Baillie Giffordan Edinburgh-based asset management firm long known for its penchant for pre-IPO technology companies, has lowered its stake in African e-commerce giant Jumia, according to the latest information. 13G/A filing Released by Asset Manager.
Baillie Gifford disclosed ownership of 18.75 million shares, representing 13.69% of Jumia, according to the filing. In Jumia’s previous filing a year ago, the asset management company held 19.85 million shares and owned 10.06% of the company at the time. This means that the stock will decrease by 5.50% of him and the ownership will decrease by 0.67% of him.
The Scottish asset management firm has been an early backer of reputable private and public technology companies such as Amazon, Google, Salesforce, Tesla, Airbnb, Spotify, Lyft, Palantir and SpaceX until its 100th anniversary. It has also invested in deals in other regions, including China’s Alibaba and his NIO, and Africa-based internet companies Naspers and Jumia.
Baillie Gifford bought a stake in Jumia in 2019, three years after the e-commerce giant went public.Scottish mortgage trust company owned by Jumia largest institutional investorhas sold and repurchased a portion of its shares every January since then, and the latest move marks the biggest share price drop to date. Baillie Gifford remains the largest shareholder of her e-commerce platform.
Last November, after several years of reporting losses, Jumia made a management change, appointing Francis Dufay as acting CEO, replacing co-founders Sascha Poignonec and Jeremy Hodala. resigned From the co-CEO role. The move was accompanied by immediate cuts in various product lines and workforces, including laying off several executives from its Dubai office. All this is in pursuit of missed profits for the company.
In Q3 2022, African e-tailers made significant progress, cutting losses by 13% from $52.5 million to $45.5 million. Despite these advances, public trust in e-commerce organizations seems to be waning. Jumia’s stock has fallen 51% over the past year, with shares dropping to $3.88 a share for him after Wednesday’s news. It has a market capitalization of $404 million and trades at just over $4. The e-tailer closed out the third quarter with his $284.7 million liquidity position. Of that amount, $104.3 million is cash and cash equivalents.
Baillie Gifford’s decision to sell a portion of her stake may have something to do with Jumia’s performance on the stock exchange. On the one hand, this could be a way to cut the losses investment firms began suffering last year, especially in the face of rising interest rates and fears of a recession, especially in growth stocks that have been hit hard. (Last week, the investment group admitted that 2022 was a “humble year” after losing more than $14 billion in shares of Tesla and Shopify. financial times). Still, it doesn’t explain why the fund group, with his over $230 billion AUM, increased its positions last week in loss-making companies such as his Chinese EV maker NIO and Wix.com. Jumia’s next earnings call next month should shed more light on this issue.
Not all is bleak for Jumia as other large shareholders including DE Shaw, Goldman Sachs and Bank of America took a different route and increased their stake in the company, owning 2.21%, 1.27% and 1.40% respectively. is not.Around Nasdaq.
