ALMATY, Kazakhstan, March 02, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Joint Stock Company Kaspi.kz ("Kaspi.kz", "we") (NASDAQ:KSPI) today published its unaudited consolidated IFRS financial results for the quarter and fiscal year ended 31 December 2025 ("4Q & FY 2025" respectively).

Letter from Mikhail Lomtadze:

Two topics have dominated my conversations with investors over the last year: our progress in Türkiye and our approach to dividends. I want to address these and the other questions we hear most often, so that you better understand the context behind the decisions we're taking.

Both Türkiye and dividends connect to a single ambition: to build Kaspi.kz into a 100 million user company. We believe that every strategic decision we make - the launch of new products and services, investments in Türkiye, and dividend policy - is anchored to this goal.

1. Can Kaspi.kz invest in Türkiye and pay a dividend?

Yes. We have always maintained that we will prioritize high-impact international opportunities where we believe we can create long-term value. Following the acquisition of Hepsiburada, we anticipate that we can now balance targeted growth investments and resume dividend distributions to our shareholders.

Subject to shareholder approval, we intend to pay a quarterly dividend of KZT 850 per ADS. Based on the business's current performance and cash generation, we believe this is sustainable for the remainder of 2026.

2. What progress have you made at Hepsiburada over the last twelve months?

We believe that our progress in Türkiye has been substantial. Over the past year, we have tested and validated key elements of our operating model, strengthening our conviction that it can work at scale in Türkiye.

We are prioritizing our investments and efforts to increase orders, consumers and engagement through better personalisation, more relevant search, faster delivery, broader payment options, and improved marketing efficiency. Next-day shipment, which now covers around 63% of orders, up from around 47% in 4Q 2024 is a good example of the changes we're making.

In our view, the clearest measure of progress is the improvement in order growth during 2025:

Q1 2025: -11% YoY
Q2 2025: +7% YoY
Q3 2025: +16% YoY
Q4 2025: +19% YoY

Monthly consumers on average increased 15% YoY in 4Q 2025, the fastest rate of increase for some time. Engaged consumers, which we consider to be our most important measure of platform health, grew 29% YoY on average in 4Q 2025.

3. When will Hepsiburada become profitable?

In the near-term, we will intentionally manage Hepsiburada to around Adjusted EBITDA breakeven.

In the short term, the investments we're making can support faster top-line growth. Over time, a large and engaged consumer base can drive sustainable profitability.

Separately, we expect to invest approximately $300 million upon closing the acquisition of Rabobank A. Ş. This is fully reflected in our cash flow planning. The combination of e-commerce and fintech has the potential to turn healthy e-commerce economics into much stronger bottom-line growth over the coming years.

4. What does success in Türkiye look like in 2026 and beyond?

Success means consumer engagement metrics at Hepsiburada continuing to move toward levels we have achieved in Kazakhstan.

In Kazakhstan, e-commerce purchases per consumer reached 24.8 in 2025. At Hepsiburada, the same number is around 6.7. Even closing this engagement gap partially would represent a very meaningful opportunity. If we grow Hepsiburada's consumer base as well, the upside can be magnified.

Metric (2025)	Kaspi.kz	Hepsiburada	Gap
# Consumers	7.4 million	11.8 million	1.6x more
GMV per consumer, KZT	332 000	212 000	1.6x less
Growth of engaged consumers	66%	29%	2.3x less
Purchases per consumer	24.8	6.7	3.7x less

Of course, we understand that Hepsiburada will not automatically match our metrics in Kazakhstan given different market dynamics, the low penetration of fintech products on Hepsiburada and our super app business model being in its early stages in Türkiye. But given our experience, we have a defined set of levers that we anticipate can systematically narrow the gap over time.

5. Are tax and other regulatory changes in Kazakhstan now in the rear-view mirror?

Not entirely and we want to be clear about the headwinds ahead.

From the start of 2026, the corporate tax rate for banks in Kazakhstan increased to 25% from 20% for all areas except business lending. For Kaspi.kz we expect our consolidated tax rate to increase by around 200 bps YoY in 2026.

Separately, the National Bank of Kazakhstan raised minimum reserve requirements in August 2025, with a further step-up expected in April 2026. This reduces the interest revenue we can generate.

Combined with the high-interest rate environment we expect that bottom-line growth in Kazakhstan in 2026 will lag top-line growth. The higher tax rate and reserve requirements will be fully absorbed into our earnings base by year end.

On a more encouraging note, inflation in Kazakhstan has started to moderate. This opens the possibility of interest rate cuts later in the year, which could be a meaningful profit driver for us over several years. Our current 2026 guidance does not assume interest rate cuts.

We are actively managing our cost base and capital allocation in response to the current regulatory and macro backdrop and are well positioned to benefit when the interest rate cycle turns.

We anticipate that e-Commerce will be the main driver of our future growth in Kazakhstan and Türkiye, supported by our fintech products and rapidly scaling higher-margin services such as advertising.

We want to be a 100 million user company present in multiple countries. With our entry into Türkiye, we already serve around 20 million consumers and 200,000 merchants, and Türkiye's large local manufacturing base gives us a substantial opportunity to enter new markets.

We will stay focused on execution to deliver world class services to our consumers and merchants, and we are confident in our path.

We believe we have a sensible balance between returning cash today and making the necessary investments to build a much more valuable business in the future.

Thank you for your ongoing trust and support.

Mikhail Lomtadze

Kaspi.kz CEO and co-founder

All references exclude Türkiye unless otherwise stated. Additionally, whenever we refer to a measure as "underlying" in this press release, it excludes certain external factors. For more information, see "External Factors Excluded from Underlying Measures."

4Q & FY 2025 Highlights

For the fourth quarter of 2025, our Board of Directors has recommended a quarterly dividend of KZT850 per ADS. We believe this amount is sustainable at least for the remainder of 2026. All dividend distributions are subject to shareholder approval.
For FY 2025 revenue and net income increased 19% and 10% year-over-year ("YoY") respectively, in line with our guidance. Underlying revenue and net income (which excludes smartphones GMV from Marketplace and the impacts of certain regulatory and tax changes and the increase in the base rate ) increased 21% and 18% respectively.
4Q 2025 revenue up 15% year-over-year and net income up 1% YoY. Underlying revenue and net income increased 18% and 13% respectively.
Engagement remains strong with 77 Monthly Transactions per Active Consumer.
In Payments, profit growth remained solid and profitability high.
- Payments TPV and transactions up 14% and 12% YoY, respectively in 4Q 2025. For FY 2025, TPV and transactions up 19% and 14% YoY, respectively.
- Payments revenue and net income up 7% and 4% YoY, respectively in 4Q 2025, and up 12% and 13%, respectively for FY 2025.
- Kaspi Alaqan, pay-by-palm, launched in Almaty. Around a third of the city's adult population has registered to use the service in just 3 months.
Marketplace Platform revenue growth continued to significantly outpace GMV growth.
- Purchases up 34% and 35% YoY in 4Q and FY 2025.
- Revenue up 13% YoY versus 3% GMV growth in 4Q 2025, with revenue boosted by the growth of Kaspi Delivery, Kaspi Advertising and Classifieds. For FY 2025, revenue and GMV up 23% and 11% YoY, respectively.
- Underlying Marketplace GMV increased 12% and 19% YoY in 4Q and FY 2025, with revenue increasing by 21% and 30% respectively.
- Underlying e-Commerce GMV increased 23% and 27% YoY in 4Q and FY 2025.
- e-Grocery continues to grow fast, with GMV up 43% and 53% in 4Q and FY 2025 respectively.
- Advertising revenue up 45% and 64% YoY in 4Q and FY 2025.
- Marketplace take rate up 80 bps YoY in both 4Q and FY 2025.
- Marketplace net income down 7% and up 6% for 4Q and FY 2025 respectively. Underlying Marketplace net income up 1% and 14% in 4Q and FY 2025 respectively.
Fintech Platform TFV growth up 4% and 13% YoY in 4Q and FY 2025.
- Fintech revenue growth up 19% and 20% YoY, respectively in 4Q and FY 2025.
- Credit quality remains healthy and broadly unchanged, with 2.2% Cost of Risk in 2025.
- Net income increased 4% in 4Q 2025 and was up 9% YoY in FY 2025. Underlying net income increased 18% in both 4Q and FY 2025.
In 4Q 2025 Hepsiburada's growth accelerated again. Growth in engagement metrics is our no.1 priority and we're pleased with our progress so far.
- During 4Q 2025, purchases increased 19% YoY, compared with 16% in 3Q 2025, 7% in 2Q 2025 and an 11% decline in 1Q 2025.
- Monthly active consumers increased 15% YoY in 4Q 2025.
- Engaged consumers increased 29% YoY in 4Q 2025.
- Adjusted for inflation GMV growth increased 13% YoY in 4Q 2025 compared with 7% for FY 2025. Revenue increased 18% and 13% respectively over the same periods.
- Due to investments, Adjusted EBITDA was around breakeven in 4Q 2025 and positive TRY1.1 billion in FY 2025.
To better highlight the performance of our core operations, we are now providing Adjusted EBITDA guidance. This avoids distortions from varying country tax rates, different interest rate environments, regulatory changes and makes it easier to compare our key markets.
- We expect smartphone demand to normalise in 2026 and Marketplace in Kazakhstan to resume its normal growth trajectory this year.
- With momentum in Türkiye rapidly gathering pace, we expect e-Commerce in both countries to be Kaspi.kz's main growth driver in the medium-term.
- Previously flagged higher tax and minimum reserve requirements will pressure bottom-line growth in Kazakhstan this year.
- The headwind from high interest rates, can become a tailwind in the future, although this is not assumed in our guidance.
- Near-term, we intend to deliberately manage Hepsiburada to around Adjusted EBITDA breakeven.
- For 2026 we expect consolidated Kaspi.kz Adjusted EBITDA growth of around 5% YoY. For the first time our guidance includes Türkiye.

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For further information

David Ferguson, david.ferguson@kaspi.kz +44 7427 751 275