Airtel Africa Returns to Profitability, Declares Dividend
Airtel Africa Plc earnings rebounded in financial year 2025 after the telecom group underwhelming performance in 2024, details from its audited results revealed.
The telecom company revenues declined by 0.5% year on year to settle at $4.955 billion from $4.979 billion in the equivalent period in 2024. Management attributed the decline to currency devaluation which impacted reported revenues.
Airtel said strong execution and the tariff adjustments in Nigeria contributed to a further quarter of accelerating growth, with Q4’25 revenue growth of 17.8% in reported currency as currency headwinds eased.
For the year ended 31 March 2025, the company said underlying earnings before interest tax depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) declined by 5.1% in reported currency to $2.304 billion.
Hence, EBITDA margins came lower at 46.5%, compared to 48.8% in the prior year, impacted by increased fuel prices and the lower contribution of Nigeria to the Group.
The company reported that its profit after tax reached $328 million, up from a $89 million loss in the prior period. Airtel said in its update that the prior period was significantly impacted by derivative and foreign exchange losses, primarily in Nigeria.
The telecom company scorecard showed basic earnings per share (EPS) rebounded to 6.0 cents compares to negative (4.4 cents) in the prior period, predominantly reflecting lower derivative and foreign exchange losses in the current period.
However, EPS before exceptional items declined from 10.1 cents in the prior period to 8.2 cents largely due to higher finance cost arising on account of tower contract renewals, which had a neutral to positive impact on cash flows, and a deferred impact of prior period currency devaluation.
The Board has recommended a final dividend of 3.9 cents per share, making the total dividend for the full year 6.5 cents per share, a 9.2% growth from the previous year, in line with the dividend policy. Airtel said during the year the telecom company returned $120 million to shareholders through share buyback programmes.
Commenting on the result, Sunil Taldar, chief executive officer, said, “ We have reported another strong operating performance as our strategy continues to deliver against the significant opportunity that exists across our markets.
“The focus on our refreshed strategy has seen continued investment in the network while also driving improvements in our digital platforms and offerings to further enhance the customer experience.
“This has enabled increased digital inclusion with a further 20% growth in our smartphone customers to 74.4m, contributing to a 47.5% increase in data traffic over the year.
“Furthermore, Airtel Money continues to support financial inclusion with customers increasing 17.3% to 44.6 million and an expanding ecosystem underpinning the $136bn transaction value, which increased 32% in constant currency.
“An improving operating environment and focussed execution contributed to strong momentum in our financial results with constant currency revenue growth peaking at 23.2% in Q4’25.
“Part of this acceleration in the last quarter has also been driven by the Nigerian tariff adjustments. This accelerating revenue growth and cost optimisation programme has supported quarterly EBITDA margin expansion during the year.
“Underlying EBITDA margins increased by 200bps from 45.3% in Q1’25 to 47.3% in Q4’25, and we remain focussed on further EBITDA margin improvements subject to macroeconomic stability.
“This, combined with our robust capital structure and disciplined capital allocation, puts us in a strong position to continue investing in network capacity to deliver continued growth.
“We are making significant progress in our preparations for the Airtel Money IPO and remain committed to this objective. However, we are also mindful of evolving market conditions.
“Therefore, subject to these conditions, we anticipate a listing event in the first half of calendar year 2026. The recent stability in the operating environment is encouraging, however we remain conscious of global developments that may impact our business.
“We will remain focussed on delivering our strategy to transform the lives of our customers and support economic prosperity across our markets”. #Airtel Africa Returns to Profitability, Declares Dividend#
