Carro, the Singapore-based online used car platform, announced Thursday that it has recorded its best ever full-year positive earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) of $4 million for its latest financial year ending March 2023 (FY2023).
Carro said in a statement that its EBITDA achieved an annualized run-rate of $35 million and a 4 percent EBITDA margin towards the end of the last financial year.
According to the statement, its FY2023 gross profit margin (GPM) increased to 9 percent, with the final quarter ending on a high note with a GPM of 11 percent, more than doubling FY2022’s GPM.
This is underpinned by strong ancillary income growth, which represents close to 60 percent of Carro’s gross profit in the final quarter.
Meanwhile, its full-year revenue exceeded $800 million, on the back of a $1.5 billion gross merchandise value (GMV).
Carro sold and financed over 120,000 vehicles across Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore.
Genie, Carro’s fintech business, also recorded strong growth across the region and kept non-performing loans (NPL) at 0.2 percent, which is significantly below industry benchmarks.
The overall loan book grew to over $350 million.
“We are laser-focused on improving profitability and unit economics while optimizing productivity and cost structure,
“It’s not about selling more cars; it’s about capturing more value and recurring income streams,” said Aaron Tan, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Carro.
As other businesses continue to focus on GMV growth at all cost, he said the firm is strategically doubled down on building a sustainable business model and leveraged its ecosystem to drive more recurring ancillaries across the entire ownership and usership lifecycle.
“Our fintech and mobility business made significant strides in FY2023,
“We have also laid foundations for stronger growth in our insurtech business via strategic partnerships with ZA Tech and MSIG., as well as aftersales,” he added.
Ernest Chew, Chief Financial Officer of Carro, said that not only did the firm hit record EBITDA in FY2023, its annualized EBITDA is tracking to plan with an EBITDA margin of about 4 percent.
“We expect to achieve 10 times EBITDA this year. Even if we sold zero cars, we would be super-EBITDA positive today,
“Nearly 60 percent of our gross profit is from recurring ancillaries. This is the real benefit of a true, sustainable ecosystem-driven business model,” he said.
He also said the firm has almost no operational burn currently and EBITDA is positive across all its core markets.
“We have also built a fortress balance sheet and diversified our lending relationships to 17 financial institutions, who have offered us very competitive cost of financing,” he added.
Founded in 2015, Carro is Southeast Asia’s largest used car marketplace.
By offering a trustworthy and transparent experience, Carro transforms the traditional way of buying and selling cars through proprietary pricing algorithms, artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled capabilities, and innovative technological solutions.
Carro holds a strong presence in key markets across Southeast Asia, including Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand, and has recently expanded its reach to Japan and Taiwan.
Headquartered in Singapore, the unicorn startup is supported by more than 4,500 employees across Asia-Pacific and has raised over SGD 700 million ($517m) from Softbank Vision Fund and several sovereign funds.
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