Airtel Africa FY pre-tax profits rise as customer base grows

Telecommunications firm Airtel Africa posted a sharp increase in both full-year profits and revenues on Wednesday thanks to solid growth in its customer base.

Airtel Africa reported a pre-tax profit of $1.22bn for the year ended 31 March, up 75% year-on-year as revenues grew 21% to $4.71bn.

The FTSE 100-listed group delivered strong double-digit growth across all of its key services as its customer base grew of 8.7% to 128.4m and average revenues per user grew by 15%.

Airtel Africa also recommended a final dividend of $0.03 per share, the same as it did in 2021, taking its total payout for 2022 to $0.05 per share, down from $0.06 at the same time a year earlier.

Looking forward, Airtel Africa added that long-term opportunities remained attractive and that it was aiming for revenue growth ahead of market expectations and moderate margin expansion.

As of 1010 BST, Airtel Africa shares were up 0.071% at 140.30p.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com