Airtel Africa Plc Propse Final Dividend of 3.57 Cents per Share

Airtel Africa Plc recently proposed a final dividend of 3.57 cents per share for the year ending December 31, 2023.

Even though the company experienced some challenges along the way, its results, which could be seen on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited, showed a good performance with underlying solid momentum.

Airtel Africa Plc's end-of-year audited results revealed that revenue declined by 5.3% to $4.979 billion from $5.255 billion, reflecting the impact of currency devaluation, particularly in Nigeria.

EBITDA margins remained resilient at 48.8% despite currency headwinds and inflationary pressure on our cost base. Loss after tax stood at $89 million, primarily impacted by significant foreign exchange headwinds. This resulted in a $549 million exceptional loss net of tax following the Nigerian naira devaluation in June 2023 and Q4 and the Malawian kwacha devaluation in November 2023. The report stated that basic EPS of negative 4.4 cents compared to 17.7 cents last year.

The company's total customer base increased by 9.0% to 152.7 million, with 20.7% growth in mobile money subscribers. Transaction value rose 38.2% in constant currency, with an annual transaction value of over $112 billion in reported currency.

It was also reported that the company’s board recommended a final dividend of 3.57 cents per share for a total dividend of 5.95 cents per share for 2024.

The chief executive officer of Airtel Africa, Olusegun Ogunsanya, said, " 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 reflects not only the opportunity inherent across our markets but also the resilience of our affordable offerings despite the inflationary pressure many of our customers have experienced.”

He pointed out that “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 capital allocation priorities has materially reduced the risks that currency devaluation has had on our business.

“Key initiatives include the reduction of US dollar debt across the business and accumulating 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 program reflecting the strength of our financial position.”

Ogunsanya added, “The growth opportunity 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.”