Airtel Africa reported on Thursday a net profit of $7 million for the first quarter of the current financial year (Q1FY25), a rebound from a net loss of $170 million in the same period last year.
Despite this profit, the company faced challenges from ongoing currency devaluation, leading to a 16.1 percent decline in revenues, which fell to $1.15 billion from $1.37 billion in Q1FY24. The revenue drop was notably influenced by significant currency devaluations in Nigeria, Malawi, Zambia, and Tanzania.
Finance costs for the quarter totalled $261 million, heavily affected by $136 million in derivative and foreign exchange losses, with $122 million categorized as exceptional. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) stood at $523 million, representing a 23 percent decrease from the previous year. The profit was further impacted by $80 million in exceptional derivative and foreign exchange losses (after tax), linked to the depreciation of the Nigerian naira during the quarter.
The company noted that rising fuel prices across its markets and the reduced contribution from Nigeria following the naira’s devaluation led to a drop in EBITDA margins to 45.3 percent, down from 49.5 percent in Q1’24 and 46.5 percent in Q4’24. In terms of customer growth, the total customer base increased by 8.6 percent to 155.4 million, driven by rising mobile data and mobile money service adoption. Data customers surged by 13.4 percent to 64.4 million, while mobile money customers grew by 14.9 percent.
Airtel Africa’s CEO, Sunil Taldar, who assumed the position on July 1 following the retirement of long-time CEO Olusegun Ogunsanya, expressed optimism about the growth opportunities in both the GSM and mobile money sectors. “A key focus for us is to identify new avenues for expansion, particularly in enterprise, fibre, and data centre services across Africa,” he stated.
The company has been actively working to reduce its foreign exchange exposure in recent years and plans to maintain this focus to lessen the impact of potential future currency devaluation.
