Airtel Africa announced an after-tax profit of $79 million for the half-year that ended on September 30, 2024, thanks to an unusual $80 million tax advantage. In comparison to the same period last year, when Airtel Africa saw a net loss of $13 million, the most recent report shows a 726.3 percent gain in the company’s bottom line.
The telecom service provider claims that the tax gain was the consequence of foreign exchange losses and derivatives from the devaluation of the Nigerian naira, which is its largest market. The profit before taxes for Airtel Africa increased from $12 million to $178 million.
Following the release of the financial report accessed by BrandSpur telecom and IT news desk, the company’s stock in Lagos stayed the same, but in London, where it is dual listed, it dropped 5.5%.
However, due to a drop in voice and data revenue, two of its main revenue streams, revenue for the period fell 9.7% to $2.4 billion. During the time under examination, the company’s mobile money sector added 41.5 million new subscribers, a 13.4% increase.
Continuing, Taldar, CEO and Managing Director of Airtel Africa has this to say: “We have already seen strong progress, with an acceleration in constant currency revenue growth over the last quarter as demand for ourselves remain strong, reflected in the 48% growth in data volumes over the first half of the year, despite the challenging backdrop in some of our markets.
“Furthermore, we have seen our cost optimisation programme already show initial green shoots, which, combined with our operational leverage, has contributed to an expansion of our EBITDA margins in Q2’25 compared to the previous quarter,” Taldar added.
