Telco giant, Airtel Africa Plc, disclosed a loss after tax of $89 million for the financial year ended March 31, 2024.
It also noted that its total customer base grew by 9.0 percent to 152.7 million.
“We continue to bridge the digital divide with a 17.8% increase in data customers to 64.4 million and a 20.8% increase in data usage per customer,” the company added.
A review of the full year performance showed that the company recorded a mobile money subscriber growth of 20.7 percent, reflecting a continued investment into distribution to drive increased financial inclusion across our markets.
Transaction value increase of 38.2 percent in constant currency with annual transaction value of over $112bn in reported currency.
Increased transactions across the ecosystem reflects the enhanced range of offerings and increased customer adoption, supporting constant currency ARPU growth of 8.6 percent.
Revenue in constant currency grew by 20.9 percent with growth accelerating to 23.1 percent in Q4’24.
Nigerian constant currency revenue growth accelerated to 34.2 percent in Q4’24 despite the challenging backdrop.
Reported currency revenues declined by 5.3 percent to $4,979m reflecting the impact of currency devaluation, particularly in Nigeria.
Across the group mobile services revenue grew by 19.4 percent in constant currency, driven by voice revenue growth of 11.9 percent and data revenue growth of 29.2 percent.
Notably, Mobile Money revenue grew by 32.8 percent in constant currency, with a continued strong performance in East Africa.
According to Airtel, “Loss after tax was $89m, primarily impacted by significant foreign exchange headwinds, resulting in a $549m exceptional loss net of tax following the Nigerian naira devaluation in June 2023 and Q4’24, and the Malawian kwacha devaluation in November 2023.”
The Board of the telco has approved a share buyback programme of up to $100m, over a period of up to 12 months.
“On 1 March 2024, we announced the commencement of the first tranche of this buyback up to a maximum of $50m. During March 2024, the company purchased 7.4 million shares for a total consideration of $9m,” it said.
Meanwhile, the Board has recommended a final dividend of 3.57 cents per share, making the total dividend for FY24 5.95 cents per share.
Olusegun Ogunsanya, Chief executive officer, commenting on the performance said, “The consistent deployment of our ‘Win with’ strategy supported the acceleration in constant currency revenue growth over the recent quarters which has reduced the impact of currency headwinds faced across most of our markets.
” This strong revenue performance is a reflection not only of the opportunity that is inherent across our markets, but also the resilience of our affordable offerings despite the inflationary pressure many of our customers have experienced. Facilitating this growth has been, and will remain, fundamental to our performance.
“The investment in our distribution to catalyse growth, and the technology required to support this growth has been key. Furthermore, our rigorous approach to de-risking our balance sheet and our capital allocation priorities has materially reduced the risks that the currency devaluation has had on our business.
“Key initiatives include the reduction of US dollar debt across the business and the accumulation of cash at the HoldCo level to fully cover the outstanding debt due.
” We will continue to focus on reducing our exposure to currency volatility. At the beginning of March, we launched our first buyback programme reflecting the strength of our financial position. The growth opportunity that exists across our markets remains compelling, and we are well positioned to deliver against this opportunity.
” We will continue to focus on margin improvement from the recent level as we progress through the year. I want to say a particular thank-you to our customers, partners, governments and regulators for their support and our employees for their unrelenting contribution to the business.
“Our purpose of transforming lives across Africa will continue to be our highest priority.”
