Airtel Africa Q3 net up 54% on-yr to $180 mn, but down 6.25% on-qtr on rise in finance costs

Airtel’s Africa business reported a net profit of $180 million in the fiscal third quarter, reflecting a 54% on-year jump -- though down 6.25% sequentially -- on the back of sharply higher finance costs on-quarter, though customer additions remained strong and data and mobile money revenues too saw decent growth.

Revenue for the quarter ended December rose 18% on-year and 5.08% sequentially to $1.219 billion, the company said Friday.

“Operationally, we have continued to execute on our network and distribution expansion plans, driving continued strong growth in average revenue per user (ARPUs) across voice, data and mobile money,” Segun Ogunsanya, Airtel Africa’s chief executive officer, said in an official statement Friday.

In a separate announcement, Airtel Africa said its “100% owned (Dutch) arm, Bharti Airtel International (Netherlands) B.V. has elected to redeem all of its 5.125% guaranteed senior notes due 2023 , aggregating to $504.91 million on March 7, 2022, ahead of its maturity inMarch 2023.

The early redemption will be made out of Group cash reserves and aligns with the continuation of Airtel Africa’s pursuit of a reduction of external foreign currency debt at the group level. Airtel Africa’s net debt around 2.5% sequentially to $3.05 billion in the quarter to December.

“In addition to the outstanding principal, the redemption price will include settlement of all outstanding accrued interest up to the redemption date, plus the applicable premium in accordance with the terms of the notes,” the company said.

Airtel Africa's CEO said the company continued to strengthen its balance sheet, with “leverage ratio now 1.4 times underlying EBITDA, thanks both to the continued increases in operating cash flow delivery and to the $550 million of cash that has now been received from minority investments into our mobile money business”.

He added that the company saw further improvement in its customer growth trends with the key Nigeria market “returning to strong customer growth after a period affected by implementation of new ‘know your customer’ requirements, posting 1.9 million net additions in the third quarter, taking total Group customer additions to 3.1 million”.