Airtel Africa Posts $2.62bn Revenue Despite Forex Headwinds

Airtel Africa Plc posted $2.623 billion revenue across all regions, despite foreign exchange headwinds, specifically in the country.

This was contained in the company’s results for half year ended September 30, 2023 released on the Nigerian Exchange Limited.

Total customers’ base grew by 9.7 per cent to 147.7 million, as the penetration of mobile data and mobile money services continued to rise, driving a 23 per cent increase in data customers to 59.8 million and a 23.1 per cent increase in mobile money customers to 36.5 million.

Financial performance of the company revealed that revenue in constant currency grew by 19.7 per cent, with reported currency revenues up by 2.3 per cent to $2.623 billion.

EBITDA increased by 21.2 per cent in constant currency, and 3.7 per cent in reported currency to $1. 302 billion, with an EBITDA margin of 49.6 per cent.

Loss after tax was $13 million driven largely by a foreign exchange loss of $471 million recorded in finance cost before tax and $317 million after tax because of the devaluation of the Nigerian naira in June 2023.

Meanwhile, the board declared an interim dividend of 2.38 cents per share, an increase of nine per cent, in-line with the Company progressive dividend policy.

Group chief executive officer of Airtel Africa, Olusegun Ogunsanya said: “I am pleased to report a strong operating performance for the Group despite foreign exchange headwinds in many of our markets and specifically in Nigeria.

“The resilient growth in voice, data and mobile money usage levels reflects the inherent demand for these essential services across our footprint, and our six-pillar ‘win-with’ strategy continues to ensure we capture this growth opportunity by expanding our customer base and providing the platform to enable increased usage across the network.”

He said: “as reported in July 2023, our results for the first quarter were significantly impacted by the changes to the FX market in Nigeria, introduced by the Central Bank. Whilst the changes are required for the long-term benefit of the Nigerian economy, the immediate impact of the naira devaluation continues to weigh on our reported financial performance in the period.”

Ogunsanya added that, “our focus remains to enhance long term value by continuing to drive sustained and efficient growth. Over the last five years we have delivered constant currency revenue and EBITDA CAGR of 17.1 per cent and 20.7 per cent respectively, allowing us to further derisk the balance sheet and improve profitability across the Group.”

Looking forward, he said: “the delivery of affordable and reliable telecom and mobile money services across our markets remains our key focus.

“Our strong operating performance continues to make us a stronger and bigger company, which is well positioned to deliver against the growth opportunities these markets offer. Despite the challenges of rising diesel prices in Nigeria, we aim to limit the impact with continued operational leverage and further cost efficiencies.” “Our balance sheet remains strong and thanks to higher commodity pricing and our proactive approach to cash management, we have generated more than $170m in free cash flow year to date. Our focus for the rest of 2023 is on safe and reliable operations, revenue assurance and cost management, all of which will deliver further strengthening of our cash position. This keeps us on track for an excellent year that will support the increased quarterly dividends we announced in April and allow us to continue our commitment to reward shareholders.

“Following the serious incident on the Depthwize Majestic rig, which resulted in the tragic loss of life, we have provided significant support to Depthwize, its owner, in its recovery operation. Our own investigations are ongoing, but I can assure all stakeholders of our unwavering commitment to safety on all of our operations.

“Ongoing third-party delays to ANOH’s export infrastructure remain a source of frustration, but we are confident that the quality of the project will support dividend growth for Seplat in the coming years as we diversify the business and deliver on our strategy to provide more affordable energy for Nigeria.

“We remain confident that we can conclude our transformational acquisition of MPNU. We wholly align with and support President Tinubu’s efforts to make Nigeria a more attractive place to invest, and we will play our part by delivering affordable and reliable energy that will support our nation’s growth.”