Airtel Africa Q4 net loss at $91 mln on forex woes

Bharti Airtel’s Africa Business reported a net loss of $91 million for the fiscal fourth quarter, stung by significant foreign exchange headwinds amid currency devaluation in Nigeria and Malawi, and fall in revenue.

In a statement Thursday, Airtel Africa said the board has approved a share buyback programme of up to $100 million over a period of 12 months. The company purchased 7.4 million shares for a total consideration of $9 million in March 2024.

Revenue for the quarter ended March 2024 fell 17% year-on-year, and 16.6% sequentially, to $1.11 billion due to the impact of currency devaluation, particularly in Nigeria.

Net finance cost for the March quarter at $142 million, was lower by 30% on-year and around 60% sequentially. Total net finance costs for FY24 jumped 24% year-on-year to $896 million.

“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,” said Olusegun Ogunsanya, Chief executive officer, Airtel Africa, in a statement.

He added that the rigorous approach to de-risking its balance sheet and its capital allocation priorities has materially reduced the risks that the currency de-valuation has had on its business, including reduction of US dollar debt across the business and accumulation of cash at the HoldCo level to fully cover the outstanding debt due.

“The growth opportunity that exists across our markets remains compelling, and we are well positioned to deliver against this opportunity. We will continue to focus on margin improvement from the recent level as we progress through zthe year,” the executive said.

Airtel Africa’s ARPU (average revenue per user), a key performance metric, remained unchanged at $2.6 sequentially, but rose 11.1% yearly. The customer base across its 14 markets rose 1% sequentially and 9% on-year to 152.7 million.

Data revenue increased 6.7% sequentially and 31.1% on-year to $492 million.

Net debt in the fiscal fourth quarter was up 6.8% sequentially, to $3.5 billion.