Airtel Africa Q3 net down, revenue up

Bharti Airtel's Africa unit, Airtel Africa, on Tuesday posted about 21 per cent fall in net profit for the third quarter ended December 2019 at $103 million (around Rs 735 crore) while its revenue was up 14 per cent.

Airtel Africa's net profit for quarter ended December 2019 was 20.9 per cent lower in constant currency terms at $103 million on a year-on-year basis.

However, the revenue for the quarter at $883 million was 14.2 per cent higher (on constant currency basis) and 12.8 per cent higher (on reported basis), helped by broad-based growth across voice, data and mobile money.

These are the company's third quarterly financial results since raising $750 million through its initial public offering (IPO) in June last year.

"Revenue increased by 9.9 per cent to $2,522 million for the nine-month period ended December 31, 2019, with Q3 FY20 revenue growth increasing to 12.8 per cent," the statement added.

Growth was recorded across all services, with revenue in voice, data and mobile money up by 3.9 per cent, 39 per cent and 40.4 per cent, respectively, in constant currency.

Airtel Africa CEO Raghunath Mandava said: "Revenue growth accelerated in Q3 to 14.2 per cent as a result of improved performance in the Rest of Africa, supported by solid results in Nigeria and East Africa. This is now the eighth consecutive quarter that we have delivered double digit revenue growth and EBITDA margin expansion in constant currency."

Airtel Africa said that the group's parent company has raised $3 billion in capital through a mix of of qualified institutional equity placement and convertible bond offerings.

The firm also said that these activities have "reduced the level of uncertainty about the ability of the group's intermediate parent company to comply" with the recent Supreme Court judgement on statutory dues.

"As a result, the directors have concluded that the previously highlighted material uncertainty around the group's ability to continue as a going concern no longer exists and that the group has adequate committed and non-committed facilities to operate as a going concern," it added.

The difference between reported currency and constant currency growth rates is on account of currency movements.