Airtel Africa first half profit rises 24% amid Airtel Money spin-off

Airtel Africa PLC on Friday reported a surge in first half profit, driven by customer growth and increased smartphone usage across its African markets.

The London-based telecommunications and mobile money services provider said pretax profit for the half year that ended September 30 was USD814 million, up 24% from USD656 million a year earlier. Second-quarter pretax profit rose 19% to USD454 million from USD383 million.

Revenue increased 28% to USD3.82 billion from USD2.98 billion in the half-year and by 25% to USD1.97 billion from USD1.57 billion in the second quarter.

Underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation for the first half were USD1.92 billion, up 35% from USD1.45 billion. Second quarter underlying Ebitda increased 29% to USD993 million from USD768 million.

Underlying Ebitda margin improved to 50.3% from 48.5% in the half-year. Second quarter underlying Ebitda margin increased to 50.4% from 49.0%.

Airtel Africa said this improvement was achieved despite inflationary pressures caused by rising fuel prices, "through a combination of operational discipline, ongoing cost efficiency programmes and continued scale benefits".

The customer base grew 11.6% to 194 million as demand for mobile money services remained strong. Mobile money customers increased 22% to 60.9 million from 50.0 million.

Smartphone penetration increased to 52% from 48%, driving a 32% increase in smartphone data usage per customer to 13.3 gigabytes from 10.1GB.

Capital expenditure more than doubled to USD657 million from USD318 million. Airtel Africa said the increase was in line with its strategy to accelerate deployment.

Airtel Africa declared an interim dividend of 3.1 US cents per share, an increase of 9.2%.

First half earnings per share were 10.2 US cents, up 19% from 8.3 US cents.

During the period, Airtel Kenya Ltd acquired 100 megahertz of spectrum in the 3,500 megahertz band for USD65 million, under a 25-year term.

Earlier this month, after the end of the financial half-year, Airtel Mobile Commerce NV, the Amsterdam-based mobile money business of Airtel Africa, launched its initial public offering, raising £5.3 billion. Airtel Africa's half-year results included USD19 million in one-off costs related to the IPO. It retains a 78% stake in the company, which is known as Airtel Money.

"Looking ahead, margin performance will continue to be influenced by the macroeconomic environment, including its impact on fuel costs. Our confidence in the growth trajectory of the business and the significant long-term opportunity across our markets underpins our decision to accelerate investment. During the period, we increased the pace of network investment to expand capacity and enhance service quality, positioning the business to capture an increasing share of future growth.

"Supported by a strong balance sheet and robust cash generation, we remain confident in the opportunities ahead. As more customers embrace digital services and financial inclusion, our continued focus on execution and customer experience positions us to deliver sustainable growth at scale and long-term value for shareholders."

Shares in Airtel Africa were down 4.5% to 262.00 pence on Friday morning in London.

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