Bharti Airtel-owned Airtel Africa on Thursday reported a $104-million loss in the January-March quarter, significantly up from the $6-million loss in the preceding quarter. The loss expanded largely due to foreign exchange losses amid devaluation of Nigeria and Malawi currency.
In the year-ago period, the company reported a net profit of $195 million.
The fall in revenues also weighed on the bottomline during the quarter. Revenue from operations fell 9.7% sequentially to $1.1 billion from $1.2 billion. On a year-on-year basis, the revenue fell 17% owing to currency devaluation.
In a statement, the company said it has approved a buyback of shares worth $100 million over a period of 12 months. During March, the company purchased 7.4 million shares for a total consideration of $9 million.
“Demand remains resilient, highlighting the vital nature of the voice, data and mobile money services we provide to our customers across the region, and has resulted in a strong 20.2% constant currency revenue growth over the period, with an increase in Ebitda margins,” Olusegun Ogunsanya, group CEO of Airtel Africa, said.
“We continue to be well-positioned to deliver on the attractive growth opportunities our markets offer and despite the challenge of rising diesel prices, ongoing currency devaluation and inflationary pressures across some of our markets, we remain focussed on margin resilience,” Ogunsanya added.
During the quarter, Airtel Africa added 1.5 million subscribers, taking its total base to 152.7 million as of March end. The company’s average revenue per user (Arpu) at $2.6 was unchanged sequentially, but rose 11% y-o-y.
Data usage per customer on the company’s network grew 4% sequentially to 5,873 MB. Voice usage per customer fell 1.1% q-o-q to 285 minutes.
Owing to currency headwinds and inflationary pressure, Ebitda margins fell 2.5 percentage points sequentially to 46.5%.
Net debt in the January-March quarter was up 6.8% sequentially to $3.5 billion.