Latest news with #ZakCalisto
Business Insider
23-05-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
Africa welcomes new dollar billionaire from the world of car tracking technology
Africa has welcomed a new addition to its exclusive circle of dollar billionaires, bringing the continent's total to 23. Zak Calisto, founder and CEO of Karooooo Ltd., has become Africa's 23rd dollar billionaire. Calisto owns about two-thirds of Karooooo Ltd., which recently reported strong subscription revenue growth. As of March 2025, Africa boasts a combined billionaire wealth exceeding $105 billion, a record high. Zak Calisto, founder and CEO of Karooooo Ltd, a vehicle tracking and fleet management services firm, has joined Africa's exclusive circle of dollar billionaires. Karooooo Ltd., which began as Cartrack, has experienced significant growth after expanding its offerings to include AI-powered driver monitoring and fleet management services. This strategic shift has propelled Zak Calisto into the ranks of dollar billionaires. According to Bloomberg, Zak Calisto, the Portugal-born founder of Karooooo Ltd. (formerly Cartrack), owns approximately two-thirds of the company. The company's stock surged after reporting double-digit subscription revenue growth and a 25% increase in earnings per share for the year through February 2025. Calisto's journey from a local entrepreneur to a global billionaire showcases Africa's growing influence in the digital economy. His company, which moved its headquarters to Singapore in 2020, sees Asia as crucial to its future expansion plans. With a customer base of 2.3 million, mostly in South Africa, Karooooo Ltd. plans to prioritize organic growth but remains open to strategic acquisitions. " There's significant potential for even faster growth," Calisto said in an interview. Africa's billionaire count As of March 2025, Africa had 22 billionaires on its Forbes list, with fortunes spanning sectors such as manufacturing, retail, petroleum, real estate, and fashion. For the first time ever, the combined wealth of these African billionaires surpassed $100 billion, reaching a record $105 billion, up from $82.4 billion in the previous year when the continent had 20 billionaires. South Africa has consistently maintained a strong hold on the list, contributing the highest number of billionaires. In the 2025 ranking, South Africa accounted for seven billionaires, followed by Nigeria and Egypt with four each. The list also includes three billionaires from Morocco, one from Algeria (Issad Rebrab), one from Tanzania (Mohammed Dewji), and one from Zimbabwe (Strive Masiyiwa).
Bloomberg
22-05-2025
- Automotive
- Bloomberg
Tracking Down Hijacked Cars Helps Mint a New African Billionaire
Zak Calisto's firm started out helping carjack victims recover their vehicles in South Africa two decades ago. It's since expanded to an international track-and-trace giant with a New York listing — and made him Africa's newest billionaire. The Portugal-born founder of telematics firm Karooooo Ltd, which started out as Cartrack, owns about two-thirds of the company which has since expanded to services including AI-powered driver monitoring and fleet-management. Backed by rising client subscriptions and global expansion, the stock rallied last week, catapulting him into the ranks of South African dollar billionaires.
IOL News
15-05-2025
- Automotive
- IOL News
Karooooo's CEO outlines ambitious plans for expansion and profitability
KAROOOOO CEO and founder Zak Calisto says the group is building momentum for growth after four years of challenging market conditions Image: supplied Karooooo, which owns the vehicle tracking and fleet management solutions company Cartrack, has four difficult years behind it and is looking to the new financial year to build growth momentum, said the founder and CEO Zak Calisto. Interviewed on Thursday at the release of the fourth quarter results to February 28, Calisto, who has expanded the group into Asia, Europe and South Africa, said they scaled up in the last two quarters by nearly 1 000 additional staff, and the company had moved into a new head office in Johannesburg, this after a period where operations were impacted by the Covid pandemic for two years, and by the work-from-home trend. Karooooo's operating profit increased by 30% to R385 million in the fourth quarter and earnings per share increased 19% to R8.11. The number of Cartrack subscribers increased 17% to 2.3 million from 1.97 million. The group is ungeared with some R900m in cash. Calisto said their biggest business remains in South Africa, and he believes the market still has 'huge opportunities for growth.' The group is aiming to double the size of its South African business in the next four years, he added. He said there were similar opportunities in their European and Asia markets, and over time, it was likely that Asia would become the group's biggest market. 'We operate in an expanding and largely underpenetrated market globally, fueled by robust and sustained customer demand. This demand is driven by a heightened focus on digitalization, the need to improve operational efficiency and reduce costs, and increasing attention to safety in physical operations,' he said. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ A significant goodwill impairment of R43.9m was realised, whch related to the political uncertainty in Mozambique. Calisto said some of their clients had their entire fleets and properties burned through the political riots. He estimated hundreds of vehicles were burned in total, and there was no certainty at this stage how long the political situation would remain resolved. He said despite the challenges in the fourth quarter, their Mozambique operation continued to support their South African customers who have cross-border operations and has remained profitable with healthy cash generation. 'In the 2026 financial year, we aim to accelerate Cartrack subscription revenue growth by expanding our distribution footprint in existing markets, driving broader platform adoption and capitalising on growing demand for video solutions,' he said. He said while their targets might be hard to meet, they had a strong and proven track record of execution, sustained growth at scale, and a highly profitable business model supported by a solid balance sheet and a healthy cash position. 'As we expand our distribution footprint in existing markets, we expect lower earnings per share growth in the 2026 year, given our planned upfront investment in sales and marketing for the year,' the group said. Cartrack's subscription revenue was forecasted to grow between 16% and 21% compared to the 2025 financial year, while Karooooo's earnings per share was expected to be between R32.50 and R35.50. Karooooo's adjusted earnings per share increased 39% to R9.48. Operating expenses increased 15% to R485m. Of the total, Cartrack accounted for R459m (Q4 2024: R399m) in operating expenses including investments in infrastructure and headcount to support territorial expansion and distribution growth. Visit:
Yahoo
05-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Karooooo to Announce Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2025 Results on May 14, 2025
SINGAPORE, May 05, 2025--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Karooooo Limited (NASDAQ: KARO) ("Karooooo" or "the Company"), that owns 100% of Cartrack and 74.8% of Karooooo Logistics, announced that the Company will release its Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2025 Financial Results on Wednesday, May 14, 2025 shortly after 04:00 p.m. Eastern Time. Webcast: The Company will host a corresponding Zoom webinar on Thursday, May 15, 2025 at 08:00 a.m. Eastern Time (02:00 p.m. South African time; 08:00 p.m. Singaporean time). Investors are invited to join the Zoom webinar at: Webinar ID: 829 3733 8104 Telephone: US (New York) Toll-free: +1 646 558 8656 South Africa Toll-free: +27 87 551 7702 A replay will be available at approximately three hours after the conclusion of the live event. Upcoming Conference Participation The Company also announced that Group CEO Zak Calisto will participate in the following upcoming conferences. If applicable, events will be webcast live and archived on Karooooo's investor relations website at Bank of America Emerging Markets Corporate Conference, May 28 and 29, 2025 William Blair 45th Annual Growth Stock Conference, June 3 and 4, 2025 About Karooooo Karooooo digitally transforms physical operations by simplifying decision making. Through its cloud platform, Karooooo empowers businesses to conquer operations including fleet maintenance, fuel management and asset utilization, workforce management, logistics, safety, compliance, risk and environmental impact. Karooooo's differentiated insights and analytics simplify day-to-day operations and enable businesses to decrease costs, increase efficiency, improve safety and strengthen workforce and customer satisfaction. Karooooo is headquartered in Singapore and services more than 125,000 commercial customers and more than 2,350,000 active subscribers in more than 20 countries globally. For more information, visit View source version on Contacts Investor Relations Contact: IR@ Sign in to access your portfolio
Business Wire
05-05-2025
- Business
- Business Wire
Karooooo to Announce Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2025 Results on May 14, 2025
SINGAPORE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Karooooo Limited (NASDAQ: KARO) ('Karooooo' or 'the Company'), that owns 100% of Cartrack and 74.8% of Karooooo Logistics, announced that the Company will release its Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2025 Financial Results on Wednesday, May 14, 2025 shortly after 04:00 p.m. Eastern Time. Webcast: The Company will host a corresponding Zoom webinar on Thursday, May 15, 2025 at 08:00 a.m. Eastern Time (02:00 p.m. South African time; 08:00 p.m. Singaporean time). Investors are invited to join the Zoom webinar at: Webinar ID: 829 3733 8104 Telephone: US (New York) Toll-free: +1 646 558 8656 South Africa Toll-free: +27 87 551 7702 A replay will be available at approximately three hours after the conclusion of the live event. Upcoming Conference Participation The Company also announced that Group CEO Zak Calisto will participate in the following upcoming conferences. If applicable, events will be webcast live and archived on Karooooo's investor relations website at Bank of America Emerging Markets Corporate Conference, May 28 and 29, 2025 William Blair 45 th Annual Growth Stock Conference, June 3 and 4, 2025 About Karooooo Karooooo digitally transforms physical operations by simplifying decision making. Through its cloud platform, Karooooo empowers businesses to conquer operations including fleet maintenance, fuel management and asset utilization, workforce management, logistics, safety, compliance, risk and environmental impact. Karooooo's differentiated insights and analytics simplify day-to-day operations and enable businesses to decrease costs, increase efficiency, improve safety and strengthen workforce and customer satisfaction. Karooooo is headquartered in Singapore and services more than 125,000 commercial customers and more than 2,350,000 active subscribers in more than 20 countries globally. For more information, visit
