Overview
Tingo, Inc. ("we," "us," "our," "Tingo" or the "Company"), a Nevada
corporation, was formed on February 17, 2015. Our shares trade on the OTC
Markets trading platform under the symbol 'TMNA'. We acquired our wholly-owned
subsidiary, Tingo Mobile, PLC, a Nigerian public limited company ("Tingo
Mobile"), in a share exchange with its sole shareholder effective August 15,
2021. The Company, including its subsidiary Tingo Mobile, is an Agri-Fintech
company offering a comprehensive platform service through use of smartphones -
'device as a service' (using GSM technology) to empower a marketplace to enable
subscribers/farmers within and outside of the agricultural sector to manage
their commercial activities of growing and selling their production to market
participants both domestically and internationally. The ecosystem provides a
'one stop shop' solution to enable such subscribers to manage everything from
airtime top ups, bill pay services for utilities and other service providers,
access to insurance services and micro finance to support their value chain from
'seed to sale'.
As of December 31, 2021, Tingo had approximately 9.3 million subscribers using
its mobile phones and Nwassa payment platform (www.nwassa.com). Nwassa is
Africa's leading digital agriculture ecosystem that empowers rural farmers and
agri-businesses by using proprietary technology to enable access to markets in
which they operate. Farm produce can be shipped from farms across Africa to any
part of the world, in both retail and wholesale quantities. Nwassa's payment
gateway also has an escrow structure that creates trust between buyers and
sellers. Our system provides real-time pricing, straight from the farms,
eliminating middlemen. Our users' customers pay for produce bought using
available pricing on our platform. Our platform is paperless, verified and
matched against a smart contract. Data is efficiently stored on the blockchain.
Our platform has created an escrow solution that secures the buyer, funds are
not released to the seller until fulfilment. The platform also facilitates trade
financing, ensuring that banks and other lenders compete to provide credit to
our members.
Although we have a large retail subscriber base, ours is essentially a
business-to-business-to-consumer ("B2B2C") business model. Each of our
subscribers is a member of one of two large farmers' cooperatives with whom we
have a contractual relationship and which relationship facilitates the
distribution of our branded smartphones into various rural communities of member
farmers. And it is through our phones and our proprietary applications imbedded
therein where we are able to distribute our wider array of agri-fintech services
and generate the diverse revenue streams as described in more detail in this
report. In the fourth quarter of 2021, we also sold 2.9 million of our
smartphones to a third cooperative, the members of which have the option to
register for the Company's Nwassa platform to gain access to our Agri-Fintech
services and become additions to our subscriber base.
Our principal office is located at 43 West 23rd Street, 2nd Floor, New York, NY
10010, and the telephone number is +1-646-847-0144. Our corporate website is
located at www.tingoinc.com. We make available free of charge on our website our
annual report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on
Form 8-K and all amendments to those reports as soon as reasonably practicable
after such material is electronically filed or furnished to the Securities and
Exchange Commission ("SEC"). Our shares are traded on OTC Markets under the
ticker symbol "TMNA".
Acquisition of Tingo Mobile plc
On August 15, 2021, the Company acquired all of the share capital of Tingo
Mobile plc, a Nigerian corporation ("Tingo Mobile") from Tingo International
Holdings, Inc., a Delaware corporation ("TIH"), the sole shareholder of Tingo
Mobile. Pursuant to the Acquisition Agreement executed in connection with the
transaction, as subsequently amended, we issued TIH 1,028,000,000 shares of our
Class A common stock and 65,000,000 shares of our Class B common stock. We also
paid various fees and expenses in connection with the transaction, including
27,840,000 shares of our Class A common stock as a finder's fee.
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Results of Operations
Year Ended December 31, 2021 Compared with the Year Ended December 31, 2020
The Company's consolidated results from operations for the years ended December
31, 2021 and 2020 are summarized as follows:
Years Ended December 31,
(in Thousands) % of % of
2021 Revenue 2020 Revenue
Revenue $ 865,838 - $ 585,255 -
Operating Expense (800,479) 92.45 % (383,399) 65.51 %
Operating Income 65,359 7.55 % 201,856 34.49 %
Other Income (Expenses), net 417 - 8,854 1.51 %
Income before taxes 65,776 7.60 % 210,710 36.00 %
Income tax expense (104,802) 12.10 % (68,740) 11.75 %
Net Income (Loss) $ (39,026) 4.51 % $ 141,970 24.26 %
Revenue
Generally. Total revenue for Tingo Mobile increased from $585.3 million in 2020
to $865.8 million in 2021, an increase of $280.5 million or 47.9%. This followed
an increase of $129.7 million, or 28.5%, in 2020 from revenue of $455.6 million
in 2019. The increase in 2021 over 2020 was principally due to the following:
The increased use of our agri-fintech services by our subscribers, which saw a
record increase of approximately $100.0 million, or 101.4% year-over-year, in
revenues for Nwassa, our Agri-fintech platform. Our strategy of enabling rural
? communities with an affordable smartphone 'device as a service' has proved
successful in increasing the volume of agri produce trading being conducted on
the platform, where revenues have increased by 89.9% over 2020 with 2021
revenues of $80.7 million (2020 - $ 42.5 million).
Affordable pricing of mobile device insurance saw a substantial increase in the
? number of customers that opted for this service, resulting in an increase of
approximately 800.0% from 2020, to post revenues of $14.4 million (2020 : $1.6
million)
A significant number of customers see Nwassa as their chosen method to make
? payments for utilities. The Company recorded a 120.0% growth in this revenue
component in 2021 ($91.1 million) over 2020 ($ 41.5 million).
The significant growth in Nwassa revenues is in line with the company's
? strategy to expand its Agri-Fintech business as its core focus with the access
to mobile devices as an enabler to assure access and connectivity to our Nwassa
platform.
? The favorable Naira-USD exchange rate on December 31, 2021 as compared to
December 31, 2020.
Mobile leasing revenues increased due to timing of the renewal of our 12-month
? leasing contracts. The previous contracts expired in May 2020. The new
contracts commenced in May 2021 and August 2021, renewing over 9.3 million
existing subscribers, the majority of whom are active on the Nwassa platform.
Our agri-fintech monthly revenue growth has increased from $25.4 million in
September 2021 to $31.8 million in December 2021, representing a 24.9%
increase. The key areas that contributed to this significant monthly growth are
the significant increase of the number of agricultural trades executed through
? our system by 56.0%, delivering revenue growth of 77.0% for this activity
alone. Some of this growth may be seasonal but it is a demonstration of a
material increase in the level of activity on Nwassa as the service matures. In
addition, we have experienced double digit growth in mobile insurance and loan
brokerage services during 2021 as compared to 2020.
? In the fourth quarter of 2021, we sold 2.9 million of our smartphones to a
third cooperative in a single transaction,
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generating revenue of approximately $301.0 million. The members of this
cooperative have the option, but not the obligation, to register for the
Company's Nwassa platform to gain access to our agri-fintech services and become
additions to our subscriber base.
Agri-Fintech. The Agri-Fintech component of Tingo Mobile's business was
introduced in 2020, and grew from $98.6 million, or 16.8% of total revenue in
2020, to $198.6 million, or 22.9% of total revenue in the year ended December
31, 2021. This represents an increase of 36.0% in Agri-Fintech's overall
contribution to our total revenue. In addition, this trend demonstrates the
increased activity resulting from the adoption of the smartphone 'Device as a
Service' strategy the Company has implemented. Aggregate Nwassa revenue, which
includes airtime, loan brokerage fees, insurance, transaction fees on
agricultural produce trades, and transaction fees for utility payments,
increased by 101.4% for 2021 as compared to 2020. The following table, which
breaks out each revenue component, displays the growth, with no increase in
airtime purchases for other networks on our Nwassa services by our existing
customer base, from 2020 to 2021. We estimate that this represents over $4.0
billion in aggregate transaction processing for 2021 on our platforms.
The percentage growth in the various components of our Nwassa revenue from 2020
to 2021 is shown in the following table:
NWASSA REVENUE
2021 2020 Pct. Increase
Airtime $ 10,129,247 $ 10,114,806 0.1 %
Brokerage on Loans 2,334,312 2,975,749 (21.6) %
Insurance 14,387,594 1,606,707 795.5 %
Agricultural Produce Trading Fees 80,655,494 42,476,778 89.9 %
Utility Payment Transaction Fees 91,132,027 41,471,994 120.0 %
Total $ 198,638,674 $ 98,646,034 101.4 %
Mobile Sales and Leasing. Regarding the lease contracts for our mobile phones,
the previous leasing cycle ended in May 2020. Due to Covid 19 and disruption to
our supply chains, our new leasing cycles recommenced in May and August of 2021,
concomitant with the commencement of leasing agreements with our two principal
farmers' cooperatives. Deliveries of 9.0 million devices were staggered between
May 2021 and August 2021. We anticipate the level of revenue will increase
significantly for subsequent quarters due to the full rollout of approximately
9.3 million devices as of August 2021.
In examining the financial model of Tingo, we believe it is important to
understand that the provision of smartphones is the means to drive a higher
level of access to Nwassa, our Agri-Fintech platform, to enable our customers to
participate in our Agri-marketplace, top up their airtime, pay for utilities,
insure their mobile devices and access credit services through partner
institutions. Typical fees and commissions on these services can be up to 4.0%.
Insurance revenue is fixed at $0.24 per device per month. Our focus on providing
an affordable mobile device is core to the delivery of our fintech services and
we call that 'Device as a Service' model. The richness of our Agri-Fintech
service and related payment services deliver a very unique model of social
upliftment and financial inclusion to rural communities. The agri-marketplace we
have created provides our customers with an opportunity to market their fresh
produce to reduce the 'time to market' and contribute towards our objectives to
support the rural farming community with products and services that enable
reduction in 'post-harvest losses' - a key area of focus for us as part of our
investment to deliver services through use of smartphones to drive tangible
social upliftment through increased sales for such farmers using the Nwassa
platform.
Cost of Revenues
The following table sets forth the cost of revenues for the years ended December
31, 2021 and 2020:
Year Ended December 31,
2021 2020
Commission to Cooperatives and Agents $ 9,378,916 $ 10,884,336
Cost of Resold Mobile Phones
274,800,172 353,499,376
Total cost of revenues $ 284,179,088 $ 364,383,712
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Our cost of revenues for 2021 was $284.2 million as compared to $364.4 million
in 2020, a decrease of $80.2 million. Cost of revenues principally consists of
obligations to our manufacturer for our branded mobile phones that we resell, as
well as the cost of providing our agri-fintech services. With respect to our
leased phones, we do not recognize the cost of the phones as a cost of sales,
but rather depreciate such cost on a straight line basis over the useful life of
the devices, estimated at three years. Because overall cost of revenues also
includes the cost of our agri-fintech services, the trending decrease in cost of
revenues as a percentage of overall revenue is inversely related to the
proportional increase over time of revenue generation from our higher margin
agri-fintech services as described below. In other words, as we expand our
Nwassa platform and revenue streams associated therewith, we expect our overall
cost of revenues, as a percentage of overall revenue, to decrease accordingly.
Cost of revenues consists of two key elements:
Commissions to Cooperatives and Agents - the Company has over 17,000 agents
? that support the rollout of our services through our farmers' cooperative
partners and an independent agency network of rural farmers and women.
? Cost of Resold Mobile Phones - we match the cost of mobile devices which we
offer for resale to the costs we pay our manufacturer.
Selling, General & Administrative Expenses
The following table sets forth selling, general and administrative expenses for
the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020:
Years Ended December 31,
2021 2020
Payroll and related expenses 72,990,188 2,630,454
Distribution expenses 985,801 268,337
Professional fees 192,842,115 298,768
Bank fees and charges 926,256 909,233
Depreciation and amortization 247,177,230 5,769,462
General and administrative expenses - other 1,278,898 440,415
Bad debt expenses
99,247 8,698,024
Selling, General and Administrative Expenses $ 516,299,735 $ 19,014,693
As the lessor of branded phones to our cooperative customers, we recognize
depreciation expense ratably over the three-year estimated useful life of these
devices. Other than the foregoing, prior year expenses mainly relate to general
and administrative expenses only. Our acquisition of Tingo Mobile and the
attendant expenses to maintain our status as a public reporting company has
substantially increased these expenses. In addition, in 2021, we adopted our
2021 Equity Incentive Plan which provided for, among other awards, shares of
restricted stock to Plan participants. This resulted in stock-based compensation
expense of $149.4 million for the year, which included stock-based payments to
officers, directors, and employees of $68.7 million and stock-based payments of
professional fees of $80.8 million. Eliminating non-cash expenditures such as
compensation expense relating to these stock awards, the Company had profit
before tax of approximately $215.2 million on a consolidated basis during 2021.
A detailed breakdown of other expenses included in Selling General and
Administrative Expenses are contained in the Consolidated Profit and Loss
Statement. A substantial part of these expenses relate to Tingo Mobile's
operations in Nigeria. Also included under Professional Fees is a finder's fee
paid in stock to third parties of $111.3 million in connection with the
acquisition of Tingo Mobile.
Gross Profit and Income from Operations
Our gross profit for 2021 was $581.7 as compared to $220.9 million in 2020, an
increase of $360.8 million or 163.3%. The substantial increase in gross profit
from 2020 to 2021 was consistent with the increase from 2019 to 2020, where
gross profit rose $81.8 million, or 58.9%, from $139.1 million in 2019. The
increases from 2019 through 2021 were principally due to a significant increase
in the revenue growth of our Nwassa agri-fintech platform, where we earn up to a
4.0% commission on various financial transactions and have relatively
insignificant marginal expenses as compared to our sales and leasing business.
With increased adoption rates and growth in our subscriber base, as Nwassa
becomes a progressively larger component of our aggregate revenue, we expect
overall gross profit margins to increase accordingly.
This trend is evidenced by the increased level of income from operations we have
posted for 2021 as compared to 2020. This illustrates the significant value of
the increased mix of Nwassa revenues relative to mobile sales/leasing will have
a significant impact on margins and profitability into the future.
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Other Income
Other income was insignificant in 2021, or less than $0.5 million, as compared
to approximately $8.9 million in 2020, and $0.4 million in 2019. The principal
reason for the significant increase in 2020 was the recovery of bad debts. Given
the manner in which we bundle our services with our branded phones, we do not
typically incur a substantial amount of bad debt. Accordingly, we do not expect
other income relating to the recovery of bad debts to be a significant revenue
item in future periods.
2021 Equity Incentive Plan
On October 6, 2021, the Board adopted our 2021 Equity Incentive Plan ("Incentive
Plan"), the purpose of which was to promote the interests of the Company by
encouraging directors, officers, employees, and consultants of Tingo to develop
a long-term interest in the Company, align their interests with that of our
stockholders, and provide a means whereby they may develop a proprietary
interest in the development and financial success of the Company and its
stockholders. The Incentive Plan is also intended to enhance the ability of the
Company and its subsidiaries to attract and retain the services of individuals
who are essential for the growth and profitability of the Company. The Incentive
Plan permits the award of restricted stock, common stock purchase options,
restricted stock units, and stock appreciation awards. The maximum number of
shares of our Class A common stock that are subject to awards granted under the
Incentive Plan is 131,537,545 shares. The term of the Incentive Plan will expire
on October 6, 2031. On October 12, 2021, our stockholders approved our Incentive
Plan and, during the fourth quarter of 2021, the Tingo Compensation Committee
granted awards of restricted stock under the Incentive Plan to certain
directors, executive officers, employees, and consultants in the aggregate
amount of 108,870,000 shares. The majority of the awards so issued are each
subject to a vesting requirement over a 2-year period unless the recipient
thereof is terminated or removed from their position without "cause", or as a
result of constructive termination, as such terms are defined in the respective
award agreements entered into by each of the recipients and the Company. We
account for share-based compensation using the fair value method, as prescribed
by ASC 718, Compensation-Stock Compensation. Accordingly, for restricted stock
awards, we measure the grant date fair value based upon the market price of our
common stock on the date of the grant and amortize the fair value of the awards
as share-based compensation expense over the requisite service period, which is
generally the vesting term. In connection with these awards, we recorded
compensation expense of $149.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2021.
As of December 31, 2021, total compensation expense to be recognized in future
periods is $66.4 million. The weighted average period over which this expense is
expected to be recognized is 1.8 years.
The following table summarizes the activity related to granted, vested, and
unvested restricted stock awards under the Incentive Plan for the year ended
December 31, 2021:
Weighted
Number of Average Grant
Shares Date Fair Value
Unvested shares outstanding, January 1, 2021 - -
Shares Granted 108,870,000 $ 1.75
Shares Vested 71,919,167 $ 1.73
Shares Forfeited - -
Unvested shares outstanding, December 31, 2021 36,950,833 $ 1.80
Current Market Conditions
After a weeks-long buildup of forces along the Ukranian border in January and
February 2022, armed forces of the Russian Federation invaded the country along
multiple points on February 24, 2022. Western countries, largely led by the
United States, issued substantial economic sanctions against Russia, including a
complete ban on oil and gas imports into North America, the suspension of a
number of Russian banks from the SWIFT banking communication system, and the
freezing of assets beneficially owned by individuals with ties to the Russian
government. The short-term effect of the invasion and its economic repercussions
has been most acute on commodity prices, particularly agricultural and
extractive products, with wheat prices up more than 70% from twelve months
earlier, and oil prices rising to multi-year highs in March 2022. Equity
markets, which had already started 2022 on a downward trend, were further
suppressed by geopolitical events and the reaction of investors to them.
According to the IMF, the global economy grew at an estimated 5.9% rate for
2021, a full one point increase from 2020 (4.9%) and is expected to increase by
4.9% during 2022. Meanwhile, inflation has increased markedly in the United
States and some emerging market economies. As restrictions are relaxed, demand
has accelerated, but supply has been slower to respond. Although price pressures
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are expected to subside in most countries in 2022, inflation prospects are
highly uncertain. Consumer prices, which had largely been held in check during
the pandemic, began to rise steadily in the second quarter of 2021 and, by the
third quarter of 2021, had reached an annualized rate of 5.4%. Although a number
of commentators suggested that the price rises would be temporary due to supply
and logistical constraints, the fourth quarter of 2021 saw further increases,
with a non-core annualized rate of inflation of 7.0% by the end of 2021.
February 2022 again saw a further increase to an annualized rate of 7.9%, the
highest since January 1982. Notwithstanding tightening moves by central banks in
the first quarter of 2022, the conflict in Ukraine is expected by many analysts
to exacerbate underlying inflationary pressures.
These increases in consumer prices are occurring even as employment rates are
below pre-pandemic levels in many economies, forcing difficult choices on
policymakers. As of the end of 2021, the global unemployment rate stood at
approximately 6.2%, still above levels experienced prior to the onset of
COVID-19, but substantially below the highs of the first half of 2020 during the
initial months of the pandemic. Economists are projecting a global unemployment
rate of 5.9% for all of 2022.
With respect to food security and agricultural production, we expect that
Tingo's focus on providing market solutions for the agriculture sector will
increase in importance as the world seeks viable food security solutions in
alternate geographical areas such as Africa. With a significant and established
presence with millions of rural farmers using NWASSA, we intend to develop and
consider strategic growth plans and deepen our interest in agritech and
outgrower programs ('seed to offtake'). We also intend to make use of 'Big Data'
to support improved productivity and expansion of our agri-marketplace linked to
impact driven agri-finance and insurance solutions to support the expected
growth and focus on Africa. Interestingly, as the cost of agri-commodities
increase in price and farmers trade on Nwassa, such activity will increase the
Company's revenue as we earn a fixed percentage of all trade. We are considering
how we can extend our marketplace for both domestic and international markets
and demand to respond in a positive and deliberate way to deliver solutions
towards the acute concern around food security resulting from the crisis.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
Sources and Uses of Cash: Our principal sources of liquidity are our cash and
cash equivalents, and cash generated from operations. On September 24, 2021, we
filed a Form D with the Securities and Exchange Commission indicating the sale
of our securities in one or more private transactions (the "Private Offering").
We expect that, as a result of the Private Offering, we will also be able to
secure sufficient operating and working capital for our parent company
activities for the next twelve months.
Cash on Hand. As of December 31, 2021, our cash and cash equivalents totaled
$128.4 million on a consolidated basis as compared to $28.2 million in cash and
cash equivalents at December 31, 2020. Virtually all of our cash is denominated
in Nigerian Naira and deposited in Nigeria-based financial institutions.
Cash Provided from (Used in) Operating Activities. Operating activities provided
approximately $123.8 million during the year ended December 31, 2021 as compared
to cash generated of approximately $61.7 million for the year ended December 31,
2020. The increase was primarily due to the increase in trade and other payables
and deferred income for significant sales of mobile phones in Q4 of 2021.
Cash Provided from (Used in) Investing Activities. For the year ended December
31, 2021, our net cash used in investing activities was approximately $1.2
million, compared to net cash used in investing activities of approximately
$199.3 million for all of 2020, the principal difference being the acquisition
of work in process during 2020.
Cash Provided from (Used in) Financing Activities. For the year ended December
31, 2021, our net cash used in financing activities was zero, compared to net
cash used in financing activities of approximately $8.9 million for all of 2020.
The principal reason was for repayments on debts outstanding in 2020 that were
not outstanding in 2021.
Indebtedness: The Company had no financial debt as of December 31, 2021 or 2020.
We expect our cash on hand, proceeds received from our assets and operations,
cash flow from operations, and availability of funds from our private offering,
will be sufficient to meet our anticipated liquidity needs for business
operations for the next twelve months. There can be no assurance that we will
continue to generate cash flows at or above current levels or that we will be
able to raise additional financing to support our parent company's operating and
compliance expenditures.
Our cash flows from operations could be adversely affected by events outside our
control, including, without limitation, changes in overall economic conditions,
regulatory requirements, changes in technologies, demand for our products and
services,
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availability of labor resources and capital, natural disasters, pandemics and
outbreaks of contagious diseases and other adverse public health developments,
such as COVID-19, and other conditions. Our ability to attract and maintain a
sufficient customer base, particularly in our principal markets, is critical to
our ability to maintain a positive cash flow from operations. The foregoing
events individually or collectively could affect our results.
We are evaluating the impact of current market conditions on our Company and its
ability to generate dollar-denominated income. We believe that our operating
cash flow and cash on hand will be sufficient to meet operating requirements and
to finance routine capital expenditures through the next twelve months.
Off Balance Sheet Arrangements
None.
Dividends
On November 10, 2021, our Board adopted a Dividend Policy for the Company. The
Policy provides a process that the Board will undertake when approving
quarterly, annual, and special dividends for the Company including, but not
limited to, various financial criteria and macroeconomic factors, as well as
certain financial and economic factors specific to the Company. In the case of
quarterly dividends, within ninety (90) calendar days following the end of each
fiscal year, the Board will determine the dividend payment, if any, that will be
made to holders of the Company's capital stock. Such dividend will generally be
expressed as a cash amount equal to a percentage of the Company's consolidated
after-tax net income for such prior fiscal year, and will be divided into
fourths, with one-fourth of the amount payable each quarter. As of December 31,
2021, the Company has not paid any dividends in its history.
Subsequent Events
Our Management performed an evaluation of the Company's activity through the
date the financial statements were issued, noting there were no subsequent
events.
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