Airtel Africa’s profit impacted by acquisition of 5G spectrum in Nigeria
African telecom and mobile money services provider, Airtel Africa Plc has posted $523 million profit after tax for the nine-month period ended 31 December 2022.
This represents a 1.7% growth compared to the corresponding period of 2021, with gross income growing by 12.1%, to $3.9 million.
A review of the financials which was released to the Nigerian Exchange Group on Thursday showed that the network provider’s subscribers rose 10.1% to 138.5 million within the period as the penetration of mobile data and mobile money services continued to rise, driving the data customer base up 13.6% and the mobile money customer base up 22.2%.
A look at other key numbers
A key highlight of its financials includes the increase of mobile money transaction value by 37.0%, to an annualised value of almost $100 billion in Q3’23, on the back of aggressive investment in broadband infrastructure across its key markets including Nigeria, DRC, Tanzania, and Kenya over the nine-month period.
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Nigeria led its mobile services revenue with 20.9%, followed by East Africa with 11.9% and in Francophone Africa with 11.8%.
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Overall, mobile money revenue grew by 29.8%, driven by 32.5% growth in East Africa and 21.7% in Francophone Africa.
However, all was not rosy in the earnings report as earnings per share, EPS declined by 5.8% to 10.8 cents “largely driven by higher foreign exchange and derivative losses of $184 million”.
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Also, its debt still stands at $550m after settling $450 million in July 2022 sending its leverage ratio to 1.4x higher than the September 2022 level (1.3x). The company attributed this to the acquisition of the 5G spectrum in Nigeria.
What Airtel Africa CEO is saying about the result
Commenting on the result, Segun Ogunsanya, Chief Executive Officer said, “Providing affordable, innovative, and essential services to customers in our 14 markets with unparalleled network quality and customer service is integral to our ambition of transforming lives across Africa.
“These strong results are a testament to this strategy despite the current macro-economic and geopolitical uncertainties. The execution of our six-pillar strategy continues to provide the foundation for growth, driving 10% customer growth, supported by 14% growth in data customers and over 22% growth in mobile money customers.
“Higher usage across voice, data, and money have contributed to further ARPU growth of over 7%, resulting in 18% revenue growth in the quarter as penetration across each segment continues to increase.”
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He added, “I am particularly excited by the performance of our mobile money business, with annualized transaction value reaching nearly $100bn, as we continue to drive financial inclusion in the continent.
“Despite the inflationary pressures across our markets, the strong revenue performance in the first nine months of the year, combined with a continued focus on cost optimisation, contributed to EBITDA growth of over 17% in constant currency, with stable EBITDA margins.”