Airtel Africa chooses London for Airtel Money IPO as profit increases

Airtel Africa PLC on Thursday said it has picked London as the primary listing location for the proposed initial public offering of Airtel Money as it reported higher first-quarter profit.

"As we enter the next phase of our growth journey, we are pleased to confirm London as our preferred listing venue for Airtel Money in 2026," the London-based telecommunications provider, which operates primarily in Africa, said in a statement.

Airtel Africa believes London will "provide access to a broad international investor base and support the long-term value creation potential of one of Africa's leading fintech platforms".

Last week, the Financial Times reported Airtel Africa was hiring more investment banks ahead of the IPO.

The company had previously expected to list the unit in the first half of this year, but in May said it expected the IPO to occur in the second half of 2026.

The FT said an IPO could value the mobile money business at around £7.5 billion. That would make Airtel Money the largest new London flotation since Wise Group PLC, valued at almost £9 billion, in 2021.

Shares in Airtel Africa were down 0.7% at 347.20 pence each in London on Thursday.

Airtel Africa said pretax profit rose 32% to USD360 million in the three months ended June 30, the first quarter of its financial year, from USD273 million a year prior.

Revenue increased 31% to USD1.85 billion from USD1.42 billion on-year, or by 21% at constant exchange rates.

Constant currency revenue growth was underpinned by 30% growth in Nigeria and 18% in both East Africa and Francophone Africa.

At CER, revenue grew 11% in Voice, 27% in Data and 26% in Mobile Money.

Average revenue per user ticked 18% higher to USD3.3 from USD2.8 with the total customer base up 12% to 189.0 million from 169.4 million.

Basic earnings per share climbed 27% to 4.4 US cents from 3.4 cents.

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