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    Friday, February 4, 2022

    Airtel Africa Reports Revenue Grew by 21.7% to $3,492m

    Olufemi Adeyemi 

    Airtel Africa Plc has released its results for nine-month (9M) period ended December 31, 2021 showing strong growth across all key parameters.

    The multinational company says its revenue and net profit rose on year in its fiscal third quarter to $514Million on Friday.

    Alternative performance measures 2
    (Nine-month period ended)

    GAAP measures
    (Nine-month period ended) 

    Description

    Dec-21

    Dec-20

    Reported
    currency

    Constant
    currency

    Description

    Dec-21

    Dec-20

    Reported
    currency

    $m

    $m

    change %

    change %

    $m

    $m

    change %

    Underlying revenue 1

    3,492

    2,850

    22.5%

    24.8%

    Revenue

    3,492

    2,870

    21.7%

    Underlying EBITDA

    1,703

    1,297

    31.3%

    34.1%

    Operating profit

    1,146

    800

    43.1%

    Underlying EBITDA margin

    48.8%

    45.5%

    326 bps

    338 bps

    Profit after tax

    514

    261

    97.3%

    EPS before exceptional items ($ cents)

    11.5

    5.0

    131.3%

     

    Basic EPS ($ cents)

    11.7

    5.5

    113.8%

    Operating free cash flow

    1,271

    894

    42.2%

     

    Net cash generated from operating activities

    1,499

    1,217

    23.1%

    (1) Underlying revenue excludes a one-time exceptional revenue of $20m relating to a settlement in Niger in the previous period (December 2020).

    (2) Alternative performance measures (APM) are described on page 17.

    Airtel Africa reported revenue grew by 21.7 percent to $3,492million; constant currency underlying revenue grew by 24.8percent; while constant currency underlying revenue growth was recorded across all regions: Nigeria up 29percent, East Africa up 24.4percent and Francophone Africa up 19percent; and across all key services, with revenue in Voice up 16.1percent, and in Data and Mobile Money both up 37.2percent.

    Underlying EBITDA was $1,703million, growing by 31.3percent in reported currency with an EBITDA margin of 48.8percent, an increase of 326basis points led by both revenue growth and improved operational efficiencies.

    Operating profit grew by 43.1percent to $1,146million in reported currency. Profit after tax almost doubled to $514million as higher profit before tax more than offset associated tax charges.

    The N1,271 per share Airtel Africa Plc closed on Thursday, February 3 represents an impressive positive return of 33.1percent year-to-date (YtD).

    Basic earnings per share (EPS) at 11.7 cents, represents an increase of 113.8percent, largely as a result of higher profit. EPS before exceptional items increased to 11.5 cents, up from 5cents in the previous period.

    Operating free cash flow grew by 42.2percent to $1,271million and net cash generated from operating activities was up 23.1percent to $1,499million.

    Leverage ratio improved to 1.4x from 2.1x in the previous period. The customer base expanded to 125.8 million, growing by 5.8percent, with increased penetration across mobile data (customer base up 11.1percent) and mobile money services (customer base up 19.6percent).

    Customer base growth was affected by the NIN/SIM regulations in Nigeria but returned to growth in this region in the third quarter; excluding Nigeria the customer base grew by 12percent.

    Segun Ogunsanya, chief executive officer, Airtel Africa Plc said, “A strong third quarter has contributed to a pleasing nine-month financial performance across all key metrics.”

    “Operationally we have continued to execute on our network and distribution expansion plans, driving continued strong growth in average revenue per users (ARPUs) across voice, data and mobile money. We have also seen further improvement in our customer growth trends for the Group with Nigeria returning to strong customer growth after a period affected by the implementation of new ‘know your customer’ requirements, posting 1.9 million net additions in the third quarter, taking total Group customer additions to 3.1 million,” Ogunsanya said.

    With a presence in 14 countries in Africa, primarily in East Africa and Central and West Africa, Airtel Africa is one of the leading providers of telecommunications and mobile money services.

    “I am particularly pleased with developments in Nigeria, where in November we received approval in principle for both a payment service bank (mobile money) licence and a super-agent licence. We are now working closely with the Central Bank to meet all its conditions to receive the final operating licences and commence operations. This will enable us to expand our digital financial products and reach the millions of Nigerians that do not have access to traditional financial services.

    “We continued to strengthen our balance sheet, with our leverage ratio now 1.4 times underlying EBITDA, thanks both to the continued increases in operating cash flow delivery and to the $550m of cash that has now been received from minority investments into our mobile money business,” the CEO stated.

    He further said: “We will continue to invest in expanding and evolving our platform to further deepen both financial and digital inclusion across Africa. I continue to see huge growth potential across voice, data and mobile money and our strategy is delivering against this opportunity.

    “Our sustained investments in both network and distribution expansion will help to ensure that both the communities and economies across our footprint will continue to benefit from increased and affordable connectivity and financial inclusion. We are committed to continue to improve the delivery of our services to our customers, with sustainability at the heart of our continued purpose to transform lives across Africa.”

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