Airtel Africa plc 

Results for year ended 31 March 2024

09 May 2024

Delivering a resilient performance with strong underlying momentum, despite a volatile macro-economic environment

Operating highlights

·    Total customer base grew by 9.0% to 152.7 million. We continue to bridge the digital divide with a 17.8% increase in data customers to 64.4 million and a 20.8% increase in data usage per customer.

·    Mobile money subscriber growth of 20.7% reflects our continued investment into distribution to drive increased financial inclusion across our markets. Transaction value increase of 38.2% in constant currency with annual transaction value of over $112bn in reported currency. Increased transactions across the ecosystem reflects the enhanced range of offerings and increased customer adoption, supporting constant currency ARPU growth of 8.6%.

·    Continued network investment to support an enhanced customer experience and drive increased 4G coverage. 95% of sites now 4G operational, facilitating a 42.3% increase in 4G customers over the year.

Financial performance

·    Revenue in constant currency grew by 20.9% with growth accelerating to 23.1% in Q4'24. Nigerian constant currency revenue growth accelerated to 34.2% in Q4'24 despite the challenging backdrop. Reported currency revenues declined by 5.3% to $4,979m reflecting the impact of currency devaluation, particularly in Nigeria.

·    Across the group mobile services revenue grew by 19.4% in constant currency, driven by voice revenue growth of 11.9% and data revenue growth of 29.2%. Mobile Money revenue grew by 32.8% in constant currency, with a continued strong performance in East Africa.

·    EBITDA margins remained resilient at 48.8% despite the currency headwinds and inflationary pressure on our cost base. Constant currency EBITDA increased 21.3% with reported currency EBITDA declining 5.7% to $2,428m. Q4'24 EBITDA margins of 46.5% were impacted by the lower contribution of Nigeria following the Q4'24 naira devaluation and rising energy costs across a number of markets.

·    Loss after tax was $89m, primarily impacted by significant foreign exchange headwinds, resulting in a $549m exceptional loss net of tax following the Nigerian naira devaluation in June 2023 and Q4'24, and the Malawian kwacha devaluation in November 2023.

·    Basic EPS of negative (4.4 cents) compares to 17.7 cents last year. EPS before exceptional items was 10.1 cents, a decline of 25.9%. Both EPS before exceptional items and basic EPS were primarily impacted by significant derivative and foreign exchange losses during the year. EPS before exceptional items and derivative and foreign exchange losses was 18.3 cents compared to 20.5 cents in the prior period.

Capital allocation

·    Capex was broadly flat at $737m and was below our guidance largely due to a deferral in data centre investments. In addition, we invested $152m in licence renewal and spectrum acquisitions, including $127m for the Nigerian 3G licence renewal.

·    Leverage of 1.4x on 31 March 2024 was flat from the previous year. We have around $680m of cash available at HoldCo, to be utilized to fully repay the remaining $550m debt, falling due in May 2024.

·    The Board has approved a share buyback programme of up to $100m, over a period of up to 12 months. On 1 March 2024, we announced the commencement of the first tranche of this buyback up to a maximum of $50m. During March 2024, the company purchased 7.4 million shares for a total consideration of $9m.

·    The Board has recommended a final dividend of 3.57 cents per share, making the total dividend for FY24 5.95 cents per share.

 

 

 

Sustainability strategy

·    Our landmark five-year $57m partnership with UNICEF launched across 13 markets providing access to educational resources, free of charge, on our way to transforming the lives of over one million children through digital learning by 2027.

·    Partnered with the Government of Rwanda to launch the ConnectRwanda 2.0 initiative which aims to provide more than a million people with affordable smartphones to bridge the digital divide.

 

Olusegun Ogunsanya, Chief executive officer, on the trading update:

 

"The consistent deployment of our 'Win with' strategy supported the acceleration in constant currency revenue growth over the recent quarters which has reduced the impact of currency headwinds faced across most of our markets.  This strong revenue performance is a reflection not only of the opportunity that is inherent across our markets, but also the resilience of our affordable offerings despite the inflationary pressure many of our customers have experienced.

Facilitating this growth has been, and will remain, fundamental to our performance. The investment in our distribution to catalyse growth, and the technology required to support this growth has been key. Furthermore, our rigorous approach to de-risking our balance sheet and our capital allocation priorities has materially reduced the risks that the currency devaluation has had on our business. Key initiatives include the reduction of US dollar debt across the business and the accumulation of cash at the HoldCo level to fully cover the outstanding debt due. We will continue to focus on reducing our exposure to currency volatility. At the beginning of March, we launched our first buyback programme reflecting the strength of our financial position.

The growth opportunity that exists across our markets remains compelling, and we are well positioned to deliver against this opportunity. We will continue to focus on margin improvement from the recent level as we progress through the year.

I want to say a particular thank-you to our customers, partners, governments and regulators for their support and our employees for their unrelenting contribution to the business. Our purpose of transforming lives across Africa will continue to be our highest priority.

 

 

GAAP measures (Year ended)
Description	Mar-24	Mar-23	Reported currency
	$m	$m	change
Revenue	4,979	5,255	(5.3%)
Operating profit	1,640	1,757	(6.7%)
(Loss)/Profit after tax	(89)	750	(111.9%)
Basic EPS ($ cents)	(4.4)	17.7	(124.9%)
Net cash generated from operating activities	2,259	2,229	1.4%

 

Alternative performance measures (APM) 1 (Year ended)
Description	Mar-24	Mar-23	Reported currency	Constant currency
	$m	$m	change	change
Revenue	4,979	5,255	(5.3%)	20.9%
EBITDA	2,428	2,575	(5.7%)	21.3%
EBITDA margin	48.8%	49.0%	(22) bps	14 bps
EPS before exceptional items ($ cents)	10.1	13.6	(25.9%)
Operating free cash flow	1,691	1,827	(7.4%)

⁽¹⁾ Alternative performance measures (APM) are described on page 50, with a reconciliation on page 53.

 

 

About Airtel Africa

Airtel Africa is a leading provider of telecommunications and mobile money services, with a presence in 14 countries in Africa, primarily in East Africa and Central and West Africa.

Airtel Africa offers an integrated suite of telecoms solutions to its subscribers, including mobile voice and data services as well as mobile money services, both nationally and internationally. We aim to continue providing a simple and intuitive customer experience through streamlined customer journeys.

 

Enquiries

Airtel Africa - Investor Relations Alastair Jones [email protected]	+44 7464 830 011 +44 207 493 9315
Hudson Sandler Nick Lyon Emily Dillon [email protected]	+44 207 796 4133

Conference call

Management will host an analyst and investor conference call at 13:00pm UK time (BST), on Thursday 09th May 2024, including a Question-and-Answer session.

 

To receive an invitation with the dial in numbers to participate in the event, please register beforehand using the following link:

Conference call registration link

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Key consolidated financial information

 

Description	Unit of measure	Year ended				Quarter ended
		Mar-24	Mar-23	Reported currency change %	Constant currency change %	Mar-24	Mar-23	Reported currency change %	Constant currency change %
Profit and loss summary
Revenue 1	$m	4,979	5,255	(5.3%)	20.9%	1,118	1,341	(16.6%)	23.1%
Voice revenue	$m	2,179	2,491	(12.5%)	11.9%	472	619	(23.8%)	13.7%
Data revenue	$m	1,734	1,787	(3.0%)	29.2%	391	469	(16.5%)	31.1%
Mobile money revenue 2	$m	837	692	21.1%	32.8%	206	176	17.0%	35.5%
Other revenue	$m	417	437	(4.6%)	23.4%	97	116	(16.5%)	25.7%
Expenses	$m	(2,572)	(2,694)	(4.5%)	20.9%	(600)	(686)	(12.6%)	26.3%
EBITDA 3	$m	2,428	2,575	(5.7%)	21.3%	520	659	(21.0%)	19.3%
EBITDA margin	%	48.8%	49.0%	(22) bps	14 bps	46.5%	49.1%	(259) bps	(148) bps
Depreciation and amortisation	$m	(788)	(818)	(3.6%)	23.3%	(173)	(220)	(21.0%)	17.9%
Operating profit	$m	1,640	1,757	(6.7%)	20.3%	347	439	(21.0%)	20.0%
Other finance cost - net of finance income	$m	(896)	(723)	24.0%		(142)	(204)	(30.3%)
Finance cost - exceptional items 4	$m	(807)	-	0.0%		(323)	-	0.0%
Total finance cost 5	$m	(1,703)	(723)	(135.6%)		(465)	(204)	127.9%
(Loss)/Profit before tax	$m	(63)	1,034	(106.1%)		(118)	233	(150.8%)
Tax	$m	(284)	(445)	(36.1%)		(77)	(105)	(26.3%)
Tax - exceptional items 6	$m	258	161	60.1%		104	99	5.5%
Total tax credit/(charge)	$m	(26)	(284)	(90.8%)		27	(6)	(548.0%)
(Loss)/Profit after tax	$m	(89)	750	(111.9%)		(91)	227	(140.2%)
Non-controlling interest	$m	(76)	(87)	(12.7%)		(13)	(32)	(58.9%)
Profit attributable to owners of the company - before exceptional items	$m	380	512	(25.8%)		115	106	8.1%
(Loss)/Profit attributable to owners of the company	$m	(165)	663	(124.9%)		(104)	195	(153.2%)
EPS - before exceptional items	cents	10.1	13.6	(25.9%)		3.0	2.8	7.8%
Basic EPS	cents	(4.4)	17.7	(124.9%)		(2.8)	5.2	(153.2%)
Weighted average number of shares	million	3,751	3,752	(0.0%)		3,750	3,750	0.0%
Capex	$m	737	748	(1.4%)		243	291	(16.5%)
Operating free cash flow	$m	1,691	1,827	(7.4%)		277	368	(24.6%)
Net cash generated from operating activities	$m	2,259	2,229	1.4%		493	518	(4.7%)
Net debt	$m	3,505	3,524			3,505	3,524
Leverage (net debt to EBITDA)	times	1.4x	1.4x			1.4x	1.4x
Return on capital employed	%	23.0%	23.3%	(31) bps		23.9%	23.4%	48 bps
Operating KPIs
ARPU	$	2.8	3.3	(13.3%)	10.7%	2.4	3.2	(23.8%)	12.5%
Total customer base	million	152.7	140.0	9.0%		152.7	140.0	9.0%
Data customer base	million	64.4	54.6	17.8%		64.4	54.6	17.8%
Mobile money customer base	million	38.0	31.5	20.7%		38.0	31.5	20.7%

 ⁽¹⁾ Revenue includes inter-segment eliminations of $188m for the year ended 31 March 2024 and $152m for the prior year.  

⁽²⁾ Mobile money revenue post inter-segment eliminations with mobile services was $649m for the year ended 31 March 2024, and $540m for the prior year.

⁽³⁾ EBITDA includes other income of $21m for the year ended 31 March 2024 and $13m for the prior period.

⁽⁴⁾ Exceptional items of $807m for the year ended 31 March 2024 relates to derivative and foreign exchange losses following the devaluation of the Nigerian naira ($770m) in June 2023 and three-month period ended 31 March 2024 as well as Malawian kwacha devaluation in November 2023 ($37m), respectively.

⁽⁵⁾  Please refer to the commentary on finance costs as part of 'Financial review' section on page 5.

⁽⁶⁾ Tax exceptional items of $258m for the year ended 31 March 2024 reflects the gain corresponding to the $807m exceptional item referred to in point 4 above. $161m exceptional tax gain in the prior period reflects the recognition of deferred tax credit in Kenya, Democratic Republic of the Congo & Tanzania.

 

 

 

 

 

Financial review for the year ended 31 March 2024

Revenue

Group revenue in reported currency declined by 5.3% to $4,979m, with constant currency growth of 20.9%, which accelerated to 23.1% in Q4'24. Reported currency revenue growth was particularly impacted by significant currency devaluations in Nigeria, Malawi, Zambia and Kenya. Group mobile services revenue grew by 19.4% in constant currency, with voice revenue growth of 11.9% and data revenues growing 29.2%. In Nigeria, constant currency mobile services revenues increased by 25.8%, whilst East Africa saw 21.5% growth and Francophone Africa increased by 9.2%. Mobile money revenue grew by 32.8% in constant currency, primarily driven by continued strong growth in East Africa.

EBITDA

Reported currency EBITDA declined by 5.7% to $2,428m reflecting the impact of currency devaluation over the period, particularly in Nigeria. In constant currency, EBITDA increased to 21.3% with EBITDA margins of 48.8%, up by 14bps. Reported currency EBITDA margins of 48.8% remained resilient despite the currency and inflationary headwinds faced in several markets. Mobile services EBITDA increased 18.8% in constant currency as operating leverage and cost efficiencies continued to limit the FX headwinds and inflationary pressure over the year. Mobile money EBITDA margins of 52.1% increased 234bps in constant currency, supporting growth of 39.0%.

Nigeria currency devaluation impact on revenue and EBITDA

During the period, the Nigerian naira devalued significantly from 461 per US dollar in March 2023 to 1,303 per US dollar in March 2024. The impact of the Nigerian naira devaluation on reported revenue and EBITDA for the year ending 31 March 2024 was $1,042m and $554m respectively. As the currency devaluation occurred at various stages during the year, revenue and EBITDA in the reporting period does not reflect the full year impact. As a result, the next financial year reported currency results will continue to reflect the currency headwinds experienced during FY'24. If the closing rate of 1,303 NGN/USD were to be used to consolidate the results of the Group for the year ended 31 March 2024[1], reported revenue would have declined further by $603m to $4,376m (16.7% YoY decline) as opposed to the 5.3% decline reported. Similarly, EBITDA would have declined further by $324m to $2,104m (18.3% YoY decline) as opposed to the 5.7% decline reported, with an EBITDA margin of 48.1% (Q4'24: 46.4%).

For future sensitivity on currency devaluation, refer to the Risk section on page 21.

Finance costs

Total finance costs for the year ended 31 March 2024 was $1,703m, primarily impacted by $1,259m of derivative and foreign exchange losses (reflecting the revaluation of US dollar balance sheet liabilities and derivatives) as a result of the currency devaluation primarily in Nigeria and Malawi. Finance costs excluding derivative and foreign exchange losses increased from $385m to $444m in the current period primarily on account of shift of foreign currency debt to local currency debt in the operating entities carrying a higher average interest rate.  

Out of $1,259m derivative and foreign exchange losses, $807m was classified as an exceptional item as per the company's policy on exceptional items[2] of which $770m is related to Nigerian naira devaluation and $37m is related to Malawian kwacha devaluation.

(Loss)/Profit before tax

Loss before tax at $63m during the year ended 31 March 2024 was largely impacted by the $807m exceptional losses discussed above. Excluding these exceptional items, profit before tax for year ended 31 March 2024 was $744m.

 

Taxation

Total tax charges were $26m as compared to $284m in the prior period. Total tax charges reflected an exceptional gain of $258m on account of the Nigerian naira and Malawian kwacha devaluation during the current period compared with recognition of deferred tax credit of $161m in Kenya, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Tanzania in the prior period, hence a higher exceptional gain of $97m. Tax charges excluding exceptional items were $284m compared to $445m in the prior period.

Tax charge of $26m during the year ended 31 March 2024, despite a loss before tax of $63m was due to change in profit mix between various OpCos and withholding taxes on dividends by subsidiaries.

(Loss)/Profit after tax

Loss after tax of $89m during the year ended 31 March 2024 was primarily impacted by the $549m net of tax impact of the exceptional derivative and foreign exchange losses. Excluding these exceptional items, profit after tax for year ended 31 March 2024 was $460m.

Basic EPS

Basic EPS at negative 4.4 cents during the year ended 31 March 2024 was impacted by the derivative and foreign exchange losses as explained above. EPS before exceptional items and derivative and foreign exchange losses for the year ended 31 March 2024 was 18.3 cents.

Leverage

Leverage of 1.4x as on 31 March 2024 was broadly flat from the previous year despite our significant investments and the currency devaluation in several markets which resulted in lower reported currency EBITDA as compared to the previous year. The remaining debt at HoldCo is now $550m, falling due in May 2024. Cash at HoldCo was around $680m at the end of the period and the Group is fully geared to repay the HoldCo debt when due using this cash.

GAAP measures

Revenue

Reported revenue of $4,979m, declined by 5.3% in reported currency, and grew by 20.9% in constant currency driven by both customer base growth of 9.0% and ARPU growth of 10.7%. The gap between constant currency and reported currency revenue growth was due to the average currency devaluations between the periods, mainly in the Nigerian naira, the Malawi kwacha, the Zambian kwacha , and the Kenyan shilling, partially offset by an appreciation in the Central African franc.

Reported mobile services revenue at $4,338m, declined 8.1%, and grew by 19.4% in constant currency. Constant currency growth was driven by growth of 25.8% in Nigeria, 21.5% in East Africa and 9.2% in Francophone Africa, respectively. Mobile money revenue grew by 21.1% in reported currency. In constant currency, mobile money revenue grew by 32.8%, driven by revenue growth in East Africa of 36.0% and Francophone Africa of 22.3%.

Operating profit

Operating profit in reported currency declined by 6.7% to $1,640m as currency headwinds offset strong revenue growth and continued improvements in operating efficiency across the Group. 

Total finance costs

Total finance costs for the year ended 31 March 2024 of $1,703m, increased $980m over the prior period. Finance costs were primarily impacted by $807m of exceptional derivative and foreign exchange losses arising in Nigeria and Malawi, following the significant currency devaluation during the period.

The Group's effective interest rate increased to 10.1% compared to 7.7% in the prior period, largely driven by higher local currency debt at the OpCo level, in line with our strategy of localising debt at OpCo.

Taxation

Total tax charges of $26m declined from $284m in the prior period. Total tax charges reflected an exceptional gain of $258m on account of the Nigerian naira and Malawian kwacha devaluation during the current period, compared to an exceptional gain of $161m in the prior period on account of deferred tax credits in Kenya, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Tanzania. As a result, total tax charges reflected a higher exceptional gain of $97m in the current period. The tax charge of $284m is net of a tax gain of $30m arising from the reversal of deferred tax liability on account of a reduction of undistributed retained earnings of Nigeria. This reduction is an indirect consequence of the impact of the Nigerian naira devaluation.

(Loss)/Profit after tax

(Loss) after tax of $89m during the year ended 31 March 2024 was primarily impacted by the $549m net of tax impact of the exceptional derivative and foreign exchange losses.

Basic EPS

Basic EPS at negative 4.4 cents during the year ended 31 March 2024 was impacted by the derivative and foreign exchange losses as explained above.

Net cash generated from operating activities

Net cash generated from operating activities was $2,259m, up 1.4% as compared to $2,229m in the prior period.

Alternative performance measures[3]

EBITDA

EBITDA of $2,428m, declined by 5.7% in reported currency, and increased by 21.3% in constant currency. Growth in constant currency EBITDA was led by revenue growth and supported by continued improvement in operating efficiencies which limited the impact that inflationary cost pressures had in a number of markets. The EBITDA margin declined by 22 basis points in reported currency to 48.8%.

The gap between constant currency and reported currency EBITDA growth was due to the currency devaluations between the periods, mainly in the Nigerian naira, the Malawi kwacha, the Zambian kwacha, and the Kenyan shilling, partially offset by an appreciation in the Central African franc.

Tax

The effective tax rate was 38.4%, compared to 38.8% in the prior period, largely due to profit mix changes amongst the OpCos. The effective tax rate is higher than the weighted average statutory corporate tax rate of approximately 32%, largely due to the profit mix between various OpCos and withholding taxes on dividends by subsidiaries.

Exceptional items

The exceptional item of $807m is on account of derivative and foreign exchange losses following the devaluation of the Nigerian naira in June 2023 and Q4'24, and the Malawian kwacha in November 2023. This has resulted in an exceptional tax gain of $258m as compared an exceptional tax gain of $161m in the prior period on account of deferred tax credits in Kenya, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Tanzania.

EPS before exceptional items

EPS before exceptional items of 10.1 cents declined by 25.9% compared to 13.6 cents in the prior period primarily impacted by the significant derivative and foreign exchange losses during the year. EPS before exceptional items and derivative and foreign exchange losses was 18.3 cents compared to 20.5 cents in the prior period.

Operating free cash flow

Operating free cash flow was $1,691m, lower by 7.4%, as a result of lower EBITDA during the period partially offset by lower capex in current period.

Other significant updates

Commencement of share buy-back programme

On 1 February 2024, the company announced that in light of the increase in HoldCo cash, current leverage and the consistent strong operating cash generation, the Board intended to launch a share buy-back programme of up to $100m, over a 12 month period. The Board believes that repurchasing its own shares is an attractive use of its capital in light of the Group's strong long term growth outlook. The programme will be executed using its cash reserves and in accordance with applicable securities laws and regulation.

On 1 March 2024, Airtel Africa plc announced the commencement of its share buyback programme, further to the announcement on 1 February 2024 following the publication of its nine-month results ended 31 December 2023. The share buy-back programme is expected to be phased over two tranches, with the first tranche commencing on 1 March 2024 and anticipated to end on or before 31 August 2024. The first tranche will amount to a maximum of $50 million, with Airtel Africa entering into an agreement with Citigroup Global Markets Limited to conduct the buy-back on its behalf. During March 2024, the company purchased 7.4 million shares for a total consideration of $9m.

Directorate changes

On 6 February 2024, Airtel Africa plc announced that John Danilovich has informed the Board of his intention to retire as an independent non-executive director of Airtel Africa plc at the conclusion of this year's AGM in July 2024.

On 30 October 2023 and 31 October 2023 Kelly Bayer Rosmarin and Doug Baillie, respectively retired as non-executive directors of Airtel Africa plc. 

On 9 May 2024, Airtel Africa plc announced the appointment of Paul Arkwright, CMG, as an independent non-executive director of the Company, with immediate effect.

Nigerian naira devaluation

On 14 June 2023, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) announced changes to the operations in the Nigerian Foreign Exchange (FX) market, including the abolishment of segmentation, with all segments now collapsing into the Investors and Exporters (I&E) window and the reintroduction of the 'Willing Buyer, Willing Seller' model at the I&E window. As a result of the CBN decision, the US dollar has appreciated against the Nigerian naira in the I&E window. The market expectation is that the new foreign currency policy and subsequent realignment of the several market exchange rates will provide greater US dollar liquidity over time and help to alleviate the challenges faced in the last few years to access US dollars in the market.

On 29 January 2024, the FMDQ Securities Exchange Limited ('FMDQ') notified the market of its amendment to the methodology applied for the computation of the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Fixing ('NAFEX') being the exchange rate used to consolidate the results of Airtel Africa's Nigeria region. This development further impacted the Nigerian naira during the period. The closing NAFEX rate as of 31 March 2024, was NGN1,303 per US dollar.

The impact of both these events resulted in derivative and foreign exchange losses of $770m in the year which were classified as exceptional.

The Group continues to invest in Nigeria to enable it to capture the growth opportunity. This continued investment will facilitate growth, drive continued digitalisation across the country, facilitate economic progress and transform lives across Nigeria.

Retirement of Airtel Africa plc CEO and appointment of Successor

On 2 January 2024, Airtel Africa plc announced the retirement of Chief Executive Officer Olusegun "Segun" Ogunsanya and the appointment of Sunil Taldar, who joined Airtel Africa in October 2023 as Director - Transformation, as Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Following a transition period, Sunil Taldar will be appointed to the Board as an Executive Director and assume the role of CEO on 1 July 2024, at which time Segun will retire from the Board and the Company.

 

 

 

Launch of Nxtra by Airtel

 

In December 2023, Airtel Africa launched Nxtra by Airtel ("Nxtra"), a new data centre business founded on a commitment to meet the continent's growing needs for trusted, and sustainable data centre capacity and to serve the fast-growing African digital economy. It aims to build one of the largest network of data centres in Africa with high-capacity data centres in major cities located strategically across Airtel Africa's footprint, complementing its existing edge sites. Nxtra's ambition will allow it to serve the growing need of African enterprises and its data centre infrastructure will be designed to host the next generation of computing, while providing multi-MW capacity in a phased manner.

Nigerian Communications Commission directive on subscriber registration compliance

 

In December 2023, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) informed Airtel Nigeria, in an industry-wide directive, to undertake full network barring of all SIMs that have failed to submit their National Identity Numbers (NIN) on or before 28 February 2024. Likewise, customers that have submitted their NINs, but remain unverified are to be barred by 31st July 2024 (earlier deadline was 15 April 2024). Furthermore, guidelines were issued whereby no customer can have more than 4 active SIMs and all such excess SIMs be barred by 29 March 2024. This directive is part of the ongoing Federal Government NIN-SIM harmonisation exercise requiring all subscribers to provide valid NIN information to update SIM registration records.

Airtel Nigeria has complied with the directives issued and barred all customers without NINs as well as customers with more than 4 active SIMs which had a very negligible impact on revenue. Currently we are engaging with approximately 5.7m customers whose NIN are yet to be verified. Since the directive was issued in December 2023, 7.9m customers have already been verified. We continue to engage with the NCC and work closely with the relevant authorities to facilitate and accelerate the verification process to minimise the risk of service disruption to these customers, whilst also limiting the revenue impact from our compliance to the directive issued.

Devaluation of the Malawian Kwacha by the Reserve Bank of Malawi

In November 2023, the Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM) announced structural changes to the foreign exchange market with its decision to adjust the exchange rate from selling rate of MWK 1,180 to a selling rate of MWK 1,700 to the US dollar with effect from 9 November 2023.

As part of the structural changes, RBM started authorizing dealer banks to freely negotiate exchange rates to trade with their clients and amongst themselves, notwithstanding any limitations previously in place.

The devaluation resulted in a foreign exchange loss of $37m and is classified as exceptional.

Uganda Initial Public Offering (IPO) 

 

On 29 August 2023, Airtel Uganda Limited issued a prospectus in relation to the offer for sale of 8,000,000,000 ordinary shares, representing 20% of Airtel Uganda Limited on the Uganda Stock Exchange (USE) in-line with the 20% minimum public listing obligation for all National Telecom Operators under the current Uganda Communications (Fees & Fines) (Amendment) Regulations 2020. The issued shares of Airtel Uganda were listed on the Main Investment Market Segment of the USE on 7 November 2023 at UGX100 per share.

On completion of the IPO in November 2023, 4.4bn shares (10.89% of Airtel Uganda's total share capital) were transferred to minority shareholders, whilst the entire 40bn shares began trading on the Main Investment Market Segment of the USE. Airtel Uganda received a 3-year waiver from the Uganda Securities Exchange from the requirement to transfer the remaining 9.11% required to meet the 20% shareholding listing requirement.

Nigeria 2100 MHz spectrum renewal

On 9 May 2023, the Group announced that its Nigerian subsidiary, Airtel Networks Limited ('Airtel Nigeria'), had made a payment of NGN58.7bn ($127.4m), payable to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), to renew its 2x10MHz 2100 MHz spectrum licence, which will be valid for a period of 15 years following the expiry of the previous licence (30 April 2022).

This investment to renew the licence reflects our continued confidence in the opportunity inherent across the Nigerian market, supporting the local communities and economies through furthering digital inclusion and connectivity.

Uganda spectrum

The regulator had previously issued an invitation to apply for spectrum in various bands (700, 800, 2300, 2600, 3300, 3500, etc). On 26 June 2023, the Uganda Communications Commission confirmed that Airtel Uganda Limited had qualified for the award of 10 MHz of 800 MHz and 100 MHz of 3500 MHz spectrum.  There is no upfront payout for spectrum but, instead, there is an annual payout of $1.2m for a period of 17 years, which is the validity period for the spectrum.

Share capital reduction

On 15 August 2023, Airtel Africa announced the cancellation and extinction of all its deferred shares of USD 0.50 nominal value each (the 'capital reduction'), which was approved by shareholders at the annual general meeting of the Company held on 4 July 2023. The cancellation and extinction was sanctioned by the High Court of England and Wales (the 'High Court'). The effect of the capital reduction is to create additional distributable reserves which will be available to the company going forward and may be used to facilitate returns to shareholders in the future, whether in the form of dividends, distributions or purchases of the company's own shares.

The company confirms that, following the capital reduction, the issued share capital of the company will be 3,758,151,504 ordinary shares of USD 0.50 nominal value each, carrying one vote each. There are no shares held in treasury. The total voting rights in the company therefore will be 3,758,151,504.

Dividend payment timetable

The board has recommended a final dividend of 3.57 cents for the financial year ended 31 March 2024, payable on 26 July 2024 to shareholders recorded in the register at the close of business on 21 June 2024.

Last day to trade shares cum dividend                    19 June 2024

Shares commence trading ex-dividend                  20 June 2024

Record date                                                                       21 June 2024

Last date for currency election                                   8 June 2024

Payment date                                                                   26 July 2024

Information on additional KPIs

An investor relations pack with information on the additional KPIs and balance sheet is available to download on our website at airtel.africa/investors

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Strategic overview

The Group provides telecoms and mobile money services in 14 emerging markets of sub-Saharan Africa. Our markets are characterised by huge geographies with relatively sparse populations, high population growth rates, high proportions of youth, low smartphone penetration, low data penetration and relatively unbanked populations. Unique mobile user penetration across the Group's footprint is around 48%, and banking penetration remains under 50%. These indicators illustrate the significant opportunity still available to Airtel Africa to enhance both digital and financial inclusion in the communities we serve, enriching and transforming their lives through digitalisation, whilst at the same time growing our revenues profitably across each of our key services of voice, data and mobile money.

The Group continues to invest in its network and distribution infrastructure to enhance both mobile connectivity and financial inclusion across our countries of operation. In particular, we continued to invest in expanding our 4G network footprint to increase data capacity in our networks to support future business growth, as well as deploying new sites, especially in rural areas, to enhance coverage and connectivity.

We describe our 'win with' strategy through six strategic pillars. Our customers are at the core of our strategy, through our corporate purpose of transforming lives.

The digitalisation of our products and services is fundamental to enabling the success of each pillar within our 'win with' strategy. In addition, the digitisation of our internal systems and processes ensures we optimise our operating flexibility.

Underpinning the Group's business strategy for growth is our sustainability strategy which supports our well-established corporate purpose of transforming lives, our continued commitment to driving sustainable development and acting as a responsible business. Our sustainability strategy sets out our goals and commitments to foster financial inclusion, bridge the digital divide and serve more customers in some of the least penetrated telecommunication markets in the world.

This year, we continued to make strong progress across each of our core strategic pillars: 'Win with technology', 'Win with distribution', 'Win with data', 'Win with mobile money', 'Win with cost' and 'Win with people'.

Win with technology

The Group remains focused on delivering best-in-class services, expanding 4G networks and has launched new 5G technology in key markets including Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia following the acquisition of 5G spectrum. Reaching underserved communities is a key priority, and we continue to: 1) increase rural coverage through new site rollouts, 2) acquire additional spectrum and 3) invest in new technology across our markets.

As part of ensuring our services are future ready, in addition to purchasing spectrum, we grew our fibre infrastructure and tested our 5G capabilities. After exploring the potential for additional third-party revenue streams, we have invested in data centres to further support digital inclusion across our markets. We continued to strengthen our fibre business, which is now delivering encouraging revenue growth. During the year we added a further around 5,000 km of fibre, with a total of 75,400+ km now deployed.

Furthermore, we expanded our international data capacity via submarine cables by 100% to 3.1 Tbps with current 45% utilization through a combination of adding additional routes and capacity.

Overall, the capacity investment has resulted in a 32.7% increase in data capacity - reaching 31,700+ terabytes (TB) per day, with peak hour data utilization at 53% allowing for increased network resilience and an enriched service continuity.

Following substantial spectrum acquisitions in FY'23, we further invested in the renewal of 2100 MHz spectrum in Nigeria during this period. Continued investment into spectrum across our markets will further enhance network capacity and coverage.

Win with distribution

We continue to strengthen our exclusive channel of kiosks/mini-shops and Airtel Money branches along with multi-brand outlets in both urban and rural markets. We offer a simplified and enhanced Know Your Customer (KYC) app to provide a seamless customer onboarding experience. These have enabled us to add customers, resulting in customer base growth of 9.0%, and supported voice revenue growth of 11.9% in constant currency.

The Group continued its investment in strengthening our distribution network infrastructure, with a focus on rural distribution networks. During the period, the Group expanded its exclusive franchise stores, adding over 27,800 kiosks and mini shops (taking the total to almost 89,600 kiosks and mini shops) and adding 1,550+ Airtel Money branches (AMB), taking the total to 19,500+ AMBs across our footprint. The Group also added around 59,600 activating outlets, an increase of 19.6%.

Win with data

With continued investments in the expansion of our 4G network and launching 5G in several OpCo's, the clear focus is on enhancing customer experience across the network. This is not only for mobile users but also for broadband enterprise users to support continued data ARPU and data revenue growth.

Expansion of the 4G network and improved user experience has helped drive increased smartphone penetration, customer ARPU and consumption per data user across the segments. Smartphone penetration was up 4.2 percentage points to 40.5% and data customer grew by 17.8%, now representing 42.1% of our total base. Smartphone data customers grew by 24.7% leading to higher consumption & ARPU growth.

Data usage per customer per month also grew by 20.8% and reached 5.4 GB per month from 4.4 GB a year ago. This increase was led by increased smartphone penetration and an expansion of our home broadband and enterprise customers.

All the above contributed to a 29.2% growth in constant currency data revenue. 4G handset users' data usage constituted 88.3% of total data usage on the network in Q4'24 growing at 61.3%, with 4G data usage per data customer of over 8.7GB per month.

 Win with mobile money

The low penetration of traditional banking services across our footprint leaves a large number of unbanked customers whose needs can be largely fulfilled through mobile money services. We aim to drive the uptake of Airtel Money services in all our markets, harnessing the ability of our profitable mobile money business model to enhance financial inclusion in some of the most 'unbanked' populations in the world.

During the period, we focussed on growing our ecosystem and driving customer acquisition. We launched new international money transfer routes, as well as new loan products and continued to integrate more partners into our ecosystem. 

We continued to expand our exclusive distribution channel of AMBs and kiosks to ensure availability of services to customers, even in the rural areas. The number of kiosks and mini shops increased by 45% and Airtel Money branches by over 8.7%. Furthermore, our non-exclusive channel of mobile money agents expanded by 53%, following implementation of our digital on-boarding journey. Our distribution expansion and enhanced offerings helped drive 20.7% growth in our mobile money customer base, now serving 38.0 million customers, which represents 24.9% of our total customer base.

Our Nigeria PSB licence remains an opportunity for the Group. During this year, we accelerated our customer acquisition strategy and our customer base is 1.5 million active customers. We continue to build the ecosystem to grow our transaction value. 

Along with data, mobile money continues to be one of our fastest growing services, delivering revenue growth of 32.8% in full year. It is an increasingly important part of our business, with over $112bn of annual transaction value in reported currency. Mobile money revenue accounts for 16.8% of the Group revenues in the period.

Mobile money ARPU increased by 8.6% in constant currency over the period, driven by increased transaction values and higher contributions from cash transactions, P2P transfers and mobile services recharges through Airtel Money.

Win with cost

Despite the impact of inflationary pressure across the Group and continuing high fuel prices across countries, our 'win with cost' initiatives have continued to support margin resilience across the Group.

We continue our focus on enhancing cost efficiency through changes in the operating design and response to the macroeconomic changes, an example of which is the roll out of a majority of new sites using green initiatives (solar, batteries and grid connection). We embrace robust cost discipline and continuously seek to improve our processes to reduce operating costs, delivering one of the highest EBITDA margins in the industry. We also continue to embrace the latest technology to optimally design our networks and improve our capital expenditure efficiency enabling us to build large incremental capacities at lower marginal cost.

We are undertaking various cost efficiency initiatives to mitigate the headwinds, relating mainly to: (i) working with active equipment manufacturers to implement energy saving features to reduce energy consumption, (ii) working with tower companies (towercos) to invest more in energy efficient equipment (including in lithium batteries and solar equipment), (iii) enhance grid connectivity, (iv) transmission re-routing to optimise lease line capacity and (v) shift towards digital recharges, especially through Airtel Money to reduce commission pay-outs.

Win with people

We continue to operate in a highly competitive and volatile business landscape and therefore our ongoing commitment to our employees remains integral to winning despite operating environment headwinds.

We have developed various mechanisms to ensure that our employees remain heard, this includes our engagement survey which is used to measure employee sentiment on key matters affecting them including engagement, reward, values and collaboration amongst others. The next engagement survey will be conducted in July 2024. 81% of employees participated in the last employee engagement survey, being 2% higher than the previous survey.   In addition to the engagement survey other mechanisms where we engage with our people meaningfully include one on one discussions with senior leadership, including when our leadership visits to our OpCo's. These mechanisms enable us to identify strength areas, areas of improvement with actionable insight for improvement and opportunities for continuous collaboration across our business.

We recognise the importance of having diverse teams considering the diverse communities we serve across our 17 operations. Gender diversity remains a key focus area with 28.3% of women in our workforce (up from 26% in the prior period), and we had an increase of different nationalities to 43 (from 39 in the prior period). Additional focus on accelerating the recruitment and promotion by merit of female talent within the business remains in focus.

Talent capability and capacity has remained a key focus throughout the year. We focused on updating our learning content across our online and classroom platforms to build capability for now and for the future.  In addition, on-the-job training, coaching and leadership, building leadership capability and functional expertise remains at the heart of our learning and development programmes.

Through our Executive leadership development, Africa Mobility and Women for Tech programs, we have been able to support talent development and retention which continues to help us build succession planning across critical roles. These programmes offer exposure and learning opportunities to our high potential and top performing talent as part of an accelerated career development programme.

Our high-performance culture remains true to who we are. This is aligned to our reward philosophy where 'pay for performance' based on key result areas which each employee is measured on and consistently strives to meet and exceed.

We are cognisant that by providing great work experiences for our people, we are able to drive greater employee engagement and satisfaction. This in turn leads to improved performance, innovation and subsequently transformative experiences for both our employees and in the communities where we serve.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Financial review for the year ended 31 March 2024

Nigeria - Mobile services

Description	Unit of measure	Year ended				Quarter ended
		Mar-24	Mar-23	Reported currency change	Constant currency change	Mar-24	Mar-23	Reported currency change	Constant currency change
Summarised statement of operations
Revenue	$m	1,503	2,128	(29.4%)	25.8%	266	543	(51.0%)	34.1%
Voice revenue 1	$m	711	1,053	(32.5%)	19.6%	124	262	(52.7%)	29.0%
Data revenue	$m	654	884	(25.9%)	32.1%	116	230	(49.6%)	38.0%
Other revenue 2	$m	138	191	(27.9%)	30.6%	26	51	(48.5%)	43.1%
EBITDA	$m	811	1,101	(26.3%)	30.9%	139	284	(51.1%)	32.8%
EBITDA margin	%	54.0%	51.7%	226 bps	209 bps	52.2%	52.3%	(7) bps	(52) bps
Depreciation and amortisation	$m	(264)	(344)	(23.3%)	38.2%	(41)	(97)	(57.1%)	26.5%
Operating profit	$m	509	721	(29.4%)	25.4%	89	177	(49.7%)	36.2%
Capex	$m	252	293	(13.9%)	(13.9%)	74	126	(40.9%)	(40.9%)
Operating free cash flow	$m	559	808	(30.8%)	68.6%	65	158	(59.1%)	225.1%
Operating KPIs
Total customer base	million	50.9	48.4	5.3%		50.9	48.4	5.3%
Data customer base	million	27.4	23.8	14.9%		27.4	23.8	14.9%
Mobile services ARPU	$	2.5	3.8	(33.2%)	19.0%	1.7	3.8	(53.9%)	26.4%

⁽¹⁾  Voice revenue includes inter-segment revenue of $1m in the year ended 31 March 2024 and in the prior period. Excluding inter-segment revenue, voice revenue was $710m in year ended 31 March 2024 and $1,052m in the prior period.

⁽²⁾ Other revenue includes inter-segment revenue of $2m in the year ended 31 March 2024 and in the prior period. Excluding inter-segment revenue, other revenue was $136m in year ended 31 March 2024 and $189m in the prior period.

Revenue grew by 25.8% in constant currency, with growth accelerating to 34.1% in Q4'24 largely driven by strong data demand. In reported currency, revenues declined by 29.4% to $1,503m on account of the significant devaluation of the Nigerian naira. The constant currency revenue growth was driven by both customer base growth of 5.3% and ARPU growth of 19.0%. Customer base growth in current period was negatively impacted by barring of customers pursuant to KYC directives by the regulator. Q4'24 reported currency revenues declined by 51.0% reflecting the impact of Nigerian naira devaluation during the period. 

Voice revenue grew by 19.6% in constant currency, driven by both customer base growth of 5.3% and voice ARPU growth of 13.2%.

Data revenue grew by 32.1% in constant currency, as a function of both data customer and data ARPU growth of 14.9% and 14.0%, respectively. Data usage per customer increased by 25.4% to 6.3 GB per month (from 5.0 GB in the prior period). Our continued 4G network rollout has resulted in nearly 100% of all our sites delivering 4G services. Further 235 sites are 5G enabled.

Other revenues grew by 30.6% in constant currency, contributed by growth in messaging and value-added services coupled with 32.8% growth in leased line revenue.

EBITDA of $811m declined by 26.3% in reported currency, but increased by 30.9% in constant currency. The EBITDA margin increased by 226 basis points to 54.0%. During the period, there was a one-time opex benefit of $7m on account of VAT refunds on tower rentals. Excluding this benefit, the FY'24 EBITDA margin would have increased by 180 basis points. The increase in EBIDTA margin was primarily due to the growth in constant currency revenues, supported by continued cost efficiencies. The Q4'24 EBITDA margin of 52.2% - below the FY'24 EBITDA margin of 54.0% - reflects the recent increase in diesel costs. Diesel prices have increased significantly in Q4'24 but remain volatile. If current levels persist, the full impact will be reflected in future EBITDA margins.

Operating free cash flow was $559m, up by 68.6% in constant currency, largely due to the strong EBITDA growth and lower capex in current period.

 

 

 

East Africa - Mobile services ¹

Description	Unit of measure	Year ended				Quarter ended
		Mar-24	Mar-23	Reported currency change	Constant currency change	Mar-24	Mar-23	Reported currency change	Constant currency change
Summarised statement of operations
Revenue	$m	1,622	1,508	7.5%	21.5%	395	380	4.2%	22.5%
Voice revenue 2	$m	851	836	1.8%	14.8%	200	204	(2.0%)	15.0%
Data revenue	$m	621	537	15.5%	31.0%	156	140	11.2%	31.0%
Other revenue 3	$m	150	135	10.6%	26.1%	39	36	11.1%	31.9%
EBITDA	$m	788	755	4.3%	17.1%	185	193	(4.1%)	12.4%
EBITDA margin	%	48.6%	50.1%	(151) bps	(182) bps	46.7%	50.7%	(401) bps	(418) bps
Depreciation and amortisation	$m	(287)	(260)	10.6%	23.3%	(72)	(70)	2.6%	17.5%
Operating profit	$m	452	459	(1.5%)	11.9%	101	112	(9.8%)	8.9%
Capex	$m	284	256	10.9%	10.9%	107	97	9.5%	9.5%
Operating free cash flow	$m	504	499	0.9%	20.6%	78	96	(18.2%)	15.6%
Operating KPIs
Total customer base	million	69.4	62.7	10.7%		69.4	62.7	10.7%
Data customer base	million	26.6	21.9	21.5%		26.6	21.9	21.5%
Mobile services ARPU	$	2.0	2.1	(2.9%)	9.7%	1.9	2.0	(5.9%)	10.7%

⁽¹⁾  The East Africa business region includes Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.

⁽²⁾  Voice revenue includes inter-segment revenue of $1m in the year ended 31 March 2024 and in the prior period. Excluding inter-segment revenue, voice revenue was $850m in year ended 31 March 2024 and $835m in the prior period.

⁽³⁾   Other revenue includes inter-segment revenue of $12m in the year ended 31 March 2024 and $11m in the prior period. Excluding inter-segment revenue, other revenue was $138m in year ended 31 March 2024 and $124m in the prior period.

 

East Africa revenue grew by 7.5% in reported currency to $1,622m, and by 21.5% in constant currency. The constant currency growth was made up of voice revenue growth of 14.8%, data revenue growth of 31.0% and other revenue growth of 26.1%. The differential in growth rates is primarily contributed by the devaluation in Zambian kwacha, Malawi kwacha  and Kenya shilling.

Voice revenue grew by 14.8% in constant currency, driven by both customer base growth of 10.7% and voice ARPU growth of 3.6%. The customer base growth was largely driven by expansion of both increased network coverage and the increasing scale of the distribution network. Voice ARPU growth of 3.6% was supported by an increase in voice usage per customer by 6.0% to 407 minutes per customer per month partially offset by the interconnect rate reduction in Tanzania and Rwanda.

Data revenue grew by 31.0% in constant currency, largely driven by data customer base growth of 21.5% and data ARPU growth of 4.2%. Our continued investment in the network and expansion of 4G network infrastructure helped us grow both the data customer base and usage levels. 96.4% of our East Africa network sites are now on 4G, compared to 90.4% in the prior period. Further,799 sites are 5G enabled in four markets. In Q4'24, total data usage per customer increased to 5.1 GB per customer per month, up by 20.1%.

EBITDA increased to $788m, up by 4.3% in reported currency and up by 17.1% in constant currency. EBITDA margin at 48.6%, declined by 151 basis points which was primarily impacted by rising fuel prices in several of our key markets, with the biggest impact being witnessed in Q4'24.

Operating free cash flow was $504m, up by 20.6% in constant currency, due largely to EBITDA growth, partially offset by increased capex.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Francophone Africa - Mobile services ¹

Description	Unit of measure	Year ended				Quarter ended
		Mar-24	Mar-23	Reported currency change	Constant currency change	Mar-24	Mar-23	Reported currency change	Constant currency change
Summarised statement of operations
Revenue	$m	1,213	1,090	11.3%	9.2%	300	282	6.5%	6.0%
Voice revenue 2	$m	622	607	2.4%	0.4%	149	154	(3.3%)	(3.7%)
Data revenue	$m	459	366	25.4%	22.9%	119	98	21.8%	21.2%
Other revenue 3	$m	132	117	13.5%	12.3%	32	30	6.8%	6.7%
EBITDA	$m	512	480	6.9%	4.7%	118	124	(5.1%)	(5.8%)
EBITDA margin	%	42.2%	44.0%	(176) bps	(182) bps	39.2%	44.0%	(478) bps	(490) bps
Depreciation and amortisation	$m	(209)	(190)	10.4%	8.3%	(54)	(47)	14.0%	13.6%
Operating profit	$m	255	255	0.0%	(2.0%)	51	67	(23.5%)	(24.4%)
Capex	$m	157	151	3.9%	3.9%	48	57	(15.6%)	(15.6%)
Operating free cash flow	$m	355	328	8.2%	5.1%	70	67	4.0%	2.3%
Operating KPIs
Total customer base	million	32.3	28.9	11.8%		32.3	28.9	11.8%
Data customer base	million	10.4	8.9	16.0%		10.4	8.9	16.0%
Mobile services ARPU	$	3.3	3.3	(0.6%)	(2.4%)	3.1	3.3	(4.9%)	(5.3%)

 ⁽¹⁾ The Francophone Africa business region includes Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Madagascar, Niger, Republic of the Congo, and Seychelles.

⁽²⁾  Voice revenue includes inter-segment revenue of $3m in the year ended 31 March 2024 and in the prior period. Excluding inter-segment revenue, voice revenue was $619m in year ended 31 March 2024 and $604m in the prior period.

⁽³⁾  Other revenue includes inter-segment revenue of $3m in the year ended 31 March 2024 and in the prior period. Excluding inter-segment revenue, other revenue was $129m in year ended 31 March 2024 and $114m in the prior period.

Revenue grew by 11.3% in reported currency and by 9.2% in constant currency. Higher reported currency growth as compared to constant currency is due to the appreciation in the Central African franc, partially offset by a devaluation in the Madagascar ariary.

Voice revenue grew by 0.4% in constant currency, as customer base growth of 11.8% was partially offset by a decline in voice ARPU. Voice ARPU was negatively impacted by an interconnect rate reduction in Congo B and Niger while the customer base growth was driven by the expansion of both network coverage and distribution infrastructure.

Data revenue grew by 22.9% in constant currency, supported by customer base growth of 16.0%. Increased data usage across the network supported ARPU growth of 2.9%. Our continued 4G network rollout resulted in an increase in total data usage of 49.1% and per customer data usage increase of 24.8%. For Q4'24, data usage per customer increased to 4.6 GB per month (up from 3.8 GB in the prior period).

EBITDA at $512m, increased by 6.9% and 4.7% in reported and constant currency, respectively. The EBITDA margin declined to 42.2%, a decline of 182 basis points in constant currency. The EBITDA margin decline was mainly due to a one-time opex benefit of $19m in the prior period. The EBITDA margin in Q4'24 was impacted by an increase in fixed frequency fees in a key market combined with a slowdown in revenue growth in key markets.

Operating free cash flow was $355m, increased by 5.1% in constant currency, due to the increased EBITDA, partially offset by increased capex.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mobile services

Description	Unit of measure	Year ended				Quarter ended
		Mar-24	Mar-23	Reported currency change	Constant currency change	Mar-24	Mar-23	Reported currency change	Constant currency change
Summarised statement of   operations
Revenue 1	$m	4,338	4,721	(8.1%)	19.4%	962	1,205	(20.2%)	21.5%
Voice revenue	$m	2,179	2,491	(12.5%)	11.9%	472	619	(23.8%)	13.7%
Data revenue	$m	1,734	1,787	(3.0%)	29.2%	391	469	(16.5%)	31.1%
Other revenue	$m	425	443	(4.1%)	23.5%	99	117	(16.1%)	25.8%
EBITDA	$m	2,115	2,336	(9.5%)	18.8%	443	602	(26.5%)	14.8%
EBITDA margin	%	48.8%	49.5%	(73) bps	(26) bps	46.0%	50.0%	(397) bps	(273) bps
Depreciation and amortisation	$m	(760)	(794)	(4.2%)	23.4%	(166)	(213)	(21.9%)	19.6%
Operating profit	$m	1,219	1,435	(15.0%)	14.0%	243	358	(32.2%)	11.0%
Capex	$m	693	700	(1.0%)	(1.0%)	229	280	(18.2%)	(18.2%)
Operating free cash flow	$m	1,422	1,636	(13.1%)	30.9%	214	322	(33.6%)	59.3%
Operating KPIs
Mobile voice
Customer base	million	152.7	140.0	9.0%		152.7	140.0	9.0%
Voice ARPU	$	1.2	1.5	(19.9%)	2.4%	1.0	1.5	(30.3%)	4.0%
Mobile data
Data customer base	million	64.4	54.6	17.8%		64.4	54.6	17.8%
Data ARPU	$	2.4	3.0	(19.4%)	7.3%	2.1	2.9	(30.0%)	9.9%

⁽¹⁾  Mobile service revenue after inter-segment eliminations was $4,330m in the year ended 31 March 2024 and $4,715m in the prior period.

 

Overall revenue from mobile services declined by 8.1% in reported currency with growth of 19.4% in constant currency. The constant currency growth was evident across all regions and services. Mobile services revenue grew in Nigeria by 25.8%, in East Africa by 21.5% and in Francophone Africa by 9.2%, respectively.

Voice revenue grew by 11.9% in constant currency, supported by both customer base growth of 9.0% and voice ARPU growth of 2.4%. Customer base growth was driven by the expansion of our network and distribution infrastructure. The voice ARPU growth of 2.4% was supported by an increase in voice usage per customer of 5.2%, reaching 286 minutes per customer per month, with total minutes on the network increasing by 14.9%. 

Data revenue grew by 29.2% in constant currency, driven by both customer base growth of 17.8% and data ARPU growth of 7.3%. The customer base growth was recorded across all the regions supported by the expansion of our 4G network. 95.0% of our total sites are now on 4G, compared with 90.3% in the prior period. 5G is operational across five countries, with 1,034 sites deployed. In Q4'24, data usage per customer increased to 5.7 GB per customer per month (from 4.6 GB in the prior period). In the full year ended 31 March 2023, data revenue contributed to 40.0% of total mobile services revenue, up from 37.8% in the prior period.

EBITDA was $2,115m, declined 9.5% in reported currency and up by 18.8% in constant currency. The EBITDA margin declined by 73 basis points to 48.8%, a decline of 26 basis points in constant currency.

Operating free cash flow was $1,422m, up by 30.9% in constant currency, due to the increased EBITDA.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mobile money

Description	Unit of measure	Year ended				Quarter ended
		Mar-24	Mar-23	Reported currency change	Constant currency change	Mar-24	Mar-23	Reported currency change	Constant currency change
Summarised statement of operations
Revenue 1	$m	837	692	21.1%	32.8%	206	176	17.0%	35.5%
Nigeria	$m	2	0	-	-	0	0	-	-
East Africa	$m	635	531	19.8%	36.0%	154	135	14.1%	38.2%
Francophone Africa	$m	200	161	24.3%	22.3%	52	41	26.4%	25.9%
EBITDA	$m	436	344	26.8%	39.0%	109	88	24.4%	43.5%
EBITDA margin	%	52.1%	49.8%	236 bps	234 bps	52.9%	49.8%	315 bps	294 bps
Depreciation and amortisation	$m	(18)	(17)	6.0%	22.7%	(4)	(5)	(11.7%)	11.3%
Operating profit	$m	405	318	27.6%	39.5%	102	81	26.5%	45.6%
Capex	$m	27	33	(19.5%)	(19.5%)	10	7	41.9%	41.9%
Operating free cash flow	$m	409	311	31.6%	45.6%	99	81	23.0%	43.7%
Operating KPIs
Mobile money customer base	million	38.0	31.5	20.7%		38.0	31.5	20.7%
Transaction value	$bn	112.3	88.6	26.8%	38.2%	27.7	24.3	14.1%	30.2%
Mobile money ARPU	$	2.0	2.0	(0.9%)	8.6%	1.8	1.9	(2.9%)	12.5%

 ⁽¹⁾ Mobile money service revenue post inter-segment eliminations with mobile services was $649m in the year ended 31 March 2024 and $540m in the prior year.

 

Mobile money revenue grew by 21.1% in reported currency, with constant currency growth of 32.8% accelerating to 35.5% in Q4'24. The differential in growth rates is primarily as the result of devaluation in Zambian kwacha and Malawi kwacha, partially offset by appreciation in Central African franc. The constant currency mobile money revenue growth was driven by revenue growth in both East Africa and Francophone Africa of 36.0% and 22.3%, respectively. In Nigeria, Company was focussed on customer acquisition through the year with 1.5 million of active customers registered for mobile money services in Nigeria at the end of March 2024. Annualised transaction value for Nigeria SmartCash grew by 15% in the current quarter as compared to quarter ended December 2023. Additionally, we added almost 39,000 agents during the quarter reaching almost 205,000 agents as of 31 March 2024.

The constant currency revenue growth of 32.8% was driven by both our customer base growth of 20.7% and mobile money ARPU growth of 8.6%. The expansion of our distribution network, particularly our exclusive channels of Airtel Money branches and kiosks, supported customer base growth of 20.7%. The mobile money ARPU growth of 8.6% was driven by transaction value per customer growth of 13.1% in constant currency, to $262 per customer per month.

Annual transaction value amounted to over $112bn in reported currency, with mobile money revenue contributing 16.8% of total Group revenue during the full year period ending 31 March 2024.

EBITDA was $436m, up by 26.8% and 39.0% in reported and constant currency, respectively. The EBITDA margin reached 52.1%, an improvement of 234 basis points in constant currency and 236 basis points in reported currency, driven by continued operating leverage.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Regional performance

Nigeria

Description	Unit of measure	Year ended				Quarter ended
		Mar-24	Mar-23	Reported currency change	Constant currency change	Mar-24	Mar-23	Reported currency change	Constant currency change
Revenue	$m	1,504	2,128	(29.3%)	25.9%	266	543	(51.0%)	34.2%
Voice revenue	$m	711	1,053	(32.5%)	19.6%	124	262	(52.7%)	29.0%
Data revenue	$m	654	884	(25.9%)	32.1%	116	230	(49.6%)	38.0%
Mobile money revenue	$m	2	0	-	-	0	0	-	-
Other revenue	$m	138	191	(27.9%)	30.6%	26	51	(48.5%)	43.1%
EBITDA	$m	805	1,093	(26.3%)	30.8%	138	281	(51.0%)	33.0%
EBITDA margin	%	53.5%	51.4%	218 bps	202 bps	51.8%	51.8%	(3) bps	(48) bps
Operating KPIs
ARPU	$	2.5	3.8	(33.1%)	19.1%	1.7	3.8	(53.8%)	26.4%

East Africa

Description	Unit of measure	Year ended				Quarter ended
		Mar-24	Mar-23	Reported currency change	Constant currency change	Mar-24	Mar-23	Reported currency change	Constant currency change
Revenue	$m	2,125	1,931	10.1%	24.6%	516	487	5.9%	25.5%
Voice revenue	$m	851	836	1.8%	14.8%	200	204	(2.0%)	15.0%
Data revenue	$m	621	537	15.5%	31.0%	156	140	11.2%	30.9%
Mobile money revenue	$m	635	530	19.9%	36.0%	154	135	14.1%	38.2%
Other revenue	$m	145	131	10.2%	25.9%	38	34	11.3%	31.9%
EBITDA	$m	1,134	1,032	9.8%	23.8%	270	264	2.4%	21.5%
EBITDA margin	%	53.3%	53.5%	(13) bps	(31) bps	52.3%	54.1%	(179) bps	(172) bps
Operating KPIs
ARPU	$	2.6	2.7	(0.6%)	12.4%	2.5	2.6	(4.3%)	13.4%

Francophone Africa

Description	Unit of measure	Year ended				Quarter ended
		Mar-24	Mar-23	Reported currency change	Constant currency change	Mar-24	Mar-23	Reported currency change	Constant currency change
Revenue	$m	1,350	1,201	12.4%	10.3%	336	310	8.4%	7.9%
Voice revenue	$m	622	607	2.4%	0.4%	149	154	(3.3%)	(3.7%)
Data revenue	$m	459	366	25.4%	22.9%	119	98	21.8%	21.3%
Mobile money revenue	$m	200	161	24.3%	22.3%	52	41	26.4%	25.9%
Other revenue	$m	131	115	13.6%	12.2%	32	30	6.6%	6.4%
EBITDA	$m	620	563	10.2%	8.1%	146	145	0.2%	(0.5%)
EBITDA margin	%	46.0%	46.9%	(93) bps	(97) bps	43.4%	46.9%	(355) bps	(366) bps
Operating KPIs
ARPU	$	3.7	3.7	0.4%	(1.4%)	3.5	3.6	(3.2%)	(3.6%)

Consolidated performance

Description	UoM	Year ended - March 2024					Year ended - March 2023
		Mobile services	Mobile money	Unallocated	Eliminations	Total	Mobile services	Mobile money	Unallocated	Eliminations	Total
Revenue	$m	4,338	837	-	(196)	4,979	4,721	692	-	(158)	5,255
Voice revenue	$m	2,179		-	-	2,179	2,491		-	-	2,491
Data revenue	$m	1,734		-	-	1,734	1,787		-	-	1,787
Other revenue	$m	425		-	(8)	417	443		-	(6)	437
EBITDA	$m	2,115	436	(123)	-	2,428	2,336	344	(105)	-	2,575
EBITDA margin	%	48.8%	52.1%			48.8%	49.5%	49.8%			49.0%
Depreciation and amortisation	$m	(760)	(18)	(10)	-	(788)	(794)	(17)	(7)	-	(818)
Operating profit	$m	1,219	405	16	-	1,640	1,435	318	4	-	1,757

 

 

 

 

Risk factors

The Group's business and industry in which it operates together with all other information contained in this document, including, in particular, the risk factors summarised below. Additional risks and uncertainties relating to the Group that are currently unknown to the Group, or those the Group currently deems immaterial, may, individually or cumulatively, also have a material adverse impact on the Group's business, results of operations and financial position.

Summary of principal risks

The Group continually monitors its external and internal environment to identify risks which have the ability to impact its operations or the achievement of its objectives. This year, the Group principal risks now reflect risks related to geo-political uncertainties and adverse macro-economic environments.

1.    We operate in a competitive environment with the potential for aggressive competition by existing players, or the entry of new players, which could both put a downward pressure on prices, adversely affecting our revenue and profitability.

2.    Failure to innovate through simplifying the customer experience, developing adequate digital touchpoints in line with changing customer needs and competitive landscape could lead to loss of customers and market share.

3.    Global geopolitical and regional tensions have the potential to impact our business directly and indirectly due to the interconnectedness of the global supply chain. Relatedly, adverse macroeconomic conditions such as rising inflation and increased cost of living not only puts pressure on the disposable income of our customers but also increases the cost of inputs for our business negatively impacting sales and profitability.

4.    Cybersecurity threats through internal or external sabotage or system vulnerabilities could potentially result in customer data breaches and/or service downtimes.

5.    Adverse changes in our external business environment and macro-economic conditions such as supply chain disruptions, increase in global commodity prices and inflationary pressures could lead to a significant increase in our operating cost structure while also negatively impacting the disposable income of consumers. These adverse economic conditions therefore not only put pressure on our profitability but also on customer usage for our services.

6.    Shortages of skilled telecommunications professionals in some markets and the inability to identify and develop successors for key leadership positions could both lead to disruptions in the execution of our corporate strategy.

7.    Our internal control environment is subject to the risk that controls may become inadequate due to changes in internal or external conditions, new accounting requirements, delays, or inaccuracies in reporting.

8.    Our ability to provide quality of service to our customers and meet quality of service (QoS) requirements depends on the robustness and resilience of our technology stack and ecosystem encompassing hardware, software, products, services, and applications and our ability to respond appropriately to any disruptions. However, telecommunications networks are subject to the risks of technical failures, aging infrastructure, human error, wilful acts of destruction or natural disasters.

9.    We operate in a diverse and dynamic legal, tax and regulatory environment. Adverse changes in the political, macro-economic and policy environment could have a negative impact on our ability to achieve our strategy. While the group makes every effort to comply with its legal and regulatory obligations in all its operating jurisdictions in line with the group's risk appetite, we are however continually faced with an uncertain and constantly evolving legal, regulatory, and policy environment in some of the markets where we operate.

10.  Our multinational footprint means we are constantly exposed to the risk of adverse currency fluctuations and the macroeconomic conditions in the markets where we operate. We derive revenue and incur costs in local currencies where we operate, but we also incur costs in foreign currencies, mainly from buying equipment and services from manufacturers and technology service providers. That means adverse movements in exchange rates between the currencies in our OpCos and the US dollar could have a negative effect on our liquidity and financial condition. In some markets, we face instances of limited supply of foreign currency within the local monetary system. This not only constrains our ability to fully benefit at Group level from strong cash generation by those OpCos but also impacts our ability to make timely foreign currency payments to our international suppliers.

Given the severity of this risk, specifically in some of our OpCos, the Group management continuously monitors the potential impact of this risk of exchange rate fluctuations based on the following methodology:

a)    Comparing the average devaluation of each currency in the markets in which the Group operates against US dollar on 3-year and 5-year historic basis and onshore forward exchange rates over a 1-year period.

b)    If either of the above devaluation is higher than 5% per annum, management selects the highest of these exchange rates.

c)    Management then uses this exchange rate to monitor the potential impact of using such rate on the Group's income statement so that the Group can actively monitor and assess the impact on the Group's financials due to exchange rate fluctuations.

Additionally, for our Nigerian operations, management uses different sensitivity analysis for scenario planning purposes which include the impact of the devaluation from the recent changes to the operations in the Nigerian Foreign Exchange (FX) market.

With respect to currency devaluation sensitivity going forward, on a 12-month basis assuming that the USD appreciation occurs at the beginning of the period, a further 1% USD appreciation across all currencies in our OpCos would have a negative impact of $45m - $47m on revenues, $21m - $22m on EBITDA and $21m - $23m on foreign exchange loss (excluding derivatives). Our largest exposure is to the Nigerian naira, for which on a similar basis, a further 1% USD appreciation would have a negative impact of $10m - $11m on revenues, $5m - $6m on EBITDA and $8.5m - $10.5m on foreign exchange loss (excluding derivatives).

This does not represent any guidance and is being used solely to illustrate the potential impact of further currency devaluation on the Group for the purpose of exchange rate risk management. The accounting under IFRS is based on exchange rates in line with the requirements of IAS 21 'The Effect of Changes in Foreign Exchange' and does not factor in the devaluation mentioned above.

Based on above-mentioned specific methodology for the identified OpCos, management evaluates specific mitigation actions based on available mechanisms in each of the geographies. For further details on such mitigation action, refer to the risk section of the Annual Report and Accounts 2022/23.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Forward looking statements

This document contains certain forward-looking statements regarding our intentions, beliefs or current expectations concerning, amongst other things, our results of operations, financial condition, liquidity, prospects, growth, strategies and the economic and business circumstances occurring from time to time in the countries and markets in which the Group operates.

These statements are often, but not always, made through the use of words or phrases such as "believe," "anticipate," "could," "may," "would," "should," "intend," "plan," "potential," "predict," "will," "expect," "estimate," "project," "positioned," "strategy," "outlook", "target" and similar expressions.

It is believed that the expectations reflected in this document are reasonable, but they may be affected by a wide range of variables that could cause actual results to differ materially from those currently anticipated.

All such forward-looking statements involve estimates and assumptions that are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual future financial condition, performance and results to differ materially from the plans, goals, expectations and results expressed in the forward-looking statements and other financial and/or statistical data within this communication.

Among the key factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements are uncertainties related to the following: the impact of competition from illicit trade; the impact of adverse domestic or international legislation and regulation; changes in domestic or international tax laws and rates; adverse litigation and dispute outcomes and the effect of such outcomes on Airtel Africa's financial condition; changes or differences in domestic or international economic or political conditions; the ability to obtain price increases and the impact of price increases on consumer affordability thresholds; adverse decisions by domestic or international regulatory bodies; the impact of market size reduction and consumer down-trading; translational and transactional foreign exchange rate exposure; the impact of serious injury, illness or death in the workplace; the ability to maintain credit ratings; the ability to develop, produce or market new alternative products and to do so profitably; the ability to effectively implement strategic initiatives and actions taken to increase sales growth; the ability to enhance cash generation and pay dividends and changes in the market position, businesses, financial condition, results of operations or prospects of Airtel Africa.

Past performance is no guide to future performance and persons needing advice should consult an independent financial adviser. The forward-looking statements contained in this document reflect the knowledge and information available to Airtel Africa at the date of preparation of this document and Airtel Africa undertakes no obligation to update or revise these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements.

No statement in this communication is intended to be, nor should be construed as, a profit forecast or a profit estimate and no statement in this communication should be interpreted to mean that earnings per share of Airtel Africa plc for the current or any future financial periods would necessarily match, exceed or be lower than the historical published earnings per share of Airtel Africa plc.

Financial data included in this document are presented in US dollars rounded to the nearest million. Therefore, discrepancies in the tables between totals and the sums of the amounts listed may occur due to such rounding. The percentages included in the tables throughout the document are based on numbers calculated to the nearest $1,000 and therefore minor rounding differences may result in the tables. Growth metrics are provided on a constant currency basis unless otherwise stated. The Group has presented certain financial information on a constant currency basis. This is calculated by translating the results for the current financial year and prior financial year at a fixed 'constant currency' exchange rate, which is done to measure the organic performance of the Group. Growth rates for our reporting regions and service segments are provided in constant currency as this better represents the performance of the business.

 

 

 

 

Airtel Africa plc

Results for the year ended 31 March 2024

Consolidated Financial Statements

Consolidated Statement of Comprehensive Income

(All amounts are in US$ millions unless stated otherwise)

 

	Notes		For the year ended
			31 March 2024		31 March 2023
Income
Revenue	5		4,979		5,255
Other income			21		13
			5,000		5,268
Expenses
Network operating expenses			926		1,027
Access charges			314		410
License fee and spectrum usage charges			244		241
Employee benefits expense			301		287
Sales and marketing expenses			576		521
Impairment loss on financial assets			5		14
Other operating expenses			206		193
Depreciation and amortisation			788		818
			3,360		3,511
Operating profit			1,640		1,757
Finance costs
- Derivative and foreign exchange losses
Nigerian naira			1,070		224
Other currencies			189		114
- Other finance costs			482		414
Finance income			(38)		(29)
Share of profit of associate and joint venture accounted for using       equity method			(0)		(0)
(Loss)/profit before tax			(63)		1,034
Income tax expense	7		26		284
(Loss)/profit for the year			(89)		750
(Loss)/profit before tax (as presented above)			(63)		1,034
Add: Exceptional items	6		807		-
Underlying profit before tax			744		1,034
(Loss)/profit after tax (as presented above)			(89)		750
Add/(Less): Exceptional items	6		549		(161)
Underlying profit after tax			460		589
	Notes		For the year ended
			31 March 2024		31 March 2023
(Loss)/profit for the year (continued from previous page)			(89)		750
Other comprehensive income ('OCI')
Items to be reclassified subsequently to profit or loss:
Loss due to foreign currency translation differences			(1,175)		(350)
Gain on debt instruments at fair value through other comprehensive				0		-
Tax on above        Share of OCI of associate and joint venture accounted for using     equity method			2 (0)		(3)  -
			(1,173)		(353)
Items not to be reclassified subsequently to profit or loss:
Re-measurement gain/(loss) on defined benefit plans			0		(0)
Tax on above			(0)		0
			(0)		0
Other comprehensive loss for the year			(1,173)		(353)
Total comprehensive (loss)/income for the year			(1,262)		397
(Loss)/profit for the year attributable to:			(89)		750
Owners of the company			(165)		663
Non-controlling interests			76		87
Other comprehensive loss for the year attributable to:			(1,173)		(353)
Owners of the company			(1,141)		(341)
Non-controlling interests			(32)		(12)
Total comprehensive (loss)/income for the year attributable to:			(1,262)		397
Owners of the company			(1,306)		322
Non-controlling interests			44		75
(Loss)/earnings per share
Basic	8		(4.4 cents)		17.7 cents
Diluted	8		(4.4 cents)		17.7 cents