Airtel Africa has reported a net profit of $178 million for the quarter ended (QE) June 30, 2022, witnessing a 25.3 per cent year-on-year growth. The revenue for the Airtel’s Africa Business grew by 13.0 per cent in reported quarter to $1,257 million.
The earning before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) grew by 14.9 per cent to $614 million in reported currency. Meanwhile, the EBITDA margin was recorded at 48.8 per cent, registering an increase of 78 basis points in reported currency and 52 basis points in constant currency. Also, the operating profit grew by 20.6 per cent to $425 million in reported currency.
The total revenues, for mobile services and mobile money services combined, grew in Nigeria by 18.3 per cent, in East Africa by 14.1 per cent and in Francophone Africa by 11.7 per cent. During QE June 30, 2022, the basic earning per share (EPS) increased to 4.4 cents (up by 31.0 per cent). Meanwhile, EPS before exceptional items was 3.8 cents, up from 3.2 cents in the prior period.
The company’s operating free cash flow grew by 10.3 per cent to $473 million during the reported period, while the net cash generated from operating activities reduced by 13.2 per cent to $388 million, on the account of increased cash tax payments from higher taxes on declared dividends and increased taxable profits. Besides, the total customer base of the operator in Africa increased to 131.6 million, higher by 8.9 per cent, with increased penetration across mobile data (customer base up 9.7 per cent) and mobile money services (customer base up 19.7 per cent).
Commenting on the results, Segun Ogunsanya, chief executive officer, Airtel Africa, said, “I am pleased to report that the Group has continued to post double-digit revenue growth, margin improvement and strong earnings growth. I am also particularly pleased with our ongoing strengthening of the balance sheet which continued after the period ended, with early repayment of $450 million of debt at Group level. As we flagged in our full year announcement, this quarter we have faced headwinds from outbound voice call barring for customers who had not yet registered their National Identification Numbers in Nigeria and the loss of site sharing revenue in those OpCos where we recently sold towers. Inflation is also having an impact on our cost base, particularly on energy costs, but our continued efficiency drives have ensured that we have still been able to increase our margins, albeit at a slightly slower rate. After receiving the Payment Service Bank licence in Nigeria just a few months ago, it is a testament to our prior preparation that we have already managed to launch our mobile money operations in a few select locations without any operational issues. We are excited by the commercial developments and opportunities here. We also continued to invest for growth and have made a couple of major additional spectrum acquisitions recently in the DRC and Kenya in anticipation of continued strong data demand growth in these markets. We continue to target growth ahead of the market this year and, despite inflationary pressures, our continued focus on cost efficiencies should also support margin resilience. Longer term, the opportunities for sustainable profitable growth stemming from our underpenetrated markets for each of mobile voice, data and mobile money services remain hugely attractive, and we are confident of continuing to deliver on our growth strategy.”
