Airtel Africa Posts USD 91 Million Loss in Q4 2024

New Delhi, May 9 (PTI) Bharti Airtel's Africa unit, Airtel Africa, has posted a loss of USD 91 million, about Rs 760 crore, in the fourth quarter ended March 2024 on account of tax impact and forex loss, the company said on Thursday.

Airtel Africa had posted a consolidated profit of USD 227 million in the same period a year ago.

The consolidated revenue of the company, which operates in 14 African countries, declined by 16.6 per cent to USD 1,118 million during the reported quarter from USD 1,341 million in the March 2023 quarter. The revenue was, however, up 23.1 per cent on a constant currency basis.

For the year ended on March 31, 2024, Airtel Africa posted a loss of USD 89 million while the company registered a profit of USD 750 million.

"Loss after tax of USD 89 million during the year ended 31 March 2024 was primarily impacted by the USD 549 million net of tax impact of the exceptional derivative and foreign exchange losses. Excluding these exceptional items, profit after tax for the year ended 31 March 2024 was USD 460 million," the company said.

The annual revenue of Airtel Africa declined by 5.3 per cent to USD 4,979 million during the reported fiscal from USD 5,255 million in 2022-23.

The annual revenue was 20.9 per cent higher on a constant currency basis, as per the company's statement.

"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," Airtel Africa Chief Executive Officer, Olusegun Ogunsanya said.

The mobile services revenue at the group level grew by 19.4 per cent in constant currency, driven by voice revenue growth of 11.9 per cent and data revenue growth of 29.2 per cent.

The average revenue per user (ARPU) of the company declined by 23.8 per cent to USD 2.4 during the reported quarter from USD 3.2 in the March 2023 quarter. ARPU was up 12.5 per cent during the quarter on a constant currency basis.

The total customer base of Airtel Africa grew by 9 per cent to 152.7 million at the end of the reported fiscal on a year-over-year (YoY) basis. The data customers of the company grew by 17.8 per cent to 64.4 million on a YoY basis from 54.6 million a year ago.

Mobile Money revenue grew by 32.8 per cent in constant currency, with a strong performance in East Africa.

The net debt of Airtel Africa was reduced to USD 3,505 million during the reported fiscal from USD 3,524 million on a YoY basis.