Telecoms company Airtel Africa has reported a loss after tax of $89m (£71m) despite a huge uptick in its customer base after foreign currency movements wiped a billion dollars off its balance sheet.
After reporting a profit before tax of $750m (£601m) last year, the company swung to the loss following devaluations in the Malawian kwacha and the Nigerian naira, as well as movements in the Zambian kwacha and the Kenyan shilling.
Airtel Africa lost $549m (£440m) in Nigeria alone after two devaluations for the naira last year.
In constant currency, revenue in Nigeria grew by 34.2 per cent in the fourth quarter and 23.1 per cent across the company’s portfolio.
Airtel said that revenues and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) for this year don’t reflect the full impact of the currency movements as the devaluations occurred at various stages during the year. “As a result, the next financial year’s reported currency results will continue to reflect the currency headwinds experienced during full-year 24,” it said.
Still, the company said EBITDA margins were “resilient.”
Overall EBITDA declined by 5.7% to £1.95bn in the year, but would have risen by 21.3 per cent had currencies remained stable.
The company’s consumer base grew by nine per cent to 152.7m over the financial year, while data usage per customer grew by 20.8 per cent
Capital expenditure was below guidance at £737m (£590m) due to deferred investments in data centres.
Airtel Africa has approved a share buyback programme of up to $100m ($80m), which commenced at the start of March and will be completed this time next year.
Olusegun Ogunsanya, Chief executive officer, 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 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,” Ogunsanya added.
“We will continue to focus on reducing our exposure to currency volatility… The growth opportunity that exists across our markets remains compelling, and we are well positioned to deliver against this opportunity.”