Data revenue lifts Airtel Africa’s operating profit by 22.8 per cent

Airtel Africa, a subsidiary of India’s telecommunication conglomerate Bharti Airtel, on Thursday reported full year financial results having posted an operating profit of $901 million up by 22.8 per cent from734m the previous year.

The jump in operating profit was attributed to an increase in revenue from mobile data as well as mobile money revenue, which rose, by 36.1 per cent and 32.9 per cent respectively.

Voice revenue grew at a flat rate of 2.9 per cent. Despite the growth in operating revenue, there was a 4.4 per cent drop in net income because of increased financial costs because of the June 2019 IPO.

IPO & FTSE250 index inclusion.

In June 2019, the company listed on the London Stock Exchange by floating 637 million shares for institutional investors outside Nigeria and 39 million for Nigerian investors.

In addition to the IPO listing, its Malawi subsidiary was also went public through a secondary listing having offered 20 per cent of the issued shares to the public.

Apart from a series of successful IPOs, the company was also included in the FTSE250 index in September 2019. A stock index tracks stock prices of selected stocks, which is normally used to calculate the market performance.

Going forward, the company has acquired new spectrums and with the additional capital, the company is set to implement its expansion strategy.