Digital consumer finance group reports positive operating profit for the first half of 2026 as it prepares to expand across the GCC and South-East Asia

MANAMA, BAHRAIN / MANILA, PHILIPPINES - Media OutReach Newswire - 3 August 2026 - Skyro, a digital consumer finance group headquartered in Bahrain, posted its first-ever half-year operating profit in H1 2026, just over three years after launching in the Philippines in 2022. The company's credit portfolio has grown almost eightfold since the end of 2023, while revenue has tripled year-over-year since launch, as Skyro prepares to expand its model across the GCC and South-East Asia.

H1 2026 key results:

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• - The company disbursed almost US$180 million in loans in the first half of 2026 alone, 1.9 times the amount disbursed a year earlier.
• - The Skyro app's user base grew to more than 7 million users.
• - By the end of Q2, Skyro reached 2 million total product loan transactions within its POS infrastructure since inception.
• - Skyro's lending products are offered through a network of more than 3,000 merchants and around 10,000 retail locations; its online merchant network expanded more than fivefold in 2025.
• - The company posted positive operating profit in H1 2026 - its first operationally profitable half-year since inception.

"In 2022, the Philippines became a magnet for fintech start-ups from around the world due to the clear gap between demand for accessible credit and its supply," said Arsen Liametov, co-founder of Skyro. "On one side were traditional banks offering low-interest loans only to the most affluent segments of the population. On the other were payday lenders charging annualised rates of up to 400%. We chose to position ourselves between these extremes, targeting the largest and most underserved segment of the market, and we built the model from day one to be scalable well beyond a single country."

Skyro uses AI-based alternative credit-scoring methods to assess the creditworthiness of individuals who lack a formal credit history, analysing factors such as online purchase history, smartphone usage data, and in-app behaviour. This approach enables the company to build a holistic picture of an individual's credit profile and to extend loans to customers who would otherwise be excluded by traditional banks.

The Philippines remains a challenging market for international fintech lenders, as conventional credit-scoring models often fail to capture the creditworthiness of large segments of the population. Skyro's AI-based approach to credit assessment has enabled it to become an exception in that market.

"Reaching operational break-even is an important milestone for Skyro," said Liametov. "It's what allows us to fund capital-intensive products like SkyroCredit, plan the launch of complementary fintech offerings, including investment technology solutions and SME lending, and expand into new markets."

Skyro is now applying the same approach beyond the Philippines, expanding its presence across the GCC and South-East Asia. As digital lending continues to disrupt markets where financial regulation remains conservative, Skyro aims to replicate its three-year path to break-even through its scalable lending platform and technology infrastructure.

Across these markets, large segments of the population and small businesses remain outside the formal financial system. That gap is central to Skyro's growth thesis: as these markets become digitalised, lenders that integrate with existing financial infrastructure, rather than building parallel systems to compete with it, are best positioned to scale.

*Operating profit is profit after all operating expenses, including general and administrative expenses, before foreign-exchange gains or losses and income tax. Figures are based on unaudited management accounts.