Airtel customers’ base hits 111.5m as profit rises in Q2 of 2020

Airtel Africa on Friday posted an impressive Q2 2020 financial statement with its customers’ base hitting 111.5 million, and a rise in operating profit to $210 million up by 12.9% in spite of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the report published on Friday, revenue increased by 6.9% to $851m, with constant currency revenue growth of 13.0%. Constant currency revenue growth was recorded across all key business segments, with voice revenue up by 2.2%, data by 35.7% and mobile money by 26.3%. Free cash flow was $96m compared to $62m in the same period last year.

Raghunath Mandava, CEO, Airtel Africa said during the last quarter the telecom giant’s business was impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, as restrictions on movements of people and ways of socializing were introduced to contain the spread of infection.

“We focused on expanding and maintaining our network to ensure it could cope with increasing demand, we kept our distribution up and running by increasing the penetration of digital recharges and stock levels, and we expanded our home broadband solutions to ensure customers could work and access entertainment remotely.”

“The outlook remains uncertain, particularly regarding a so-called potential second wave of infections and the actions governments will decide to take in that event. However, these results are further evidence of the growth opportunities our markets offer and the effectiveness of our strategy to focus on winning customers, investing in our network and expanding our voice, data and mobile money businesses.”

The stock is presently trading at N348 with a market capitalization at N1.308 trillion, dividend yield at 3.38%, price/earnings ratio at 10.63 at the time this report was drafted.