Airtel Africa has said it recorded a loss of $91 million, about Rs 760 crore, in the fourth quarter ended March 2024 caused by taxes and Nigeria’s forex crisis.
The consolidated revenue of the company, which operates in 14 African countries, declined by 16.6% to $1,118 million during the reported quarter from $1,341 million in the March 2023 quarter. The revenue was, however, up 23.1% on a constant currency basis.
For the year ended on March 31, 2024, Airtel Africa posted a loss of $89 million while the company registered a profit of $750 million.
“Loss after tax of $89 million during the year ended 31 March 2024 was primarily impacted by the $549 million net of tax impact of the exceptional derivative and foreign exchange losses. Excluding these exceptional items, profit after tax for the year ended 31 March 2024 was $460 million,” the company said.
The annual revenue of Airtel Africa declined by 5.3% to $4,979 million during the reported fiscal from $5,255 million in 2022-23.
The annual revenue was 20.9% higher on a constant currency basis, as per the company’s statement.
“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 is a reflection not only of the opportunity that is inherent across our markets but also the resilience of our affordable offerings despite the inflationary pressure many of our customers have experienced,” Airtel Africa Chief Executive Officer, Olusegun Ogunsanya said.
The mobile services revenue at the group level grew by 19.4% in constant currency, driven by voice revenue growth of 11.9% and data revenue growth of 29.2%.
The average revenue per user of the company declined by 23.8% to $2.4 during the reported quarter from $3.2 in the March 2023 quarter. ARPU was up 12.5% during the quarter on a constant currency basis.
The total customer base of Airtel Africa grew by 9% to 152.7 million at the end of the reported fiscal on a year-over-year basis. The data customers of the company grew by 17.8% to 64.4 million on a YoY basis from 54.6 million a year ago.
Mobile Money revenue grew by 32.8% in constant currency, with a strong performance in East Africa.
The net debt of Airtel Africa was reduced to $3,505 million during the reported fiscal from $3,524 million on a YoY basis.
