….Airtel Nigeria accounts for 40% of telecom group’s revenue
Airtel Africa Plc, has released its full year audited financial statement which indicated that the telecommunications group grew its revenue from $3.89 billion in 2021 to $4.71 billion in the current period, representing a 21.3% growth year-on-year.
The financial statement showed that the telecom group’s net profit for the full year period rose by 82% from $451 million in 2021 to $755 million.
The telecom group’s management attributed the increase in net profit to a higher operating profit compared to the prior period as the operating profit grew by 37% from $1.12 billion to $1.54 billion in the current period.
However, in Q4 2021, the company reported a 19% growth in revenue of $1.22 billion from $1.04 billion in the corresponding period of 2020, while profit after tax in the same quarter, appreciated by 56% to stand at $240 million.
Mainly, the key highlights of the audited financial statement showed that the telecom group reported double-digit growth across all key services; as Voice revenue, data revenue and mobile revenue which grew by 13.2%, 31.8%, and 37.9%, respectively.
In addition, the FY 2022 financial results indicated that the company’s revenue from Nigeria made up roughly 40% of the total revenue, thereby contributing the highest, compared to East Africa and Francophone Africa.
Specifically, in Nigeria the group’s revenue grew by 21% from $1.55 billion in the corresponding period of 2021 to $1.88 billion with data revenue growth continued to drive the growth in Nigeria, growing by 33.7%.
A further analysis of the financial performance based on Nigeria’s operations showed that telecom group’s subscriber base grew by 2.4 million despite the hiccups in the NIN-SIM linkage regulations in the first half of the year. However, there was recovery in the second half as 4 million customers were added to the existing customers.
The report further reflected that the group paid approximately $469 million tax during the year in review, appreciating by over 66%, from the prior year period while its customer base expanded to 128.4 million, growing by 8.7%, with increased penetration across mobile data and mobile money services.
Speaking on the financial results, Airtel Nigeria’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Segun Ogunsanya, said: “We have delivered strong double-digit growth in revenues across all our regions and all our key services, with improving margins driven by strong cost control, and expanding cash generation which is enabling us to continue to invest in our network and services and expand our distribution, as well as strengthening our balance sheet and increasing our returns to shareholders.
“We are connecting more customers in new and existing coverage areas and driving usage levels and ARPUs to new highs.
“We have successfully executed on a number of strategic initiatives in the year, with tower sales completed in four countries, $550m of minority investments secured for our mobile money business and a successful buyout of minorities in our Nigerian operation.
“Our receipt last month of a full PSB license in Nigeria will help us to accelerate financial inclusion in the territory and drive our mobile money business even faster”, Ogunsanya added
He promised that the company was working to improve its performance by focusing more on digitization.
