Airtel Africa Q1 profit zooms to $142 million amid all-round growth

Airtel Africa on Thursday said its profit after tax more than doubled to USD 142 million (over Rs 1,051 crore) in June quarter compared to the year-ago period, amid higher operating profits along with stable net finance costs.

Airtel Africa -- which provides telecom and mobile money services, with a presence in 14 countries in Africa -- said that strong revenue growth was recorded in all regions and across key services.

During June quarter of 2021-22, reported revenue grew nearly 31 per cent to USD 1,112 million (about Rs 8,229 crore), with constant currency growth of about 33 per cent.

 

"Revenue growth partially benefitted from a weakened quarter in the prior year during the peak of COVID-19 restrictions across the region," the company said in a statement.

Even after adjusting for these effects, revenue growth rates for the Group, service segments and reporting regions were all ahead of fourth quarter 2020-21 trends.

"Profit after tax more than doubled to USD 142 million, up 148.7 per cent, largely due to the higher operating profits along with stable net finance costs which more than offset the increase in tax charges due to increased profits," it said.

Airtel Africa logged strong revenue growth across all regions, including Nigeria (up 38.2 per cent), East Africa (32.8 per cent) and Francophone Africa (24.9 per cent).

Commenting on the Q1 scorecard, Chief Executive Officer Raghunath Mandava noted that the company posted "strong" double-digit growth across voice (26 per cent), data (37.4 per cent) and mobile money (53.7 per cent), and across all its regions.

Continued focus on modernisation and rollout of network, along with simplifying the products and improving distribution, have led to "handsome gains on our ARPUs (Average Revenue Per User) across voice, data and mobile money", he said.

"Our robust operating model and solid execution should enable us to continue our profitable growth," Mandava added.