Joint Stock Company Kaspi.kz

Reported Q2 revenue increased 16% and adjusted EBITDA increased 5%. Marketplace constant-currency GMV grew 15% year over year, with e-commerce GMV up 28% on a constant-currency basis; take rate increased 110 bps to 12.1%. Payments TPV grew 13%, revenue grew 5%, and EBITDA declined 1%. Fintech average net loan portfolio grew 18% year over year, revenue grew 23%, and cost of risk was 0.7%. For the first half, management said GMV growth was 17%, TPV growth was 13%, average net loan portfolio growth was 20%, and EBITDA growth was 7%. Full-year guidance was reiterated at around 20% GMV growth, around 15% TPV growth, 15% average net loan portfolio growth, and around 15% EBITDA growth. Management also said the 3-month deposit rate was cut from 20% to 19% on a product that represents around 30% of deposits, with the benefit mostly coming through from the second part of November and more fully next year.

Mikheil Lomtadze emphasized that e-commerce remains Kaspi’s most important strategic focus, alongside scaling value-added services such as delivery and advertising. He framed Kasper as the next major reinvention of the company, positioning it as a trusted personal assistant that can eventually expand beyond shopping into other super-app tasks. He was also optimistic about the new banking license and Turkey fintech rollout, saying the company is building the foundation for next year’s product launches and expects to combine e-commerce and financial services to create more value for consumers, merchants, and the company.

David Ferguson highlighted that the quarter’s reported numbers were affected by the 21% depreciation of the Turkish lira versus the Kazakh tenge. He said marketplace revenue and EBITDA grew 11% and 9% reported, payments revenue and EBITDA were up 5% and down 1%, and fintech revenue grew 23% while EBITDA rose 6%; he also pointed to interest revenue from payments rising 15% year over year even though it is excluded from adjusted EBITDA. On capital and funding, management said the first 3-month deposit rate cut from 20% to 19% should begin helping from late Q3, with the main impact in Q4 and next year, and reiterated that around $300 million will be invested to capitalize the new bank.

Analysts pressed on why EBITDA guidance stayed unchanged even though first-half EBITDA growth was already 7% and deposit rate cuts should help later in the year; management replied that the repricing benefit is limited this year because only one month of full benefit remains, with more meaningful upside starting next year. Questions also focused on Kasper’s early results and costs, and management said the product is still early but encouraging, with fast response times, broad category coverage, and task-completion speed materially better than standard search; they also said they are not focused on token economics but on the cost to complete a transaction. On market and payments dynamics, management said Kazakhstan is being developed vertical by vertical while Turkey is focused on consumer experience and building the foundation for next year’s fintech launches, and they said Apple Pay/Google Pay and the national QR system are adding convenience and some international volume rather than disrupting the core network.