29 June 2020

Airtel Africa posted revenue and profit growth for the full year, as more customers signed up for its mobile and data services and on stronger activity in its biggest market Nigeria.

The company went public last year with a London listing and has benefited from a steady demand in emerging markets, while some of its European peers have been teaming-up to navigate challenges posed by saturated markets. Revenue for the year-ended March rose 11.2% to US$3.42bn, boosted by a 24.1% rise in revenue from Nigeria. The country accounts for 40% of the company’s overall revenue.

Airtel Africa’s data services, which reported a 36.1% sales growth, have benefitted from increased traffic as consumers seek entertainment during the current stay-at- home orders to curb the spread of the new coronavirus, the company said.

“In Africa, the spread of COVID-19 has lagged the rest of the world and, therefore, it is difficult to precisely forecast what the impact of this will be on customers and business,” said chief executive officer Raghunath Mandava. However, our performance during the month of April has been resilient.”
Annual pre-tax profit jumped 71.7% to $598m at Airtel Africa, a unit of India’s Bharti Airtel.