{"id":653058,"date":"2026-06-09T10:23:33","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T08:23:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=653058"},"modified":"2026-06-09T10:31:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T08:31:12","slug":"card-payments-in-south-africa-impacted-by-global-chip-shortage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/business\/653058-card-payments-in-south-africa-impacted-by-global-chip-shortage.html","title":{"rendered":"Card payments in South Africa impacted by global chip shortage"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

South African financial technology group Araxi said its annual performance was negatively affected by the global microchip shortage, which delayed a major delivery of its card machine payment terminals.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earnings before tax (EBITDA) for the company, which owns payment processor Pay@, declined 16.4% to R279.3 million in the year marked by significant business restructuring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Araxi (formerly Capital Appreciation) published its financial results for the year ended 31 March 2026, noting a year marked by significant costs related to ongoing changes at the company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alongside the drop in reported earnings, the company indicated that headline earnings per share, a measure of overall profitability, declined by 18.2% year on year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the 2026 financial year, Araxi said headline earnings declined to 14.37 cents per share, compared to 17.57 cents per share in 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Araxi still reported that it managed to get 447,000 card payment terminals into customers’ hands in the year, noting a 5.4% increase in the number of terminals delivered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was achieved despite the shock of global microchip shortages, driven by an over-demand for manufacturing capacity to produce high-end memory and other chips for AI data centres.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The year was also notable for Araxi as it engaged in widespread restructuring across its business, including the finalisation of the R1 billion acquisition of Pay@.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the year, Araxi recorded a once-off restructuring cost of R10 million in its software division, as well as early transaction costs of R8.8 million related to its Pay@ transaction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To separate the impact of these fees, the company also reported its underlying results to give investors a clearer picture of the core business’s performance amid the restructuring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Underlying indicators paint a picture of a healthier business, with underlying EBITDA increasing 5.9% year-on-year from R267.3 million to R283.2 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The software business saw increased traction, with underlying EBITDA up 77%, and Araxi said it saw encouraging pipeline development across both the payment and software divisions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Recurring Revenue in Payments increased significantly, and the software division’s H2’26 performance showed marked improvements, pointing to a meaningfully more positive trajectory,” it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Costs were well managed, and there was solid execution against the Group’s strategic objectives.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the missed delivery of the terminal order is called “substantial” due to chip shortages, and a R10 million payment of a five-year banking software licence fee impacted profits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Helping Apple launch Tap to Pay in South Africa<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Apple launched iPhone Tap to Pay in South Africa in May. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Araxi’s outlook for the 2027 financial year is brighter, with cautious optimism for future results amid increased clientele, said Group CEO Bradley Sacks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We are excited about the prospects that arise from the acquisition of Pay@ and remain cautiously optimistic that these trends and opportunities will support the Group’s growth,”\u00a0he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the year, the software division generated R384 million in contracted sales, including to several large banks and premier insurance companies, the company said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Clients are increasingly open to engaging in specialised projects, with particularly strong demand for cloud migration and intelligent data solutions,” the company said in a press release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Other projects include agentic AI, fraud detection, and payment modernisation initiatives. By the end of the year, the Division saw a significant increase in demand and project closures for FY’27.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Araxi also revealed that its Halo Dot financial technology was an Apple Gateway Service Provider (GSP) for the launch of Apple’s Tap to Pay on iPhone in South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apple launched Tap to Pay in South Africa in collaboration with local fintech Yoco and iStore Pay<\/a>, the payment software of local Apple Premium Reseller, Core Group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The platform allowed businesses in South Africa to accept card payments directly on their iPhones, no terminals or additional payment hardware required.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Araxi indicated that Halo Dot was used by a “major retailer” to help Apple launch the payment service in South Africa in May.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It said that Apple has approved Halo Dot to enable the launch of Tap to Pay on iPhone solutions in other markets.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Major South African fintech company Araxi said its performance was negatively impacted by a delivery of card machines that was missed due to the global microchip shortage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":341213,"featured_media":653059,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[605,105013,32262,102706,85799,39268,1125,104102,19945,31158,76422,71108],"class_list":["post-653058","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-apple","tag-araxi","tag-banking","tag-bradley-sacks","tag-capital-appreciation","tag-fintech","tag-iphone","tag-pay-2","tag-restructuring","tag-software","tag-tap-to-pay","tag-yoco"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653058"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/341213"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=653058"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653058\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":653070,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653058\/revisions\/653070"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/653059"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=653058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=653058"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=653058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}