Airtel Africa to buy back $100m shares, records dip in profit

AIRTEL Africa has announced plans to buy back $100 million worth of its share from the market.

The share buyback exercise is expected to start in March and will run over 12 months.

The company, listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange, disclosed this as it announced its nine-month financial report for the period ending December 2023 on Thursday, where the records dip in its profit for the period.

The company said its Board believes that repurchasing its shares is an attractive use of its capital in light of the Group’s strong long-term growth outlook. It added that the programme will be executed using its cash reserves and under applicable securities laws and regulations.

This is as the company also reported a 99.6 percent decline in its post-tax profit to $2 million at the end of the nine months ended December 2023 from $523 million at the end of the same period in 2022.

Commenting on the company’s financial performance and the plans to buy back the company’s shares, Airtel Africa’s CEO, Segun Ogunsanya, said, “In light of our consistent strong operating performance and given current leverage, the Board intends to launch a share buy-back programme of up to $100 million, starting early March 2024 over 12 months.

“We continue to be well positioned to deliver on the attractive growth opportunities our markets offer and despite the challenge of rising diesel prices, ongoing currency devaluation and inflationary pressures across some of our markets, we remain focused on margin resilience.”

For the nine months, Airtel Africa’s total customer base grew by 9.1 percent to 151.2 million. According to the company, the penetration of mobile data and mobile money services continued to rise, driving a 22.4 percent increase in its data customers to 62.7 million and a 19.5 percent increase in mobile money customers to 37.5 million.

The company also reported that its mobile money transaction value increased by 41.3 percent in constant currency, with Q3’24 annualised transaction value of $116 billion in reported currency.

“We remain focused on the execution of our growth strategy and, combined with our strong operational execution, this has ensured that we continue to see sustained, positive growth momentum across the business, despite the inflationary and currency headwinds.

“Demand remains resilient, highlighting the vital nature of the voice, data and mobile money services we provide to our customers across the region and has resulted in a strong 20.2 percent constant currency revenue growth over the period, with an increase in EBITDA margins. This strong operating performance has limited the impact that currency movements have had on the Group.

“In this regard, whilst further currency devaluation, particularly in Nigeria, has weighed on our reported financial performance, it will not affect the execution of our growth plans,” Ogunsanya stated.