Airtel Begins Tranche-2 Of $100m Share Buy-back Programme

Airtel Africa Plc, said it commenced the second tranche of its $100 million share buy-back programme.

The company stated this in a statement signed by the Group company secretary, Simon O’Hara released on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited.

According to the statement, this is further to its announcements on February 1, 2024 and March 1, 2024, and follows the completion of the first tranche of the Programme.

“The second tranche of the share buy-back will amount to a maximum of $50 million and is anticipated to end on or before December 19, 2024. The Company has entered into an agreement with Citigroup Global Markets Limited to conduct the second tranche of the buy-back and carry out on-market purchases of its ordinary shares with the Company subsequently purchasing its ordinary shares from Citi.”

It added that under this agreement, Citi will act as riskless principal and will make decisions independently of the company.

Airtel Africa said that the sole purpose of the buy-back programme is to reduce the capital of the Company, explaining that “all shares purchased under the buy-back programme will be cancelled.

“Any purchases of ordinary shares under the buy-back programme by Citi will be carried out in accordance with certain pre-set parameters set out in the agreement with Citi and Company purchases will be in accordance with and subject to the limits prescribed by the Company’s general authority to repurchase ordinary shares on the London Stock Exchange granted by its shareholders from time to time.”

The company said that the shareholders gave the Company authority to purchase a maximum of 374.141 million ordinary.

Airtel Africa Results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2024 reported a pre-tax profit that grew by 133.6 per cent YoY to $74 million in the second quarter of 2024.

However, the revenue of the company fell by 16.1 per cent from $1.37 billion reported in Q2 of 2023 to $1.15 billion in the second quarter of 2024. Operating profits fell by 27.4 per cent, from $462 million in 2023 to $335 million in the second quarter of 2024.

The chief executive officer of Airtel Africa, Sunil Taldar stated that “the continued revenue growth momentum once again reflects the resilient demand for our services, with sustained growth in our customer base and usage.

“Our superior execution enables us to capture these opportunities, whilst retaining our reputation as a cost leader across the industry.”

He added that “during the quarter, we fully repaid the outstanding debt due at the HoldCo and we remain committed to further reduce foreign currency exposure across the Group to limit the impact of currency devaluation on our business.

“The growth opportunity across our markets remains compelling and we continue to focus on margin improvement as indicated in our full year 2024 results.”