Airtel Africa to release nine-month 2020 results next week
Airtel Africa Plc on Wednesday notified the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) of releasing its nine-month ended December 31, 2020 next Friday.
The Group Company Secretary, Airtel Africa, Simon O’Hara in a statement said, “Airtel Africa, a leading provider of telecommunications and mobile money services, with a presence in 14 countries across Africa, will announce its results for the nine months to December 31, 2020 on 29 January 2021.
“Management will host a conference call on the day of results for analysts and investors at 2:00pm GMT.”
Airtel Africa reported underlying EBITDA increased 12.8per cent to $812million, while constant currency underlying EBITDA growth was 19.3per cent. The reported underlying EBITDA margin was 44.7per cent, up by 85 basis points (110 basis points in constant currency) in this period.
Operating profit increased by 19.5per cent to $472 million, an increase of 28.3per cent in constant currency, while free cash flow was $319million compared to $210 million in the same period last year.
In a statement, Airtel Africa CEO, Raghunath Mandava had said: “The first half of our fiscal year included the peak impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the countries where we operate, as lockdown measures were swiftly implemented to stem the initial spread of contagion.
“In these unprecedented times, the telecoms industry has emerged as a key and essential service for these economies, allowing customers to work remotely, reduce their travels, keep them connected and allow access to affordable entertainment.
“In these exceptional circumstances, in the first half, we delivered a strong set of results and as lockdown restrictions eased during Q2 our performance continued to improve with constant currency revenue growth of 19.6per cent, up 6.6per cent from the prior quarter.”
Mandava added that “more importantly, the fundamentals of our business remain strong and revenue growth further benefitted from the execution of their strategy with a specific focus on expanding distribution in the rural areas, investing in their network and increasing 4G coverage, as well as benefitting from the fact they provide an essential service to consumers.”
He noted that in Q2, performance in Airtel Africa’s mobile money business also significantly improved with constant currency revenue growth of 33.9per cent, up eoght per cent from Q1, as lockdown restrictions were eased and fees on certain transactions, which had been previously waived, were largely reintroduced.
Airtel Africa also continued to form strong partnerships with institutions such as WorldRemit, MoneyGram, Standard Chartered Bank, and Mukuru to increase use cases and improve customers’ access to digital payments and financial services, he says.
“We are in a strong financial position to capture the opportunities in a fast-growing region that is vastly underpenetrated in terms of mobile and banking services.”
