Airtel Africa’s half-year profit leaps by 375% as data revenue boosts turnover

A moderate jump in turnover, driven by a strong data revenue growth, set the stage for a 375.3 per cent increase in the net profit of Airtel Africa in the first half of the year, compared to a year ago.

For the network service provider, cutting down finance cost also provided a further boost.

Income from data services has now confined voice revenue to the second place as the wireless operator’s top revenue source, according to its latest financial report published on Tuesday.

Airtel Africa highlighted a stronger dollar as a key factor that strengthened its revenue performance, the greenback being the reporting currency of the company, which runs telecoms and mobile money services in fourteen markets across the continent.

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Turnover climbed by 25.8 per cent in reporting currency terms to $3 billion, supported by local currency appreciation in Francophone Africa as well as in Uganda and Zambia, where the shilling and the kwacha recorded notable gains against the US dollar in the period.

Airtel Africa, based in the UK, is quoted in London and has a secondary listing in Nigeria, its largest market.

“Airtel Money continues to gain momentum, with our customer base nearing 50 million and annualised total processed value approaching $200bn, up over 35% year-on-year,” CEO Sunil Taldar said of the fast-growing payments unit, which is aiming for an initial public offer any time soon.

“The acceleration in customer growth and continued growth in engagement on the platform reflects our success in driving digital adoption and innovation to enhance the ecosystem,” he stated further.

The mobile money business posted a 33.9 per cent expansion in revenue to $623 million amid a one-fifth increase in customer base, which grew to almost 50 million.

It is backed by Mastercard, Qatar Investment Authority and US-based private equity firm TPG, among other institutional investors.

Total finance cost dropped by 42.6 per cent to $304 million, relieved from last year’s devaluation pressures from its Nigerian operation, which triggered $260 million derivative and foreign exchange losses in HY2024.

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Derivative and foreign exchange gains of $90 million were reported this time around, aided by a relative stability in the dollar-to-naira exchange rate in the second quarter of this year and an appreciation in the CFA in the first quarter, Airtel Africa noted.

Profit before tax, at $656 million, was up by 269.3 per cent, while post-tax profit advanced to $376 million from $79 million.

Return on equity was 12.2 per cent, sharply up from 2.8 per cent in March.