Currency Gains Boost Airtel Africa’s Net Profit To $376m

Airtel Africa Plc has reported profit after tax, rising of $376 million for half year financial results ended September 30, 2025.

The improvement was largely driven by a $90 million gain arising from the appreciation of the Nigerian naira and Central African franc during the current and previous quarters, respectively.

The Company’s results released on the Nigerian Exchange showed that profit after tax grew by 375.9 per cent to $376 million from $79 million in the prior period, while earnings per share up to 8.3 cents compares to 0.8 cents in the prior period.

Revenues stood at $2.982 billion saw strong growth of 24.5 per cent in constant currency and 25.8 per cent in reported currency as currency appreciation benefitted reported currency performance.

Across the Group, mobile services revenue grew by 23.1 per cent in constant currency, driven by voice revenue growth of 13.2 per cent and data revenue growth of 37.0 per cent. Data revenues of $1.161 billion has now surpassed voice as the biggest component of revenue for the Group. Mobile money revenues continue to benefit from its increased scale and higher levels of engagement to deliver a 30.2 per cent growth in constant currency.

EBITDA grew by 33.2 per cent in reported currency to $1.447 billiom with EBITDA margins expanding further to 48.5 per cent from 45.8 per cent in the prior period.

The Company recorded customer base of 173.8 million increased 11.0 per cent, with data customers of 78.1 million showing accelerated growth of 18.4 per cent.

Airtel Money is driving digital adoption and strengthening the ecosystem to advance financial inclusion as the customer growth to 20 per cent, bringing the total customer base to 49.8 million.

The Company declared an interim dividend of 2.84 cents per share, an increase of 9.2 per cent in line with its progressive dividend policy. The $100 million share buy-back programme remains on track to complete on or before March 31, 2026.

Speaking on the performance, the chief executive officer of Airtel Africa, Sunil Taldar said, “our strategy has been focussed on providing a superior customer experience and the strength of these results is testament to the initiatives that we have been implementing across the business.

“Digital innovation is a core focus, and we are pleased to see the growing adoption of MyAirtel app as we seek to deepen customer engagement and simplify the customer journey.”

He added that “Airtel Money continues to gain momentum, with our customer base nearing 50 million and annualised total processed value approaching $200 billion, up over 35 per cent year-on-year. 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. The preparation for the IPO remains on course for a listing in the first half of 2026.”

He noted that “we will continue to focus on further incremental margin improvements, subject to macroeconomic stability. This strong performance gives us the confidence to increase our capex guidance for this financial year to between $875 million and $900 million, as we accelerate our investments to capture the full potential across our markets and deliver long-term value for all stakeholders.”