Airtel Africa Plc reported a quarterly pretax profit on Friday that more than doubled, as the telecoms company signed up more customers for its mobile and data services and was boosted by double-digit growth in Nigeria and East Africa. The company, which debuted on the London Stock Exchange last month, is backed by investors including SoftBank Group Corp , Warburg Pincus and Temasek Holdings (Private) Ltd. It operates in a region that has a large untapped market, while its European peers have been suffering.
Airtel Africa, a unit of India’s Bharti Airtel Ltd , said pretax profit for the first quarter ended June 30 rose to $167.4 million from $80.2 million a year earlier. “The business continues to show momentum and we are confident of delivering sustained growth across voice, data and mobile money, underpinning our medium-term aspirations for revenue and profit growth,” Chief Executive Officer Raghunath Mandava said in a statement.
Total revenue rose 6.9% to $795.9 million in the three months, boosted by a 9.3% rise in the company’s customer base to 99.7 million despite a hit from currency translation. Airtel Africa said devaluation of the Zambian Kwacha, Malawian Kwacha and Central African Franc largely drove a $23 million hit to revenue in the quarter. Up to Thursday’s close, the company’s London-listed shares had risen 3% since debut. The company’s shares also made their Nigerian debut with a flotation in Lagos earlier this month. Reuters
