AIRTEL SUFFERS $549M FX LOSS OVER CURRENCY DEVALUATIONS IN NIGERIA, MALAWI
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The second-biggest telecom provider in Nigeria, Airtel Africa Plc, reported a $89 million loss after taxes for the entire year that ended in March 2024. The company attributed the decline to a $549 million significant foreign currency loss.
According to the telco’s analysis, which was made public on Thursday, the devaluations of the Malawian kwacha in November 2023 and the Nigerian naira in June 2023 were the reasons behind the loss.
The company, which has operations in 14 African nations, stated that its quarterly earnings had been significantly damaged by foreign exchange losses.
“Loss after tax was $89m, primarily impacted by significant foreign exchange headwinds, resulting in a $549m exceptional loss net of tax following the Nigerian naira devaluation in June 2023 and the Malawian kwacha devaluation in November 2023,” the report stated.
The company witnessed growth in constant currency revenue, marking an increase of 20.9 per cent for the full year, with growth accelerating to 23.1 per cent in Q4’23.
Nigerian constant currency revenue reached 34.2 per cent growth in Q4’23 despite challenging conditions. However, reported currency revenues saw a decline of 5.3 per cent to $4,979m, primarily due to the impact of currency devaluation, particularly in Nigeria.
The Chief Executive Officer of Airtel Africa, Olusegun Ogunsanya, stated, “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 have been key.
“Furthermore, our rigorous approach to de-risking our balance sheet and our capital allocation priorities has materially reduced the risks that the currency devaluation has had on our business,” part of his comments on the report stated.
Other highlights in the report include that the total customer base grew by 9.0 per cent to 152.7 million.
The company said it will continue to bridge the digital divide with a 17.8 per cent increase in data customers to 64.4 million and a 20.8 per cent increase in data usage per customer.
Across the group mobile services revenue grew by 19.4 per cent in constant currency, driven by voice revenue growth of 11.9 per cent and data revenue growth of 29.2 per cent.
Mobile Money revenue grew by 32.8 per cent in constant currency, with a continued strong performance in East Africa.
Meanwhile, the management of the company will host an analyst and investor conference call at 1:00 p.m. UK time (BST) on Thursday, May 9, 2024, including a question-and-answer session.
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