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Business
Gulveen Aulakh

Airtel Africa posts 56% rise in Mar quarter profit

Average revenue per user, a metric of profitability in telecom services, was $3.2, up 13.5% on-year in FY22 and 9.5% on-year for the quarter ended March 2022.

The Bharti Airtel subsidiary clocked an 82% increase in net profit to $755 million for FY22 compared to the previous financial year, while revenues grew by 20.6% to $4.7 billion in FY22 from $3.9 billion in FY21, the company said in a statement Wednesday.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) were up 22.9% on-year to $608 million in the quarter ended March, while it was up 29% on-year to $2.3 billion for the full financial year ended March 2022. Margins also saw equal traction upwards to 49.7% in Q4FY22 versus 47.7% in Q4FY21. For the full year, margins rose to 49% in FY22 from 46.1% in FY21.

Operating free cash flow increased by 35% in Q4FY22 to $384 million and by 40.5% for the full year to $1.65 billion.

“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," said Segun Ogunsanya, chief executive officer of Airtel Africa.

“We are connecting more customers in new and existing coverage areas and driving usage levels and ARPUs to new highs," he added.

Average revenue per user, a metric of profitability in telecom services, was $3.2, up 13.5% on-year in FY22 and 9.5% on-year for the quarter ended March 2022. The number of customers increased by 8.7% in FY22 to 128.4 million.

The company added that it had executed on a number of strategic initiatives in the year including with tower sales completed in four countries, $550m of minority investments secured for mobile money business and a successful buyout of minorities in the Nigerian operation.

“Our receipt last month of a full PSB licence in Nigeria will help us to accelerate financial inclusion in the territory and drive our mobile money business even faster," Ogunsanya added.

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