Airtel Africa Confirms IPO Plans For Airtel Money On Track

Bharti Airtel Ltd.'s African arm, Airtel Africa PLC, said on Thursday that it is committed to its plans for the initial public offering of Airtel Money, its mobile money unit, but refused to delve into the details of the offering.

"We are committed to the IPO timeline of July. We still have six months to figure out the details for it," Sunil Taldar, chief executive officer of Airtel Africa, said. "Our overall priority remains to invest in the strong growth of the business."

Taldar said the company is looking to increase prices for Nigeria and the decision had been taken after a rigorous process, adding that it, however, does not know how the competition would react to this move. "Nigeria is a very strong growth opportunity for us and we continue to invest in the country."

Commenting on growth trends for the company, Taldar highlighted that the growth of Airtel Africa's mobile services revenue had been robust. Following the successes of the cost-efficiency programme, the Ebitda margin expanded to 46.9% in the third quarter, he added.

Airtel Africa's net profit increased more than 10 times on a year-on-year basis in the third quarter of this financial year. The company posted a net profit of $169 million in the quarter ended December, compared to $15 million in the same quarter of the previous fiscal.

Its revenue increased 2% to $1,268 million during the reported quarter from $1,238 million in the December 2023 quarter despite a decline in average revenue per user.

The total customer base of Airtel Africa grew 7.9% to 163.1 million in the December 2024 quarter from 151.2 million a year ago.

The company also launched a second share buyback programme, which will return up to $100 million to shareholders. "This reflects the board's confidence in the continued growth potential, the strength of the balance sheet and consistent cash accretion at the holding company level," the company said in an exchange filing.

"We remain committed to investing for the future by expanding our distribution and network to ensure that we capture this significant growth opportunity on offer. Despite the challenging environment for many of our customers, we continue to see strong demand for our services as we enable connectivity and facilitate access to the digital economy," Taldar said in a statement.