
Profit for the period rose 58.3% to $36.9mn. Adjusted EBITDA rose 44.8% to $77.9mn. Normalised net income rose 39.8% to $39.3mn.
But the adjusted EBITDA margin fell to 42.0% from 45.9%, which the company attributed to the increasing share of MFS in the revenue mix. MFS carries a higher take rate but a different direct-cost profile than airtime credit. Operating expenses rose 17.3%, well below revenue growth, which the company cited as evidence of operating leverage.
The default rate rose to 1.3% from 1.1% a year earlier, reflecting the growing weight of MFS, which has a different credit-performance profile from airtime credit. Revenue covered the provision for expected credit losses on financial guarantee contracts about 4.0 times, down from 4.3 times.
Adjusted free cash flow rose to $32.7mn from $13.1mn, and cash conversion improved to 41.9% from 24.3%. But net working capital increased to $133.1mn from $107.2mn at the end of December 2025, driven by MFS growth and expansion into new markets. Unbilled revenue rose to $127.1mn from $83.8mn.
The company explained that MFS advances are funded ahead of the revenue they generate, with invoicing following once the repayment period has run and defaults have crystallised — typically around 90 days from distribution. That cycle is structurally longer than in airtime credit, where invoicing follows shortly after distribution. Net working capital represented 39.9% of last-12-month revenue, down from 45.1% a year earlier.
Net debt stood at $30.6mn, with net debt to annualised adjusted EBITDA at 0.20 times, compared with 0.81 times a year earlier. Cash in hand and at bank was $76.3mn.
Finergi and FirstRand
Optasia completed the acquisition of Finergi, a utility-credit business, effective 16 April 2026, for total consideration of $30mn — $24.9mn in cash and $5.1mn in equity instruments. The deal added $16.6mn of goodwill and a $14.8mn technology platform intangible.
Finergi contributed no revenue and a $596,000 loss from the acquisition date. It applies Optasia’s credit technology to prepaid electricity, allowing eligible customers to buy power at the point of recharge and repay through a later recharge. Three pre-commercial pilots are live in Namibia, Uganda and Lesotho. Zambia and Guinea Conakry are expected to progress in the second half.
The earnout of up to $10mn is payable only if specified cumulative net revenue thresholds are met over 2026 and 2027. Based on management’s forecasts, those thresholds are not expected to be met, and the acquisition-date fair value of the earnout was nil.
Separately, FirstRand increased its shareholding in Optasia to 26.1% from 20.1%. The collaboration with FNB moved into product development, including integrating Optasia’s decisioning behind FNB Connect’s airtime-advance proposition and developing a cash-advance product in the FNB wallet. FNB retains ownership of the customer relationship; Optasia provides the decisioning and technology.
Legal exposure
Two legal matters are disclosed in the interim statements.
In Iraq, a subsidiary is pursuing a commercial dispute over airtime advance services. It is claiming about IQD14.0bn ($9.5mn) in outstanding receivables and the return of $2.3mn in bank guarantees. The counterparty has filed a claim of about IQD41.2bn ($28mn), alleging unpaid airtime and revenue losses. The court has consolidated the claims, with the subsidiary’s claim as the primary matter. A hearing is scheduled for 22 September 2026. Optasia said it has recognised a provision for the full value of the outstanding receivables but has made no additional provision for the counterclaim, based on legal advice that the court is likely to decide in its favour.
In Nigeria, a global telecommunications customer notified Nairtime Holdings Limited that it is a defendant in three intellectual property lawsuits relating to airtime services. The customer said it intends to seek indemnity from Nairtime if it is found liable. Optasia said Nigerian counsel has advised that the claims lack merit and have a low probability of success, and that any damages awarded would be far lower than the amounts sought. A payment of N50mn (about $121,000) was agreed for costs already incurred.
The bottom line
Optasia updated its full-year guidance to 30%–40% growth across revenue, adjusted EBITDA and normalised net income. That is below the first-half growth rate, and the company said reported growth for 2026 will be weighted towards the first half, with second-half growth expected to be “more measured.”
Three factors explain the expected deceleration: the Nigeria run-rate under the new multi-provider structure, the completion of a transition in which a longstanding partner took over day-to-day management of overdraft services in Uganda and Ghana, with Cameroon planned for the second half, and a more normalised foreign-exchange contribution. The first half benefited from favourable currency translation, which the company said it has not assumed to continue.
The overdraft transition affects a lower-margin service, so the impact on reported revenue is greater than the impact on profit, the company said.
Optasia said its second-half growth drivers are established MFS scaling, new deployments, product expansion and banking and partner ecosystems.
The interim financial statements were reviewed by Ernst & Young Middle East (Abu Dhabi Branch), which concluded that nothing came to its attention suggesting the statements were not prepared in accordance with IAS 34. The comparative figures for the six months to 30 June 2025 in the statement of comprehensive income were neither reviewed nor audited.
The company’s three largest markets represented about 57% of group revenue in the first half, and balances due from major customers represented 64% of total trade receivables. Optasia said it expects its geographic revenue mix to broaden as newer deployments scale.