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Airtel Africa Records Double Digit Revenue, 140M Subscriber Base in 2023 Report

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Airtel Africa posted double digit revenue growth of 11.5% in its result of the year ending March 31, 2023 even as it grew customer base by 9.0% to 140million.

Olusegun Ogunsanya, chief executive officer, Airtel Africa, said: “Over the last year, the operating environment has been challenging in many ways, yet our strategic focus on providing reliable, affordable and accessible services across our markets has enabled us to sustain our top-line growth momentum.

“The resilience of our underlying EBITDA margins has shown the effectiveness of our operating model, despite significant inflationary and foreign exchange pressures. Strong customer and ARPU growth over the year demonstrates that demand for our services remains very strong and gives us the confidence to continue investing to support our future growth potential.

“Over the year, we invested $500m on additional spectrum, including 5G, across many of our OpCos which, combined with our capex, will underpin our growth ambitions. Despite this investment, and driven by a disciplined capital allocation policy, our balance sheet remains strong and has been further de-risked over the last year by the prepayment of $450m HoldCo debt in July last year.

“Currencies across our footprint have been under pressure, and the impact from the revaluation of our foreign currency denominated liabilities provided some headwinds in the last financial year.

“While currency devaluation is not in our control, we have plans to continue to mitigate its impact by growing our revenues at a faster pace than devaluation, with double-digit revenue growth in reported currency delivered this year and as we continue to reduce our foreign currency exposure across our balance sheet.

“Our six-pillar strategy continues to provide the basis for stakeholder value creation by facilitating continued expansion of our services to enhance both digital and financial inclusion across Africa. This strategy will continue and will be underpinned by our sustainability strategy as articulated in our Sustainability Report published in October 2022.

I am pleased with this year’s performance and wish to thank all our customers, business partners, governments and regulators for their support and our employees for their consistent contribution to the business’ success. The macro-economic outlook remains volatile, but we are well positioned to deliver against the growth opportunities these markets offer, with a continued focus on margin resilience.”

Carl Cruz, Airtel Nigeria CEO, added: “the results of the year ended March 2023, place Airtel Africa in an optimistic footing and Nigeria, being one of the most vibrant countries in the Group’s operations, is in a vantage position to capitalise on 5G technology, an energetic subscriber base, and the growing adoption of mobile money services, while we continue to promote the Group’s sustainability commitments.”

Highlights

Operating key performance indicators (KPIs)

  • Total customer base grew by 9.0% to 140.0 million, as the penetration of mobile data and mobile money services continued to rise, driving a 16.9% increase in data customers to 54.6 million and a 20.4% increase in mobile money customers to 31.5 million.
  • Constant currency ARPU growth of 7.4% was largely driven by increased usage across voice, data and mobile money.
  • Mobile money transaction value increased by 41.3%, with Q4’23 annualised transaction value exceeding $102bn in constant currency.

Financial performance

  • Revenue in constant currency grew by 17.6%, with revenues growing by 11.5% to $5,255m in reported currency.
  • While each segment’s reported currency revenue growth was impacted by currency devaluation, they all delivered double-digit constant currency revenue growth. Across the Group mobile service revenue grew by 16.2% in constant currency, driven by voice revenue growth of 11.8% and data revenue growth of 23.8%. Mobile money revenue grew by 29.6% in constant currency.
  • Underlying EBITDA increased by 17.3% in constant currency, and 11.4% in reported currency to $2,575m, with an underlying EBITDA margin of 49.0%, reflecting the resilience of our operating model despite inflationary cost pressures.
  • Profit after tax was $750m, a decrease of only $5m, after including a higher foreign exchange and derivative losses of $245m.
  • Basic EPS at 17.7 cents was up by 5.2% due to higher operating profits and exceptional items gain on deferred tax credit recognition in Kenya, the DRC and Tanzania partially offset by higher foreign exchange and derivative losses. EPS before exceptional items was 13.6 cents, a reduction of 15.0%, largely due to higher foreign exchange and derivative losses of $245m. EPS before exceptional items and excluding foreign exchange and derivative losses was 20.6 cents, up by 13.4%.

Capital allocation

  • Capex increased by 14.0% to $748m, in line with our guidance, as we continue to invest for future growth. Additionally, we acquired spectrum in Nigeria, the DRC, Tanzania, Zambia and Kenya during the year.
  • In July 2022, the Group prepaid $450m of outstanding external debt at HoldCo. The remaining debt at HoldCo is now $550m, falling due in May 2024. Cash at the holding companies was $398m. Leverage was at 1.4x in March 2023, broadly stable despite $500m of spectrum investment during the year.
  • The Board has recommended a final dividend of 3.27 cents per share, making the total dividend for FY’23 5.45 cents per share, an increase of 9% in line with our progressive dividend policy.

Sustainability strategy

  • The Group’s inaugural Sustainability Report was published in October 2022, reflecting commitment to sustainability and detailing progress against the long-term goals as outlined in the sustainability strategy.
  • UNICEF partnership launched across 6 of our markets providing educational resources, free of charge, to more than 250,000 children this year on our way to reaching one million children by 2027.
  • The Group’s ambition to achieve net zero by 2050 has progressed. We published our Scope 1, 2 and 3 baseline GHG footprint in October 2022 and in May 2023 announced our detailed plans to achieve over 60% reduction in Scope 1 and 2 emissions intensity by 2032.

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Startups Seek More Access to Capital to Upscale Businesses

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Some emerging Nigerian entrepreneurs have stressed the need for the country to provide more access to capital for them to upscale their businesses in view of the rising economic challenges facing the country.

Speaking at the 2023 Founders Mixers and Award event in Lagos, Publisher and CEO, Business Africa Online (BAO), Ayinuola Alaba said the government should begin to create a mechanism that would provide the needed funds for emerging businesses.

The event tagged, “Celebrating Grit in A Challenging Economy,” was organised according to Alaba to bring founders together to share their experiences while encouraging one another.

He harped that notable startups in the country have continued to pursue growth through grit, hence the government should support them by removing every hurdle confronting them.

According to him, “One way the government can do this is to deliberately remove tax hurdles and give entrepreneurs more access to elusive capitals. We can see how young technological startups are emerging in the country making impacts and at the same solving some of our indigenous problems.

However, the CEO, GAIA Africa, Olatowun Candide-Johnson, said they need investors and are looking for equity because that is what makes it easier for them.


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Bank Empowers over 100 Entrepreneurs with Business Financing Masterclass

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Over 100 young entrepreneurs and traders have benefited from the business financing masterclass programme organised by Pecan Bank and powered by Pecan Trust Microfinance Bank.

The training, which was hosted by the bank’s finance academy in Lagos, saw participants learn about the various funding instruments through an interactive workshop session and expert-led discussions.

The masterclass comes at a time when market conditions are stringent due to economic uncertainty and rising interest rates, making it more difficult for entrepreneurs to raise much needed capital, especially those in the early stages.

Kunle Karounwi, head of Credit at Pecan, said the bank is committed to partnering with entrepreneurs to achieve their dreams, and the business financing master class is a testament to this.

“As a bank, we have always contributed meaningfully to the lives of not only our customers, but also members in our broader community. The moment you walk into our premises or reach out to us, you can be sure of a supportive atmosphere that enables you to achieve your financial and business goals, because above all, we are rooting for you first.

“We believe that this masterclass has provided entrepreneurs with the knowledge and tools they need to secure a more assured path for their businesses”, Karounwi, said.

Karounwi further stated that the Business Financing Master class is one of the many ways Pecan Bank is supporting young entrepreneurs and small businesses in Nigeria. “The bank also offers a variety of financial products and services including business loans, working capital and asset financing products designed to meet the needs of business owners”.

According to him, the success of the Business Financing Master class further establishes Pecan Bank as a key player in driving entrepreneurship and economic growth in Nigeria.

 


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NCAA Lifts Suspension on United Nigeria Airline Aircraft

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The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has lifted the suspension placed on the Part G operations specifications of a wet leased Airbus aircraft operated by United Nigeria Airlines.

The agency had last Sunday suspended the airline’s Airbus following after it temporarily diverted its flight NUA 0504 headed for Abuja to Asaba.

In a letter signed by the NCAA’s Director of Licensing and training, Captain I.B Danbazzau and addressed to the Managing Director of the airline, the agency outlined the outcome of its investigation and made recommendations.

It then stated that the suspension has been lifted and the airline is required to comply with the Nigeria Civil Aviation All Operators letter (DG 15/2023) referenced NCAA/DGCA/AIR/11/16/347.


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