Airtel Africa has recorded 13% double-digit growth in reported currency to $1,257m for the year ending June 2022. This represents revenues across all their regions and all their key services, with improving margins driven by strong cost control, and expanding cash generation which is enabling the telco to continue to invest in its network and services and expand its distribution.
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Looking at the financials, in constant currency terms revenue grew by 15.3%. Total revenues, for mobile services and mobile money services combined, grew in Nigeria by 18.3%, in East Africa by 14.1%, and in Francophone Africa by 11.7%. Revenue growth in constant currency was posted across all four reporting segments. Mobile Services revenue in Nigeria grew by 18.3%, in East Africa by 11.1% and in Francophone Africa by 10.6% (and across the Group by 14.2%, with voice revenue up by 11.3% and data revenue up by 19.8%). Mobile Money revenue grew by 26.5%, driven by a growth of 26.9% in East Africa and 25.4% in Francophone Africa.
Airtel’s operating profit grew by 20.6% to $425m in reported currency and profit after tax grew by 25.3% to $178m. The total customer base increased to 131.6 million, up 8.9%, with increased penetration across mobile data (customer base up 9.7%) and mobile money services (customer base up 19.7%).
Segun Ogunsanya, chief executive officer, said in a statement, ” I am pleased to report that the Group has continued to post double-digit revenue growth, margin improvement, and strong earnings growth. I am also particularly pleased with our ongoing strengthening of the balance sheet which continued after the period ended, with early repayment of $450m of debt at Group level.”
“As we flagged in our full year announcement, this quarter we have faced headwinds from outbound voice call barring for customers who had not yet registered their National Identification Numbers in Nigeria and the loss of site sharing revenue in those OpCos where we recently sold towers. Inflation is also having an impact on our cost base, particularly on energy costs, but our continued efficiency drives have ensured that we have still been able to increase our margins, albeit at a slightly slower rate” he added.
After receiving the Payment Service Bank license in Nigeria just a few months ago, Airtel has demonstrated that they have been doing prior preparation and have already managed to launch their mobile money operations in a few select locations without any operational issues. Airtel has also continued to invest for growth and have made a couple of major additional spectrum acquisitions recently in the DRC and Kenya in anticipation of continued strong data demand growth in these markets.
