Airtel Africa, a leading provider of telecommunications and mobile money services with a presence in more than 14 countries of Africa, has reported its after-tax profit of $178 million for the quarter ended June 2022. This is an increase of 25, 3% from $142 million in profit in the year-ago quarter. For investors, basic earnings per share (EPS) grew from 3.3 cents last year in the same quarter to 4.4 cents in the June 2022 quarter, representing a 31% YoY jump in EPS.
Airtel Africa said revenues in reported currency are up 13% to $1,257 million and are up 15.3% in constant currency. Mobile service revenue grew in multiple regions, including Nigeria, East Africa and Francophone Africa. In all the same regions, Airtel Africa said Mobile Money services revenues also grew.
What’s really good here is that Airtel Africa’s free cash flow grew 10.3% year-over-year to $473 million, from $428 million last year. The total customer base of the telephone exchange has risen to 131.6 million.
Segun Ogunsanya, Chief Executive Officer, said inflation is impacting the company’s cost base, particularly energy costs. Speaking about Airtel Africa’s new venture, Ogunsanya said: “After receiving the Payment Service Bank license in Nigeria just a few months ago, it is a testament to our prior preparation that we have already managed to turn our mobile money operations into a select few locations without operational problems.”
