Airtel Africa announced its half year results showing a half year Profit Before Tax of $281 million from a revenue of $1,815 million. Voice accounted for 53% of the revenue at $952 million while Data accounted 30% at $548 million. Revenue growth was recorded across all the regions: Nigeria up 20.2%, East Africa up 21.9% and Francophone Africa up 4.4%. Nigeria accounted for 40% of the revenue from the African operations.
The business was largely positively affected by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic as the telecoms industry emerged as a key and essential service for the African economies, allowing customers to work remotely, reduce their travels, keep them connected and allow access to affordable entertainment.
Other highlights of the results are as follows:
- Customer base grew by 12.0% to 116.4 million
- Revenue on reported basis increased by 10.7% to $1,815m, with Q2 revenue growth of 14.3%
- Revenue growth in constant currency was 16.4% in H1, and 19.6% in Q2. Growth was recorded across all regions: Nigeria up 20.2%, East Africa up 21.9% and Francophone Africa up 4.4%, and services, with voice revenue up by 7.0%, data by 33.4% and mobile money by 30.4%
- Underlying EBITDA increased 12.8% to $812m while constant currency underlying EBITDA growth was 19.3%
- Reported underlying EBITDA margin was 44.7%, up by 85 bps(110 bpsin constant currency) Operating profit increased by 19.5% to $472m, an increase of 28.3% in constant currency
- Free cash flow was $319m compared to $210m in the same period last year
- Basic EPS was $3.0¢, down 52.9% largely as a result of exceptional items and a one-off derivative gain incurred in the prior year. Excluding these one-off benefits basic EPS would be up 19%. EPS before exceptional items was $3.0¢
- The board declared an interim dividend of $1.5¢ per share in line with the new progressive dividend policy to focus on growth opportunities and faster deleveraging. The new policy aims to grow the dividend annually by a mid to high single digit percentage from a base of $4 cents per share for FY 2021, until reported leverage falls below 2.0x
During the period under review, the company abandoned the merger with Telkom Kenya Limited.
Airtel Africa also entered into several strategic partnerships with MoneyGram, Mukuru and WorldRemit. Through these partnerships, more than 20 million Airtel Money customers in 12 countries can transfer and receive funds across the globe directly from and into their mobile money wallets on their phone
The Group operates in 14 emerging markets of the sub-Saharan Africa
