Airtel Africa Plc announced a profit before tax of $360 million for the quarter ended 30 June 2026, marking a substantial increase from $273 million recorded in the corresponding prior period. This strong performance also saw profit after tax rise to $198 million from $156 million, with basic earnings per share climbing to 4.4 cents from 3.4 cents.
The company's robust financial results were underpinned by significant revenue growth. Reported currency revenue surged 31.0% to $1.85 billion, reflecting strong contributions from mobile services, data, voice, and mobile money operations.
Management Commentary
Sunil Taldar, Chief Executive Officer of Airtel Africa, commented on the results, highlighting a pleasing performance at the start of the year. He noted that the company's focus on customer experience led to accelerated customer base growth across all business segments.
Taldar emphasized the ongoing digitization efforts, which are streamlining customer journeys, increasing digital adoption, and leveraging data and AI to enhance service delivery. This strategy aims to support a strong and sustainable growth profile for the company. He also confirmed that the accelerated investment programme remains on track, with investments brought forward into Q1 to proactively meet demand and capitalize on Africa’s digital transformation opportunities.
Revenue Drivers and Operational Growth
Airtel Africa’s Q1 2026/2027 performance was driven by continuous growth across its telecommunications and digital services businesses. This was supported by rising customer adoption and increased data consumption.
Mobile services remained the largest revenue contributor, generating $1.53 billion, an increase of 28.2% in reported currency and 19.1% in constant currency. The data business was a significant growth driver, with data revenue increasing 36.5% year-on-year to $750 million. This was bolstered by higher smartphone penetration, increased data usage, and network investment.
Smartphone penetration reached 51.0%, a 5.2 percentage point increase over the previous year, while data traffic grew 56.3% as customers adopted digital solutions. Voice revenue also recorded growth, increasing 20.1% year-on-year to $640 million. Mobile money revenue saw a substantial increase of 38.9% to $434 million, benefiting from financial inclusion efforts, with annualized transaction processing value exceeding $245 billion and customer numbers rising 23.3% to 56.5 million.
Profitability and Costs
Profitability improved as revenue growth translated into stronger operating performance. EBITDA increased 36.6% to $928 million, and the EBITDA margin improved to 50.1% from 48.0%. This was supported by the company’s cost efficiency programme, which continued to aid margin resilience despite rising energy costs and broader inflationary pressures.
Operating profit increased 40.7% to $627 million, reflecting the stronger EBITDA performance. However, finance costs rose to $269 million from $173 million. This increase was partly due to a $37 million exceptional finance cost related to the settlement of a commercial dispute in one subsidiary, alongside higher derivative and foreign exchange losses. Despite these higher finance costs, profit before tax still increased to $360 million. Tax charges rose to $162 million from $117 million, resulting in a profit after tax of $198 million. Underlying earnings remained strong, with EPS before exceptional items and derivative and foreign exchange gains increasing to 5.4 cents from 3.0 cents.
Balance Sheet and Capital Expenditure
Capital expenditure rose significantly to $389 million from $121 million, as Airtel Africa accelerated network investment to support future demand. The company's balance sheet position improved during the period, with net leverage reducing to 1.7x from 2.2x. Lease-adjusted leverage also improved to 0.5x from 0.9x, an improvement management primarily attributed to stronger EBITDA performance.
Market Reaction and Shareholder Returns
Airtel Africa Plc shares closed at N5,801.40 on July 22, 2026, showing a 0.0% movement on the day of the results release from the previous close of N5,801.40. The stock has demonstrated a strong performance in 2026, rising 155.6% year-to-date from an opening share price of N2,270.00.
Over the shorter term, Airtel Africa shares gained 33.1% in the last four weeks. The stock has appreciated 156% over six months and 151% over one year, reflecting sustained investor interest in the company’s growth outlook. Airtel Africa is currently the most valuable stock on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX), with a market capitalization of N21.8 trillion. The company also continued its shareholder return initiatives, with a share buyback programme launched during the period, repurchasing approximately 10.2 million shares for $46.6 million as of 30 June 2026.
