REG - Airtel Africa PLC - Half-year Report
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RNS Number : 0192F Airtel Africa PLC 28 October 2025
Airtel Africa plc
Results for half year ended 30 September 2025
28 October 2025
Consistently strong results reflecting sustained demand and continued
execution of our strategy
Operating highlights
· The accelerating growth in our customer base across all segments
underscores the success of our strategy which centres on the customer
experience with the Airtel Spam alert highlighting our approach to innovation,
targeted capex maximising revenue generation and the expansion of digital
offerings driving myAirtel app uptake. Our total customer base of 173.8
million increased 11.0%, with data customers of 78.1 million showing
accelerated growth of 18.4%. Smartphone penetration increased another 3.8% to
46.8%, with data ARPU's growing by 16.8% in constant currency(( 1 )) primarily
reflecting the 45.0% increase in data traffic across the network.
· Airtel Money is driving digital adoption and strengthening the
ecosystem to advance financial inclusion. This is also evident in the
acceleration in customer growth to 20%, bringing the total customer base to
49.8 million. Annualised total processed value 2 (TPV) for Q2'26 surpassed
$193bn - a 35.9% increase - reflecting both the expanding customer base and a
strong focus on enhancing engagement through ongoing innovation. These efforts
contributed to an 11% increase in constant currency ARPU.
· Our commitment to delivering a great customer experience is supported
by ongoing investment in our network with the rollout of over 2,350 new sites
to over 38,300 sites and an expansion of our fibre network by approx. 4,000
kms to over 81,000 kms. This investment continues to drive increased data
capacity across the region as overall population coverage reached 81.5% - an
increase of 0.7% from a year ago, with 98.5% of sites being 4G enabled.
Financial performance
· Revenues of $2,982m saw strong growth of 24.5% in constant currency
and 25.8% in reported currency as currency appreciation benefitted reported
currency performance. Currency appreciation in Q2'26 has seen reported
currency revenue growth of 29.1% versus 24.2% growth in constant currency. The
constant currency revenue growth reflects the consistent execution of our
strategy, supported by tariff adjustments in Nigeria and continued strong
growth momentum in Francophone Africa.
· Across the Group, mobile services revenue grew by 23.1% in constant
currency, driven by voice revenue growth of 13.2% and data revenue growth of
37.0%. Data revenues of $1,161m has now surpassed voice as the biggest
component of revenue for the Group. Mobile money revenues continue to benefit
from its increased scale and higher levels of engagement to deliver a 30.2%
growth in constant currency.
· EBITDA grew by 33.2% in reported currency to $1,447m with
EBITDA margins expanding further to 48.5% from 45.8% in the prior period
driven by continued operating momentum and sustained benefits from our cost
efficiency programme. Q2'26 EBITDA margins reached 49.0%, up from 46.4% in the
prior year.
· Profit after tax of $376m improved from $79m in the prior period. The
prior period was significantly impacted by derivative and foreign exchange
losses, primarily in Nigeria, while the current period benefitted from a $90m
gain largely arising from Nigerian naira appreciation during the current
quarter (Q2'26) and the Central African franc (CFA) appreciation during the
previous quarter (Q1'26).
· Basic EPS of 8.3 cents compares to 0.8 cents in the prior period,
predominantly reflecting the growth in operating profit and derivative and
foreign exchange gains in the current period compared to losses in the prior
period. EPS before exceptional items increased from 4.9 cents in the prior
period to 8.3 cents, largely reflecting the increased operating profits and
derivative and foreign exchange gains in the current period.
Capital allocation
· Capex of $318m was in-line with the prior period. Capex guidance for
FY'26 has been increased to between $875m and $900m as we look to accelerate
our ability to capitalise on the significant opportunity across our markets.
· We continued with our debt localisation programme aimed at reducing
our foreign currency debt exposure with around 95% of our OpCo debt (excl.
lease liabilities) now in local currency, up from 89% a year ago.
· Leverage has improved from 2.3x to 2.1x, with lease-adjusted leverage
also improving to 0.8x from 1.0x a year ago, primarily driven by the
improvement in EBITDA.
· The Board has declared an interim dividend of 2.84 cents per share,
an increase of 9.2% in line with our progressive dividend policy. The $100m
share buy-back programme remains on track to complete on or before 31 March
2026.
Sunil Taldar, chief executive officer, on the trading update:
"Our strategy has been focussed on providing a superior customer experience
and the strength of these results is testament to the initiatives that we have
been implementing across the business. Digital innovation is a core focus, and
we're pleased to see the growing adoption of MyAirtel app as we seek to deepen
customer engagement and simplify the customer journey. Furthermore, our
network continues to scale as we build additional capacity to facilitate the
rise in both digital and financial inclusion. The increase in smartphone
penetration to 46.8% reflects the substantial demand for data services across
our markets but also highlights the scale of the opportunity to further
develop the digital economy.
Airtel Money continues to gain momentum, with our customer base nearing 50
million and annualised total processed value approaching $200bn, up over 35%
year-on-year. The acceleration in customer growth and continued growth in
engagement on the platform reflects our success in driving digital adoption
and innovation to enhance the ecosystem. The preparation for the IPO remains
on course for a listing in the first half of 2026.
The strength of our revenue performance - up 24.5% in constant currency - and
further cost efficiency initiatives has continued to support a further
increase in EBITDA margins to 49% in Q2'26, and we'll continue to focus on
further incremental margin improvements, subject to macroeconomic stability.
This strong performance gives us the confidence to increase our capex guidance
for this financial year to between $875m and $900m, as we accelerate our
investments to capture the full potential across our markets and deliver
long-term value for all stakeholders."
GAAP measures
(Half-year ended)
Description Sep-25 Sep-24 Reported
currency
$m $m change
Revenue 2,982 2,370 25.8%
Operating profit 959 706 35.9%
Profit after tax 376 79 375.3%
Basic EPS ($ cents) 8.3 0.8 908.6%
Net cash generated from operating activities 1,388 979 41.8%
Alternative performance measures (APM) 3 (#_ftn3)
(Half-year ended)
Description Sep-25 Sep-24 Reported Constant
currency
currency
$m $m change change
Revenue 2,982 2,370 25.8% 24.5%
EBITDA 1,447 1,087 33.2% 31.5%
EBITDA margin 48.5% 45.8% 268 bps 258 bps
EPS before exceptional items ($ cents) 8.3 4.9 69.9%
Operating free cash flow 1,129 771 46.5%
About Airtel Africa
Airtel Africa is a leading provider of telecommunications and mobile money
services, with operations in 14 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Airtel
Africa provides an integrated offer to its subscribers, including mobile
voice and data services as well as mobile money services both nationally and
internationally.
The company's strategy is focused on providing a great customer experience
across the entire footprint, enabling our corporate purpose of transforming
lives across Africa.
Enquiries
Airtel Africa - investor relations
Alastair Jones +44 7464 830 011
Investor.relations@africa.airtel.com +44 207 493 9315
(mailto:Investor.relations@africa.airtel.com)
Hudson Sandler
Nick Lyon
Emily Dillon
airtelafrica@hudsonsandler.com (mailto:airtelafrica@hudsonsandler.com) +44 207 796 4133
Conference call
Management will host an analyst and investor conference call at 13:00pm UK
time (BST) on Tuesday 28 October 2025, including a 'Question-and-Answer'
session.
To receive an invitation with the dial in numbers to participate in the event,
please register beforehand using the following link:
Conference call registration link
(https://services.choruscall.eu/DiamondPassRegistration/register?confirmationNumber=6164077&linkSecurityString=ed5e47f4d)
Key consolidated financial information
Description Unit of measure Half year ended Quarter ended
Sep-25 Sep-24 Reported currency Constant currency Sep-25 Sep-24 Reported currency Constant currency
change %
change %
change %
change %
Profit and loss summary
Revenue (1) $m 2,982 2,370 25.8% 24.5% 1,567 1,214 29.1% 24.2%
Voice revenue $m 1,100 960 14.5% 13.2% 567 484 17.2% 12.6%
Data revenue $m 1,161 844 37.5% 37.0% 612 435 40.7% 36.0%
Mobile money revenue (2) $m 623 466 33.9% 30.2% 333 244 36.5% 30.1%
Other revenue $m 227 205 10.8% 11.1% 119 105 12.8% 9.8%
Expenses $m (1,549) (1,295) 19.6% 18.7% (807) (654) 23.4% 19.3%
EBITDA (3) $m 1,447 1,087 33.2% 31.5% 768 564 36.2% 30.5%
EBITDA margin % 48.5% 45.8% 268 bps 258 bps 49.0% 46.4% 256 bps 236 bps
Depreciation and amortisation $m (488) (381) 28.2% 27.8% (255) (193) 32.0% 27.8%
Operating profit $m 959 706 35.9% 33.6% 513 371 38.3% 32.0%
Other finance cost - net of finance income (4) $m (304) (297) 2.2% (131) (158) (17.0%)
Finance cost - exceptional items (5) $m - (231) (100.0%) - (109) (100.0%)
Total finance cost $m (304) (528) (42.6%) (131) (267) (51.0%)
Net monetary (loss)/gain relating to hyperinflationary accounting $m (0) - 1 -
Profit before tax (6) $m 656 178 269.3% 383 104 268.6%
Tax $m (280) (179) 56.9% (164) (94) 75.2%
Tax - exceptional items (5) $m - 80 (100.0%) - 38 (100.0%)
Total tax charge $m (280) (99) 184.2% (164) (56) 193.8%
Profit after tax $m 376 79 375.3% 219 48 352.8%
Non-controlling interest $m (73) (48) 49.8% (42) (24) 75.6%
Profit attributable to owners of the company - before exceptional items $m 303 182 66.6% 177 95 85.5%
Profit attributable to owners of the company $m 303 31 888.9% 177 24 628.0%
EPS - before exceptional items cents 8.3 4.9 69.9% 4.9 2.6 88.7%
Basic EPS cents 8.3 0.8 908.6% 4.9 0.6 653.6%
Weighted average number of shares million 3,654 3,727 (1.9%) 3,648 3,717 (1.8%)
Capex $m 318 316 0.6% 197 169 16.6%
Operating free cash flow $m 1,129 771 46.5% 571 395 44.6%
Net cash generated from operating activities $m 1,388 979 41.8% 820 565 45.1%
Net debt $m 5,512 5,155 5,512 5,155
Leverage (net debt to EBITDA) times 2.1x 2.3x 2.1x 2.3x
Lease-adjusted leverage times 0.8x 1.0x 0.8x 1.0x
Return on capital employed (7) % 20.3% 19.8% 48 bps 20.0% 21.8% (183) bps
Operating KPIs
ARPU $ 2.9 2.6 14.8% 13.7% 3.1 2.6 17.3% 12.8%
Total customer base million 173.8 156.6 11.0% 173.8 156.6 11.0%
Data customer base million 78.1 66.0 18.4% 78.1 66.0 18.4%
Mobile money customer base million 49.8 41.5 20.0% 49.8 41.5 20.0%
All commentary in the footnotes refers to the half year ended 30 September
2025 and the prior period (30 September 2024), unless otherwise stated.
(1) Revenue includes inter-segment eliminations of $129m and $105m for
the prior period.
(2) Mobile money revenue post inter-segment eliminations with mobile
services were $494m and $361m for the prior period.
(3) EBITDA includes other income of $14m and $12m for the prior
period.
(4) Other finance cost: net of finance income includes derivative and
foreign exchange gain of $90m in the current period and a loss of $29m in the
prior period which has not been treated as exceptional items.
(5) Exceptional items in the prior period relates to derivative and
foreign exchange losses due to the devaluation of the Nigerian naira, which
resulted in an exceptional tax gain of $80m.
(6) Profit before tax in current period includes 'Share of profit of
associate and joint venture' of $1m.
(7) Return on capital employed (ROCE) at 20.0% in Q2'26 is lower
compared to prior period (Q2'25 was 21.8%), despite the increase in operating
profits, due to an increase in average capital employed resulting from the
tower contract renewals as previously disclosed.
Financial review for the half year ended 30 September 2025
Revenue
Group revenue in reported currency increased by 25.8% to $2,982m, with constant currency growth of 24.5%. Reported currency revenue growth at a premium to constant currency growth reflects currency appreciation in key markets. Constant currency revenue growth was supported by tariff adjustments in Nigeria and a recovery in Francophone Africa revenue growth, which accelerated to 16.1% in the half-year. In East Africa, constant currency growth also remained strong at 19.8%.
Mobile services revenue at $2,495m grew by 23.9% in reported currency and by 23.1% in constant currency. Following strong data revenue growth of 37.0%, it has now become the Group's largest revenue contributor, surpassing voice revenues which grew by 13.2%. Mobile money revenue grew by 33.9% in reported currency and by 30.2% in constant currency, driven by strong growth both in East Africa and Francophone Africa.
Francophone Africa reported currency revenue growth was 19.2% - a premium to the constant currency revenue growth, primarily due to CFA appreciation. In East Africa, reported currency revenue grew 22.9% also higher as compared to 19.8% constant currency growth due to appreciation in Ugandan shilling and Zambian kwacha. In Nigeria, the naira devalued from a weighted average NGN/USD rate of 1,484 in the prior period to NGN/USD 1,553 in the current period resulting in 42.6% growth in reported currency compared to 49.2% in constant currency.
EBITDA 4
Reported currency EBITDA grew by 33.2% to $1,447m, while in constant currency, EBITDA increased by 31.5%. Following a more stable operating environment and the continued success of our cost efficiency programme, EBITDA margins have increased by 268bps in the current period to reach 48.5%. Q2'26 EBITDA margin also expanded, reaching 49.0%, an increase of 256bps.
Mobile services EBITDA increased by 30.8% in constant currency with EBITDA margins of 47.9% expanding 283bps. Mobile money EBITDA margins of 51.7% declined 129bps in reported currency primarily due to the renegotiation of intra-group agreements that are discussed in the mobile money segment analysis on page 17.
Operating profit
Operating profit in reported currency increased by 35.9% to $959m, largely
driven by EBITDA growth of 33.2% in reported currency.
Finance costs
Total finance costs for the half year ended 30 September 2025 were $304m as
compared to $528m in prior period. Prior period finance costs were impacted by
$260m of derivative and foreign exchange losses (reflecting the revaluation of
US dollar balance sheet liabilities and derivatives following currency
devaluations), of which $231m resulted from the Nigerian naira devaluation
which was classified as an exceptional item. Current period finance cost had
$90m of derivative and foreign exchange gains largely on account of Nigerian
naira appreciation in current quarter (Q2'26) and CFA appreciation in the last
quarter (Q1'26). Hence, finance costs excluding derivative and foreign
exchange losses/gains increased from $268m to $394m in the current period
reflecting an increase in interest on lease liabilities due to tower contract
renewals with ATC and IHS (tower contract renewals had neutral to positive
impact on cashflows) and increased OpCo market debt. The shift of foreign
currency debt to local currency debt, which carries a higher average interest
rate, also contributed to increase in finance costs in the current period.
The Group's effective interest rate decreased to 12.4% compared to 13.2% in
the prior period.
Exceptional items
Finance cost - exceptional items of $231m in prior periods was related to
derivative and foreign exchange losses following the devaluation of Nigerian
naira during the period. These losses resulted in an exceptional tax gain of
$80m.
Profit before tax
Profit before tax at $656m during the half year ended 30 September 2025 as
compared to $178m in the prior period. Higher profit before tax in current
period as compared to prior period was on account of higher operating profit
and derivative and foreign exchange gains of $90m in current period as
compared to $260m derivative and foreign exchange losses in the prior period.
Taxation
Total tax charges were $280m as compared to $99m in the prior period. Total
tax charges in the prior period reflected an exceptional gain of $80m, arising
from the exceptional derivative and foreign exchange losses. Excluding
exceptional items, tax charges increased by $101m which was largely driven by
the higher profit before tax in the current period and withholding taxes on
dividends paid by subsidiaries.
The effective tax rate was 39.8% compared to 41.0% in the previous financial
year (FY'25). Effective tax rate is higher than weighted average statutory
corporate tax rate of approximately 32%, largely due to the profit mix between
various OpCos and withholding taxes on dividends paid by subsidiaries.
Profit after tax
Profit after tax was $376m during the half year ended 30 September 2025 as
compared to $79m in the prior period.
Earnings per share
Basic EPS of 8.3 cents compares to 0.8 cents in the prior period,
predominantly reflecting higher operating profits and derivative and foreign
exchange gains in the current period compared to derivative and foreign
exchange losses in the prior period.
EPS before exceptional items 5 also increased from 4.9 cents in the prior
period to 8.3 cents as higher operating profits due to strong revenue growth
and margin expansion, as well as derivative and foreign exchange gains due to
currency appreciation in the current period, more than offset the impact of
higher finance cost arising on account of tower contract renewals, which had a
neutral to positive impact on cashflows.
Net cash generated from operating activities
Net cash generated from operating activities was $1,388m, 41.8% higher
compared to $979m in the prior period, primarily reflecting the strong
operating performance with EBITDA growth of 33.2%.
Operating free cash flow
Operating free cash flow was $1,129m, up by 46.5%, as a result of higher
EBITDA during the current period.
Leverage
Over the year we have continued to improve our debt structure and continued
with the debt localisation programme. The proportion of local currency OpCo
debt (excluding lease liabilities) on our balance sheet increased to 95% as of
30 September 2025 from 89% a year ago.
Lease-adjusted leverage improved to 0.8x (from 1.0x) primarily reflecting the
higher EBITDA. Leverage over the period has improved from 2.3x to 2.1x,
primarily driven by the improvement in EBITDA.
Other significant updates
Update on share buyback programme
On 23 December 2024, Airtel Africa plc (or the 'company') announced the
commencement of a second share buyback programme that will return up to $100m
to shareholders. This programme is to be phased in two tranches. The company
completed the first tranche on 24 April 2025, returning $45m to shareholders
following the purchase of 26.3 million ordinary shares.
Following the completion of the first tranche, on 14 May 2025, the company
announced the commencement of the second tranche of the $100m share buy-back
amounting to a maximum of $55m.
As of 30 September 2025, the company has returned $34.7m to shareholders
through purchase of 14.2m shares as part of this second tranche. On 22
September 2025, the company entered arrangements with Barclays Capital
Securities Limited to facilitate its ongoing share buy-back programme to
return the remaining $20.3m on or before 31 March 2026. The revised
arrangements will come into effect in the event it is not possible to complete
the second tranche under the existing arrangement. The revised arrangements
are for a discretionary programme and include irrevocable, non-discretionary
instructions to Barclays to continue to operate the buy-back programme during
closed periods. Barclays will therefore operate the buy-back programme
autonomously during those periods.
Directorate declaration
The company announced that Sunil Bharti Mittal, chair, and Gopal Vittal,
non-executive director of Airtel Africa plc, have been appointed as
non-independent non-executive directors of BT Group plc with effect from 15
September 2025.
Network infrastructure agreement with Vodacom
In August 2025, the company announced a strategic infrastructure sharing
agreement with Vodacom Group in key markets, including Tanzania and the
Democratic Republic of Congo (the DRC) along with access to international
bandwidth infrastructure in Mozambique, subject to regulatory approvals in the
various countries. The agreement marks a transformative milestone in promoting
digital inclusion and expanding access to reliable connectivity across Africa
and will initially focus on sharing fibre networks and tower infrastructure to
accelerate the rollout of digital services in these markets.
The announcement follows the announcement in March 2025 when Airtel Africa and
MTN announced network infrastructure sharing agreements in Uganda and Nigeria.
Update on Airtel Money shareholder put option
On 1 August 2025, the company announced that it and its affiliates have agreed
with The Rise Fund, the impact investment platform of TPG and Mastercard, both
minority shareholders in Airtel Mobile Commerce B.V. ('Airtel Money), to defer
the exercisable date of their put options under their respective agreements by
12 months.
Migration of customers to advanced system verification platform in Nigeria
In May 2025, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) directed Airtel
Nigeria and other operators to transfer all verified unique subscriber records
in the SIM registration database from the existing NIN token system to a more
advanced and secure platform, the High Availability NIMC Verification Service
(HA-NVS). The initial cut-off date for transfer was 27 May 2025 which was
subsequently extended multiple times to address the critical outstanding
issues with respect to the transfer.
Subsequently, the existing NIN token platform was shut down on 26 June 2025
and on 3 July 2025, the NCC released the framework required for HA-NVS
integration. The data migration exercise is still in progress; however, the
new customer onboarding process has commenced effective 23 July 2025.
Partnership with SpaceX
On 5 May 2025, the company announced an agreement with SpaceX to bring
Starlink's high-speed internet services to its customers in Africa. With this
collaboration, Airtel Africa will further enhance its next generation
satellite connectivity offerings and augment connectivity for enterprises,
businesses and socio-economic communities like school, health centres etc in
most rural parts of Africa.
Currently, SpaceX has acquired the necessary licences in nine out of 14
countries within Airtel Africa's footprint and operating licences for the
other five countries are under process.
Directorate changes
Following the conclusion of AGM on 9 July 2025, Jaideep Paul, chief financial
officer (CFO) has retired from his position as executive director and CFO.
Kamal Dua became an executive director and assumed the role of CFO following
his appointment at the 2025 AGM.
On 1 April 2025, Cynthia Gordon was appointed as an independent non-executive
director who will serve on the Group's Remuneration Committee.
On 9 July 2025, Akhil Gupta retired as a non-executive director of Airtel
Africa plc in accordance with the announcement made on 13 May 2025.
Dividend payment timetable
The board has declared an interim dividend of 2.84 cents for the half year
ended 30 September 2025, payable on 12 December 2025 to shareholders recorded
in the register at the close of business on 7 November 2025.
London Stock Exchange (LSE) Nigerian Stock Exchange
(NGX)
Last day to trade shares cum dividend 5 November
2025 4 November 2025
Shares commence trading ex-dividend 6 November 2025
5 November 2025
Record date
7 November 2025 7
November 2025
Last date for currency election
25 November 2025 25 November 2025
Payment date
12 December 2025 12
December 2025
Information on additional KPIs
An investor relations pack with information on the additional KPIs and balance
sheet is available to download on our website at www.airtel.africa
(http://www.airtel.africa)
Strategic overview
The Group provides telecom and mobile money services in 14 emerging markets of
sub-Saharan Africa. Our markets are characterised by a young and rapidly
growing population, low smartphone penetration and a large unbanked
population. Unique mobile user penetration across the Group's footprint is
around 50% and banking penetration remains under 50%. These indicators
illustrate the significant opportunity still available to Airtel Africa to
enhance both digital and financial inclusion in the communities we serve,
enriching and transforming their lives through digitalisation, whilst at the
same time growing our revenues profitably across each of our key services of
voice, data and mobile money.
The Group continues to invest in its network and distribution infrastructure
to enhance both mobile connectivity and financial inclusion across our
countries of operation. We continue to invest in expanding our 4G and 5G
network to increase data capacity, deploy new sites, especially in rural
areas, thereby enhancing coverage and connectivity.
Our strategy puts the customer at the core of our strategy. We believe that by
ensuring great customer experience, we will deliver on our corporate purpose
of transforming lives across Africa. Our consumer centric strategy is anchored
on our 6 strategic pillars - strengthening our 'go-to-market', delivering best
in class network experience, winning more in key markets, digitising and
simplifying processes across the business, accelerating Airtel Money and
scaling our home broadband business (HBB) and enterprise offerings.
Underpinning the Group's business strategy is our focus on cost optimisation,
our ongoing sustainability strategy and the investment into our people to
build and retain talent. Our sustainability strategy supports our
well-established corporate purpose of transforming lives, our continued
commitment to driving sustainable development and acting as a responsible
business. Our sustainability strategy sets out our goals and commitments to
foster financial inclusion, bridge the digital divide and serve more customers
in some of the least penetrated telecommunication markets in the world.
Strengthen 'Go-to-market'
We continue to strengthen our distribution footprint, especially our exclusive
channel of kiosks/mini-shops and Airtel Money branches (AMB) along with
multi-brand outlets in both urban and rural markets. During the half-year, the
Group added over 308,000 Airtel money agents and over 56,000 activating
outlets, enabling continued expansion of our customer base and strong growth
in overall revenues.
In addition to building on-ground distribution infrastructure, we also focused
on building and leveraging digital tools to simplify the processes and enhance
efficiencies for our own sales team members as well as our channel partners.
We also continue to accelerate our data revenue growth through a combination
of smartphone adoption and improving ARPU's. Our smartphone penetration stands
at 46.8%, an increase of 3.8% points from last year driven by our expansion of
the 4G/5G network and stronger execution. Our data consumption has increased
to 8.2 GB per data user, growing by over 23% year-over-year in H1'26 driven by
improved network experience and customer lifecycle management programmes.
Best in class network experience
The Group remains focused on delivering best-in-class services, enhancing our
4G network availability, along with expanding newly launched 5G technology in
key markets, such as Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. Reaching
underserved communities is a key priority and we continue to expand rural
coverage through new site rollouts and investing in spectrum and technologies
to support increased capacity to facilitate our corporate purpose of
transforming lives.
We've rolled out around 2,350+ sites during the year and close to 3,000 4G
sites: 98.5% of our sites are now 4G-enabled compared to 96.6% in prior period
and we have over 1,700 5G operational sites in five markets.
As part of ensuring our services are future ready, in addition to purchasing
spectrum, we grew our fibre infrastructure and 5G capabilities and remain
committed to our investment into data centres to further support digital
inclusion across our markets. We continued to strengthen our fibre business
which is now delivering encouraging revenue growth. During the year, we added
a further approx. 4,000 km of fibre, with a total of 81,000+ km now deployed.
Must win markets
Winning customers across all the markets through micro-marketing using network
and digital tools is fundamental to our strategy and will enable us to drive
both financial and digital inclusion. We aim to win in every micro segment by
optimising our network to improve customer experience or strengthen our
distribution where our network is already strong, so that we can acquire new
customers with speed and precision. There are clusters of opportunities which
have been identified across all OpCos which have been called out as "must win
markets". To ensure that we win across all must win markets there is stepped
up investment on building people capabilities and driving a culture of
collaborative working across functions.
In the broader urban areas, including smaller towns and emerging suburban
peripheries, some micro-marketing actions include improving indoor coverage,
network quality and delivering a seamless customer experience by enhancing our
network through principles of community of interest. We are also strengthening
our 5G coverage in these markets to cater to home broadband. In addition, we
are enhancing our in-store experience and increasing our own store
footprint. This will allow us to strengthen our position as a reliable
network provider, attracting new customers and retaining our existing base.
Rural markets present a big growth opportunity given the low penetration of
both telecom and financial services. To tap the opportunity, our focus is on
improving coverage and distribution expansion across all formats. With
intensified network investment and focus on distribution excellence, we are
confident that rural markets will contribute to a significant portion of our
overall customer additions going forward.
Digitise and simplify
In line with our strategic pillar of 'Digitise and simplify', we have
continued to accelerate our digital transformation agenda, deepening adoption,
engagement and value creation across our digital ecosystem. Our focus remains
on simplifying customer journeys, expanding self-service capabilities and
leveraging data and AI to deliver seamless, intuitive experiences at scale.
MyAirtel app continues to anchor our single-app strategy for both
telecommunications and Airtel Money services, serving as a unified digital
gateway for millions of customers. In the first half of FY'26, digital
adoption and total processed value grew by over 75% in reported currency
compared to the same period last year, reflecting strong momentum in customer
migration to digital channels and increasing use of app-based self-service.
The app continues to drive meaningful volumes across core GSM and wallet use
cases, including airtime and bundle purchases, peer-to-peer transfers and bill
payments, with rising cross-usage between telco and financial services
journeys.
To extend reach and inclusion, we have launched additional digital channels
such as WhatsApp and Airtel Lite, enabling customers across a diverse
landscape of devices and connectivity levels to access our integrated telco
and wallet digital services. Our digital platforms are now designed to be
universally accessible - even on the lowest-end handsets and smallest screens
- ensuring no customer is left behind in the transition to digital.
We've also made significant strides in simplifying and digitising operations,
through automation of customer journeys, enhanced zero-rating and platform
optimisation that reduce friction and improve service quality. Investments in
digital infrastructure, data and analytics capabilities and AI-led customer
engagement are enabling greater efficiency and personalisation, laying the
foundation for scaled adoption of digital products and services.
Accelerate Airtel Money
Limited formal banking penetration across our footprint continues to present a
significant opportunity to expand financial access through mobile money. Our
strategy remains focused on driving digital adoption, broadening our financial
ecosystem and strengthening governance and execution across all markets.
· Digital adoption: our digital-first agenda is central to every
product launch. By streamlining MyAirtel app journeys and promoting
self-service, we have materially enhanced the user experience. Airtel Money's
smartphone customer penetration increased to 48.5% from 45.8% in H1'25,
supporting higher customer activity and improved unit economics across key
markets. Customers who migrate from feature phones to MyAirtel app on
smartphones consistently demonstrate substantially higher average revenue per
user, further reinforcing our transformation into a leading fintech platform
for financial inclusion. Currently, 7.1% of the Airtel Money customers are
app transacting users.
· Ecosystem expansion: we introduced new use cases, including loans,
savings and card-linked products, while expanding international money transfer
corridors and onboarding new partners. Over 180,000 virtual credit cards have
been issued in Tanzania and Uganda since launch, reflecting robust early
demand and product-market fit. Multi-service users drive exponentially
elevated ARPU levels compared to single-service customers, reinforcing the
strategic value of deepening service adoption.
· Access and distribution: our dedicated, 47,000+ exclusive retail
network has enhanced market reach and service quality. We continued to invest
in our distribution network and our digital agent-onboarding process delivered
a 27.3% increase in the non-exclusive agent base, further strengthening
last-mile access.
These initiatives drove a 20% increase in our mobile money customer base,
reaching almost 50 million users, with continued strong growth in constant
currency revenues.
Mobile money remains a key growth engine for the Group, with continued strong
growth in revenues. We remain committed to building Africa's most accessible
and inclusive digital financial services platform - one that delivers
meaningful impact and sustainable value for our customers and stakeholders.
Scale home broadband (HBB) and enterprise
Airtel's investment in 5G networks has helped power capacity to service
customer need for unlimited internet service across key cities in 5 markets.
The demand for these services is evident in the scale of usage, with homes
customers consuming on average 180GB per month across footprint.
During the reporting period, we have increased our investment into dedicated
outbound sales teams which are focussed on attracting high value customers on
unlimited offers, utilising our expansive 4G network. Further investment in
ensuring customers have a seamless on-boarding to the home broadband service
with MyAirtel app has helped improve customer convenience, particularly in the
product use and recharges available across multiple integrated payment
channels.
Enterprise services remain a key opportunity and focus. Nxtra by Airtel, the
data centre division of Airtel Africa, broke ground in September 2025 on their
second hyperscale data centre in Tatu City, Nairobi, as part of the Airtel
Africa B2B strategy to boost data centre capacity across Africa. Anticipated
to go live in Q1 2027, this will be the biggest data centre in Eastern Africa
at 44 MW capacity and will have high density and high capacity ready in
anticipation of hosting the new generation of servers. This construction
follows the commencement of construction of a 38-megawatt data centre in
Lagos, Nigeria.
Financial review for the half year ended 30 September 2025
Nigeria - mobile services
Description Unit of Half year ended Quarter ended
measure
Sep-25 Sep-24 Reported Constant Sep-25 Sep-24 Reported Constant
currency currency currency currency
change
change
change
change
Summarised statement of
Operations
Revenue $m 697 489 42.5% 49.0% 365 234 56.3% 49.4%
Voice revenue $m 268 209 28.3% 34.7% 134 97 38.7% 32.7%
Data revenue $m 357 229 55.6% 62.4% 192 112 71.7% 64.2%
Other revenue(1) $m 72 51 41.6% 47.7% 39 25 55.3% 48.5%
EBITDA $m 393 238 64.7% 71.9% 208 115 80.1% 72.1%
EBITDA margin % 56.3% 48.7% 760 bps 750 bps 56.9% 49.4% 751 bps 749 bps
Depreciation and amortisation $m (138) (92) 50.9% 58.5% (72) (43) 66.0% 58.6%
Operating profit $m 236 155 51.9% 57.8% 126 72 75.0% 67.0%
Capex $m 74 75 (1.3%) (1.3%) 35 37 (4.3%) (4.3%)
Operating free cash flow $m 319 163 95.0% 107.2% 173 78 119.9% 106.1%
Operating KPIs
Total customer base million 53.6 48.7 9.9% 53.6 48.7 9.9%
Data customer base million 29.5 26.3 12.2% 29.5 26.3 12.2%
Mobile services ARPU $ 2.2 1.6 32.9% 39.0% 2.3 1.6 43.8% 37.5%
((1) )
Other revenue includes inter-segment revenue of $1m in the half year ended 30
September 2025 and in the prior period. Excluding inter-segment revenue, other
revenue was $71m in half year ended 30 September 2025 and $50m in the prior
period.
Revenue grew by 49.0% in constant currency, largely driven by continued
strength in the demand for data services further supported by the full period
impact of tariff adjustments. In reported currency, revenues grew by 42.5% to
$697m. The difference in constant and reported currency revenue growth was due
to the devaluation in Nigerian naira from weighted average rate of 1,484
NGN/USD in H1'25 to 1,553 NGN/USD in H1'26. The constant currency revenue
growth was driven by ARPU growth of 39.0%, while our customer base growth
accelerated to 9.9%.
Voice revenue grew by 34.7% in constant currency, driven by voice ARPU growth
of 25.7%.
Data revenue grew by 62.4% in constant currency, as a function of both data
customer and data ARPU growth of 12.2% and 46.6%, respectively. Data usage per
customer increased by 24.9% to 10.1 GB per month (from 8.1 GB in the prior
period), with smartphone penetration increasing 4.2% to reach 52.8%.
Smartphone data usage per customer reached 12.7 GB per month compared to 10.9
GB per month in the prior period.
EBITDA of $393m improved by 64.7% in reported currency and increased by 71.9%
in constant currency. The EBITDA margin increased 760 basis points to 56.3%,
driven by the strong revenue growth and continued benefits arising from the
cost efficiency programme. The strong margin performance was also supported by
stable fuel prices and more favourable operating conditions.
Operating free cash flow was $319m, up by 107.2% in constant currency
contributed by EBITDA growth. In reported currency, operating free cash flow
increased by 95.0%, lower compared to constant currency growth due to lower
reported currency EBITDA growth following the Nigerian naira devaluation.
East Africa - mobile services (1)
Description Unit of Half year ended Quarter ended
measure
Sep-25 Sep-24 Reported Constant Sep-25 Sep-24 Reported Constant
currency currency currency currency
change
change
change
change
Summarised statement of
operations
Revenue $m 1,047 883 18.5% 15.6% 549 461 19.1% 14.4%
Voice revenue(2) $m 518 439 17.8% 14.6% 273 229 19.2% 14.0%
Data revenue $m 434 355 22.4% 19.6% 227 185 22.7% 17.9%
Other revenue(3) $m 95 89 6.0% 4.7% 49 47 5.2% 2.0%
EBITDA $m 505 418 20.8% 17.3% 275 221 24.8% 19.2%
EBITDA margin % 48.3% 47.3% 92 bps 69 bps 50.2% 47.9% 229 bps 203 bps
Depreciation and amortisation $m (201) (158) 26.8% 24.4% (104) (82) 27.2% 23.0%
Operating profit $m 276 231 19.6% 14.9% 157 123 26.8% 19.6%
Capex $m 124 156 (20.4%) (20.4%) 81 79 2.7% 2.7%
Operating free cash flow $m 381 262 45.3% 40.0% 194 142 37.1% 28.6%
Operating KPIs
Total customer base million 82.3 74.2 10.8% 82.3 74.2 10.8%
Data customer base million 34.3 28.8 19.0% 34.3 28.8 19.0%
Mobile services ARPU $ 2.2 2.0 7.3% 4.7% 2.3 2.1 8.3% 4.0%
((1) ) The East Africa business region includes Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda,
Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.
((2) )Voice
revenue includes inter-segment revenue of $1m in the half year ended 30
September 2025 and in the prior period. Excluding inter-segment revenue, voice
revenue was $517m in half year ended 30 September 2025 and $438m in the prior
period.
((3) )Other
revenue includes inter-segment revenue of $9m in the half year ended 30
September 2025 and $6m in the prior period. Excluding inter-segment revenue,
other revenue was $86m in half year ended 30 September 2024 and $83m in the
prior period.
East Africa revenue grew by 18.5% in reported currency to $1,047m and by 15.6%
in constant currency. Higher reported currency revenue growth as compared to
constant currency was primarily due to Ugandan shilling and Zambian kwacha
appreciation. The constant currency growth was made up of voice revenue growth
of 14.6% and data revenue growth of 19.6%.
Voice revenues were supported by customer base growth of 10.8% and voice ARPU
growth of 3.8%. The customer base growth was largely driven by expansion of
both increased network coverage and the increasing scale of the distribution
network.
Data customer base growth of 19.0% contributed to the strong performance in
data revenues. We continue to invest in the network and expand our 4G and 5G
network in the region. 1,467 sites are 5G enabled across four key markets.
Data usage per customer increased to 7.3 GB per customer per month, up by
25.0%, with smartphone penetration increasing 3.5% to reach 43.7%. Smartphone
data usage per customer reached 9.0 GB per month compared to 7.4 GB per month
in the prior period.
EBITDA increased to $505m, up by 20.8% in reported currency and up by 17.3% in
constant currency. EBITDA margins of 48.3% as compared to 47.3% in the prior
period, up by 92bps.
Operating free cash flow was $381m, up by 40.0% in constant currency, due
largely to EBITDA growth and lower capex during the current period.
Francophone Africa - mobile services (1)
Description Unit of Half year ended Quarter ended
measure
Sep-25 Sep-24 Reported Constant Sep-25 Sep-24 Reported Constant
currency currency currency currency
change
change
change
change
Summarised statement of
Operations
Revenue $m 749 636 17.7% 14.5% 387 329 17.7% 14.2%
Voice revenue (2) $m 316 313 0.8% (2.7%) 162 159 1.5% (2.4%)
Data revenue $m 370 260 42.1% 39.0% 192 138 39.5% 36.4%
Other revenue (3) $m 63 63 0.0% (1.6%) 33 32 3.2% 1.1%
EBITDA $m 296 244 21.5% 18.3% 153 130 18.1% 15.0%
EBITDA margin % 39.5% 38.3% 124 bps 126 bps 39.6% 39.4% 15 bps 26 bps
Depreciation and amortisation $m (125) (115) 8.5% 5.3% (65) (60) 8.5% 5.0%
Operating profit $m 146 101 44.6% 40.4% 76 55 38.4% 34.8%
Capex $m 87 66 31.2% 31.2% 56 43 30.4% 30.4%
Operating free cash flow $m 209 178 17.7% 13.4% 97 87 12.1% 7.2%
Operating KPIs
Total customer base million 38.0 33.6 12.8% 38.0 33.6 12.8%
Data customer base million 14.3 10.9 31.5% 14.3 10.9 31.5%
Mobile services ARPU $ 3.4 3.2 5.6% 2.8% 3.5 3.3 4.8% 1.7%
( (1)) The Francophone Africa business region includes Chad, Democratic
Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Madagascar, Niger, Republic of the Congo and the
Seychelles.
((2)
) Voice
revenue includes inter-segment revenue of $1m in the half year ended 30
September 2025. Excluding inter-segment revenue, voice revenue was $315m in
the half year ended 30 September 2025.
((3)
) Other
revenue includes inter-segment revenue of $3m in the half year ended 30
September 2025 and $2m in the prior period. Excluding inter-segment revenue,
other revenue was $60m in half year ended 30 September 2025 and $61m in the
prior period.
Revenue grew by 17.7% in reported currency and by 14.5% in constant currency.
Higher reported currency revenue growth compared to constant currency was due
to an appreciation in the CFA. The constant currency growth has sustained its
momentum in current period, reaching 14.2% in Q2'26 from 3.6% in Q1'25
following recovery in market trends and the benefits of sustained network
investment and intensive focus on 'go-to-market' initiatives.
Voice revenue declined by 2.7% in constant currency, as customer base growth
of 12.8% was more than offset by a decline in voice ARPU reflecting
interconnect rate reductions.
Data revenue grew by 39.0% in constant currency, supported by customer base
growth of 31.5%. Our continued 4G network rollout resulted in an increase in
total data usage of 61.3% and per customer data usage growth of 24.2%. 93.3%
of sites are now on 4G as compared to 85.0% in prior period. Data usage per
customer increased to 6.4 GB per month (up from 5.1 GB in the prior period),
with smartphone penetration increasing 4.1% to reach 44.9%. Smartphone data
usage per customer reached 7.6 GB per month compared to 6.2 GB per month in
the prior period.
EBITDA at $296m increased by 21.5% and 18.3% in reported and constant
currency, respectively. The EBITDA margin improved to 39.5%, an increase of
124 basis points, because of continued strong revenue growth.
Operating free cash flow of $209m increased by 13.4% in constant currency, due
to the increase in EBITDA partially offset by higher capex spends during the
half year.
Mobile services
Description Unit of measure Half year ended Quarter ended
Sep-25 Sep-24 Reported Constant Sep-25 Sep-24 Reported Constant
currency currency currency currency
change
change
change
change
Summarised statement of operations
Revenue(1) $m 2,495 2,013 23.9% 23.1% 1,303 1,026 27.0% 22.5%
Voice revenue $m 1,100 960 14.5% 13.2% 567 484 17.2% 12.6%
Data revenue $m 1,161 844 37.5% 37.0% 612 435 40.7% 36.0%
Other revenue $m 234 209 12.2% 12.5% 124 107 15.5% 12.3%
EBITDA $m 1,195 907 31.7% 30.8% 637 469 35.8% 30.8%
EBITDA margin % 47.9% 45.1% 283 bps 283 bps 48.9% 45.7% 317 bps 309 bps
Depreciation and amortisation $m (468) (365) 28.1% 27.7% (244) (185) 32.3% 27.9%
Operating profit $m 655 494 32.7% 31.4% 355 254 40.1% 34.0%
Capex $m 285 297 (4.1%) (4.1%) 172 159 8.6% 8.6%
Operating free cash flow $m 910 610 49.2% 48.2% 465 310 49.8% 42.1%
Operating KPIs
Mobile voice
Customer base million 173.8 156.6 11.0% 173.8 156.6 11.0%
Voice ARPU $ 1.1 1.0 4.5% 3.3% 1.1 1.0 6.5% 2.2%
Mobile data
Data customer base million 78.1 66.0 18.4% 78.1 66.0 18.4%
Data ARPU $ 2.6 2.2 17.2% 16.8% 2.7 2.2 19.2% 15.2%
((1) )Mobile service revenue after inter-segment eliminations was $2,488m
in the half year ended 30 September 2025 and $2,009m in the prior period.
Overall revenue from mobile services increased by 23.9% in reported currency
and by 23.1% in constant currency, with growth evident across all regions and
services.
Voice revenue grew by 13.2% in constant currency, supported primarily by the
continued growth in the customer base by 11.0% as we continue to invest in our
network and enhance our distribution infrastructure and voice ARPU growth of
3.3%. Total minutes on network grew by 8.8% while voice usage per customer at
293 minutes declined marginally.
Data revenue grew by 37.0% in constant currency, driven by both customer base
growth of 18.4% and data ARPU growth of 16.8%. The customer base growth was
recorded across all the regions supported by the expansion of our network. 5G
is operational across five countries, with 1,702 sites deployed. Data usage
per customer increased to 8.2 GB per customer per month (from 6.6 GB in the
prior period), with smartphone penetration increasing 3.8% to reach 46.8%.
Smartphone data usage per customer reached 10.1 GB per month compared to 8.5
GB per month in the prior period. Data revenue contributed to 46.5% of total
mobile services revenue, up from 41.9% in the prior period.
EBITDA was $1,195m, up 31.7% in reported currency and by 30.8% in constant
currency. The EBITDA margin improved by 283 basis points year on year to
47.9%, following the strong revenue performance, a more stable operating
environment and continued benefits from the ongoing cost efficiency programme.
Operating free cash flow was $910m, up by 48.2% in constant currency, due to
the increased constant currency EBITDA and marginally lower capex during the
period.
Mobile money
Description Unit of measure Half year ended Quarter ended
Sep-25 Sep-24 Reported Constant Sep-25 Sep-24 Reported Constant
currency currency currency currency
change
change
change
change
Summarised statement of operations
Revenue(1) $m 623 466 33.9% 30.2% 333 244 36.5% 30.1%
Wallet services(2) $m 299 226 32.4% 29.0% 163 119 36.9% 31.0%
Payment and transfers(2) $m 262 194 35.4% 31.4% 138 102 35.4% 28.6%
Financial services(2) $m 27 15 77.1% 72.9% 14 8 78.2% 69.9%
Others(2) $m 35 31 14.8% 10.7% 18 15 18.7% 12.1%
EBITDA $m 323 247 30.6% 26.8% 169 128 32.2% 25.6%
EBITDA margin % 51.7% 53.0% (129) bps (138) bps 50.9% 52.6% (166) bps (181) bps
Depreciation and amortisation $m (13) (10) 35.5% 32.9% (7) (5) 31.2% 25.8%
Operating profit $m 301 230 30.9% 27.0% 158 119 32.8% 26.0%
Capex $m 24 10 137.3% 137.3% 20 6 233.5% 233.5%
Operating free cash flow $m 299 237 26.1% 22.1% 150 122 22.5% 15.4%
Operating KPIs
Mobile money customer base million 49.8 41.5 20.0% 49.8 41.5 20.0%
Total processed value (TPV) $bn 88.8 63.8 39.2% 35.2% 48.3 33.8 42.9% 35.9%
Mobile money ARPU $ 2.2 2.0 14.1% 11.0% 2.3 2.0 16.1% 10.6%
((1) ) Mobile money service revenue post inter-segment eliminations with
mobile services were $494m in the half year ended 30 September 2025 and $361m
in the prior year.
((2) ) Wallet services comprise cash-in (deposits)/cash-out (withdrawals).
Payment and transfers comprise P2P money transfers, airtime and bundle
recharges, utility bill payments, merchant payments, cash collection,
corporate bulk payments, and international money transfers. Financial services
primarily include bank-to-wallet transfers, wallet-to-bank transfers, lending,
insurance, wealth management and savings. Others comprises of retention
revenues. For a full description refer to glossary on page 58.
Mobile money revenue grew by 33.9% in reported currency, with constant
currency increasing 30.2%. The constant currency growth was driven by revenue
growth in both East Africa and Francophone Africa of 29.9% and 29.8%,
respectively. The expansion of our distribution network underpinned our 20.0%
customer base growth, whilst ARPU growth of 11.0% in constant currency
reflects the increased range of services on offer as we continue to expand the
ecosystem.
A 15.3% increase in TPV per customer to $318 per customer per month reflects
both the enhanced ecosystem and increased user engagement. Q2'26 annualised
total processed value exceeded $193bn in reported currency, with mobile money
revenue contributing 20.9% 6 of total Group revenue during the half year
ended 30 September 2025.
Regional split:
Description Unit of measure Half year ended Quarter ended
Sep-25 Sep-24 Reported Constant Sep-25 Sep-24 Reported Constant
currency currency currency currency
change
change
change
change
Revenue $m 623 466 33.9% 30.2% 333 244 36.5% 30.1%
Nigeria $m 4 2 136.4% 142.9% 2 1 113.2% 103.5%
East Africa $m 466 349 33.7% 29.9% 250 182 37.5% 30.1%
Francophone Africa $m 153 115 32.9% 29.8% 81 61 32.6% 29.0%
Mobile money customers million 49.8 41.5 20.0% 49.8 41.5 20.0%
Nigeria million 2.0 1.4 46.1% 2.0 1.4 46.1%
East Africa million 38.9 33.0 18.0% 38.9 33.0 18.0%
Francophone Africa million 8.9 7.1 24.3% 8.9 7.1 24.3%
Mobile money EBITDA was $323m, up by 30.6% and 26.8% in reported and constant
currency, respectively. The EBITDA margin at 51.7%, a decline of 138 basis
points in constant currency and 129 basis points in reported currency, largely
on account of the renegotiation of intra-group agreements.
Upon expiry of the existing lock-ins and agreements that were established at
the time of the minority investors' investment in Airtel Mobile Commerce B.V.,
the Group renegotiated the terms of intra-group agreements between the mobile
services and mobile money segments during Q2'26. The revised agreements
continue to be based on arm's length pricing and reflect evolving market
dynamics. Effective July 2025, the primary amendment relates to retention
revenue, currently classified as "Others" within the mobile money segment,
which will be gradually phased out by March 2027. Furthermore, the revised
agreements will result in an annualised cost increase of approximately $25m
for the mobile money segment based on current year volumes.
The impact arising from these revisions will occur in phases, with EBITDA for
the mobile money segment being impacted by $11m in Q2'26. As these are
intra-group arrangements, they will have no impact on the consolidated
revenue, EBITDA or growth outlook for the Group.
Operating free cash flow was $299m, up by 22.1% in constant currency, due to
the increased EBITDA, partially offset by higher capex during the period.
Regional performance
Nigeria
Description Unit of measure Half year ended Quarter ended
Sep-25 Sep-24 Reported Constant Sep-25 Sep-24 Reported Constant
currency currency currency currency
change
change
change
change
Revenue $m 699 490 42.6% 49.2% 366 234 56.4% 49.5%
Voice revenue $m 268 209 28.3% 34.7% 135 97 38.8% 32.7%
Data revenue $m 357 229 55.6% 62.4% 192 112 71.7% 64.2%
Mobile money revenue $m 4 2 136.4% 142.9% 2 1 113.2% 103.5%
Other revenue $m 72 51 41.6% 47.7% 39 25 55.3% 48.4%
EBITDA $m 392 237 65.2% 72.7% 207 115 80.2% 72.2%
EBITDA margin % 56.1% 48.4% 768 bps 761 bps 56.5% 49.1% 746 bps 743 bps
Operating KPIs
ARPU $ 2.2 1.6 33.1% 39.2% 2.3 1.6 43.9% 37.6%
East Africa
Description Unit of measure Half year ended Quarter ended
Sep-25 Sep-24 Reported Constant Sep-25 Sep-24 Reported Constant
currency currency currency currency
change
change
change
change
Revenue $m 1,425 1,159 22.9% 19.8% 755 605 24.8% 19.3%
Voice revenue $m 518 439 17.8% 14.6% 272 229 19.0% 14.0%
Data revenue $m 434 355 22.4% 19.6% 227 185 22.7% 17.9%
Mobile money revenue $m 466 349 33.7% 29.9% 250 182 37.5% 30.1%
Other revenue $m 90 87 3.6% 2.6% 46 45 1.1% (1.7%)
EBITDA $m 756 609 24.2% 20.5% 408 320 27.7% 21.5%
EBITDA margin % 53.1% 52.5% 53 bps 29 bps 54.1% 52.8% 123 bps 94 bps
Operating KPIs
ARPU $ 3.0 2.7 11.4% 8.6% 3.1 2.8 13.4% 8.5%
Francophone Africa
Description Unit of measure Half year ended Quarter ended
Sep-25 Sep-24 Reported Constant Sep-25 Sep-24 Reported Constant
currency currency currency currency
change
change
change
change
Revenue $m 854 716 19.2% 16.1% 443 371 19.2% 15.8%
Voice revenue $m 316 313 0.8% (2.7%) 162 159 1.5% (2.4%)
Data revenue $m 370 260 42.1% 39.0% 192 138 39.5% 36.4%
Mobile money revenue $m 153 115 32.9% 29.8% 81 61 32.6% 29.0%
Other revenue $m 61 62 (1.7%) (3.6%) 31 31 (0.4%) (2.5%)
EBITDA $m 376 307 22.6% 19.5% 195 163 19.6% 16.5%
EBITDA margin % 44.0% 42.8% 122 bps 128 bps 43.9% 43.8% 13 bps 28 bps
Operating KPIs
ARPU $ 3.9 3.6 7.0% 4.2% 4.0 3.7 6.2% 3.1%
Consolidated performance
Description UoM Half year ended September 2025 Half year ended September 2024
Mobile services Mobile money Unallocated(1) Eliminations Total Mobile services Mobile money Unallocated(1) Eliminations Total
Revenue $m 2,495 623 - (136) 2,982 2,013 466 - (109) 2,370
Voice revenue $m 1,100 - - 1,100 960 - - 960
Data revenue $m 1,161 - - 1,161 844 - - 844
Other revenue $m 234 - (7) 227 209 - (4) 205
EBITDA $m 1,195 323 (71) - 1,447 907 247 (67) - 1,087
EBITDA margin % 47.9% 51.7% 48.5% 45.1% 53.0% 45.8%
Depreciation and amortisation $m (468) (13) (7) - (488) (365) (10) (6) - (381)
Operating profit $m 655 301 3 - 959 494 230 (18) - 706
((1) ) Unallocated in the above table represents 'Headquarter costs'.
Related party transactions
Related party transactions are disclosed in note 16 to the condensed set of
financial statements.
There have been no material changes in the related party transactions
described in the Annual Report and Accounts 2025.
Risk factors
The risk factors summarised below relate to the Group's business and industry
in which it operates. Additional risks and uncertainties relating to the Group
that are currently unknown to the Group, or those the Group currently deems
immaterial, may, individually or cumulatively, also have a material adverse
impact on the Group's business, results of operations and financial position.
The Group's principal and emerging risks and risk management process are
described in the Annual Report and Accounts 2025. Based on the Group's
assessment, there has been no changes to the Group's principal risks in the
period.
Summary of principal risks
The Group continually monitors its external and internal environment to
identify risks which have the ability to impact its operations, financial
performance or the achievement of its objectives.
1. We operate in a competitive environment with the potential for
aggressive competition by existing players, or the entry of new players, which
could both put a downward pressure on prices, adversely affecting our revenue
and profitability.
2. Failure to innovate through simplifying the customer experience,
developing adequate digital touchpoints in line with changing customer needs
and competitive landscape could lead to loss of customers and market share.
3. Global geopolitical and regional tensions have the potential to
impact our business directly and indirectly due to the interconnectedness of
the global supply chain. Relatedly, adverse macroeconomic conditions such as
rising inflation and increased cost of living not only puts pressure on the
disposable income of our customers but also increases the cost of inputs for
our business negatively impacting sales and profitability.
4. Cybersecurity threats through internal or external sabotage or system
vulnerabilities could potentially result in customer data breaches and/or
service downtimes.
5. Adverse changes in our external business environment and
macro-economic conditions such as supply chain disruptions, increase in global
commodity prices and inflationary pressures could lead to a significant
increase in our operating cost structure while also negatively impacting the
disposable income of consumers. These adverse economic conditions therefore
not only put pressure on our profitability but also on customer usage for our
services.
6. Shortages of skilled telecommunications professionals in some markets
and the inability to identify and develop successors for key leadership
positions could both lead to disruptions in the execution of our corporate
strategy.
7. Our internal control environment is subject to the risk that controls
may become inadequate due to changes in internal or external conditions, new
accounting requirements, delays, or inaccuracies in reporting.
8. Our ability to provide quality of service to our customers and meet
quality of service (QoS) requirements depends on the robustness and resilience
of our technology stack and ecosystem encompassing hardware, software,
products, services, applications and our ability to respond appropriately to
any disruptions. However, telecommunications networks are subject to the risks
of technical failures, aging infrastructure, human error, wilful acts of
destruction or natural disasters.
9. We operate in a diverse and dynamic legal, tax and regulatory
environment. Adverse changes in the political, macro-economic and policy
environment could have a negative impact on our ability to achieve our
strategy. While the Group makes every effort to comply with its legal and
regulatory obligations in all its operating jurisdictions in line with the
Group's risk appetite, we are however continually faced with an uncertain and
constantly evolving legal, regulatory and policy environment in some of the
markets where we operate.
10. Our multinational footprint means we are constantly exposed to the risk
of adverse currency fluctuations and the macroeconomic conditions in the
markets where we operate. We derive revenue and incur costs in local
currencies where we operate, but we also incur costs in foreign currencies,
mainly from buying equipment and services from manufacturers and technology
service providers. That means adverse movements in exchange rates between the
currencies in our OpCos and the US dollar could have a negative effect on our
liquidity and financial condition. In some markets, we face instances of
limited supply of foreign currency within the local monetary system. This not
only constrains our ability to fully benefit at Group level from strong cash
generation by those OpCos but also impacts our ability to make timely foreign
currency payments to our international suppliers.
Given the severity of this risk, specifically in some of our OpCos, the Group
management continuously monitors the potential impact of this risk of exchange
rate fluctuations by comparing the average devaluation of each currency in the
markets in which the Group operates against US dollar on a ten-year historic
basis and onshore forward exchange rates over a one-year period, if available.
Additionally, for our Nigerian operations, management uses different
sensitivity analysis for scenario planning purposes which includes the recent
impact of the naira devaluation.
With respect to currency sensitivity going forward, over a 12-month period and
assuming the movement occurs at the beginning of the period, a further 1%
movement of the USD against all OpCos currencies would result in an estimated
impact of $56m-$58m on revenues, $26m-$28m on EBITDA and $25m-$27m on foreign
exchange (excluding derivatives). Our largest exposure is to the Nigerian
naira, where a similar 1% USD movement would result in an estimated $13m-$14m
impact on foreign exchange (excluding derivatives).
This does not represent any guidance and is being used solely to illustrate
the potential impact of further currency devaluation on the Group for the
purpose of exchange rate risk management and assumes all other variables
remain constant. The accounting under IFRS is based on exchange rates in line
with the requirements of IAS 21 'The Effect of Changes in Foreign Exchange'
and does not factor in the devaluation mentioned above.
Based on above-mentioned specific methodology for the identified OpCos,
management evaluates specific mitigation actions based on available mechanisms
in each of the geographies. For further details on such mitigation action,
refer to the risk section of the Annual Report and Accounts 2025 which can be
downloaded from our website www.airtel.africa (http://www.airtel.africa)
Going concern
As stated in note 3.1 to the condensed financial statements, the directors are
satisfied that the Group has sufficient resources to continue in operation for
the foreseeable future, a period of not less than 12 months from the date of
this report. Accordingly, they continue to adopt the going concern basis in
preparing the condensed financial statements.
Forward looking statements
This document contains certain forward-looking statements regarding our
intentions, beliefs or current expectations concerning, amongst other things,
our results of operations, financial condition, liquidity, prospects, growth,
strategies and the economic and business circumstances occurring from time to
time in the countries and markets in which the Group operates.
These statements are often, but not always, made through the use of words or
phrases such as "believe," "anticipate," "could," "may," "would," "should,"
"intend," "plan," "potential," "predict," "will," "expect," "estimate,"
"project," "positioned," "strategy," "outlook", "target" and similar
expressions.
It is believed that the expectations reflected in this document are
reasonable, but they may be affected by a wide range of variables that could
cause actual results to differ materially from those currently anticipated.
All such forward-looking statements involve estimates and assumptions that are
subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual
future financial condition, performance and results to differ materially from
the plans, goals, expectations and results expressed in the forward-looking
statements and other financial and/or statistical data within this
communication.
Among the key factors that could cause actual results to differ materially
from those projected in the forward-looking statements are uncertainties
related to the following: the impact of competition from illicit trade; the
impact of adverse domestic or international legislation and regulation;
changes in domestic or international tax laws and rates; adverse litigation
and dispute outcomes and the effect of such outcomes on Airtel Africa's
financial condition; changes or differences in domestic or international
economic or political conditions; the ability to obtain price increases and
the impact of price increases on consumer affordability thresholds; adverse
decisions by domestic or international regulatory bodies; the impact of market
size reduction and consumer down-trading; translational and transactional
foreign exchange rate exposure; the impact of serious injury, illness or death
in the workplace; the ability to maintain credit ratings; the ability to
develop, produce or market new alternative products and to do so profitably;
the ability to effectively implement strategic initiatives and actions taken
to increase sales growth; the ability to enhance cash generation and pay
dividends and changes in the market position, businesses, financial condition,
results of operations or prospects of Airtel Africa.
Past performance is no guide to future performance and persons needing advice
should consult an independent financial adviser. The forward-looking
statements contained in this document reflect the knowledge and information
available to Airtel Africa at the date of preparation of this document and
Airtel Africa undertakes no obligation to update or revise these
forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future
events or otherwise. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such
forward-looking statements.
No statement in this communication is intended to be, nor should be construed
as, a profit forecast or a profit estimate and no statement in this
communication should be interpreted to mean that earnings per share of Airtel
Africa plc for the current or any future financial periods would necessarily
match, exceed or be lower than the historical published earnings per share of
Airtel Africa plc.
Financial data included in this document are presented in US dollars rounded
to the nearest million. Therefore, discrepancies in the tables between totals
and the sums of the amounts listed may occur due to such rounding. The
percentages included in the tables throughout the document are based on
numbers calculated to the nearest $1,000 and therefore minor rounding
differences may result in the tables. Growth metrics are provided on a
constant currency basis unless otherwise stated. The Group has presented
certain financial information on a constant currency basis. This is calculated
by translating the results for the current financial year and prior financial
year at a fixed 'constant currency' exchange rate, which is done to measure
the organic performance of the Group. Growth rates for our reporting regions
and service segments are provided in constant currency as this better
represents the performance of the business.
Airtel Africa plc
Results for the half year ended 30 September 2025
Consolidated financial statements
Interim Condensed Consolidated Statement of Comprehensive Income
(All amounts are in US$ millions unless stated otherwise)
Notes For the six months ended
30 September 2025 30 September 2024
Income
Revenue 5 2,982 2,370
Other income 14 12
2,996 2,382
Expenses
Network operating expenses 572 463
Access charges 118 122
License fee and spectrum usage charges 146 127
Employee benefits expense 167 148
Sales and marketing expenses 395 311
Impairment loss on financial assets 5 5
Other operating expenses 146 119
Depreciation and amortisation 488 381
2,037 1,676
Operating profit 959 706
Finance costs
- Derivative and foreign exchange losses
Nigerian naira (54) 231
Other currencies (36) 29
- Other finance costs 407 280
Finance income (13) (12)
Net monetary loss relating to hyperinflationary accounting 6 0 -
Share of profit of associate and joint venture accounted for using (1) (0)
equity method
Profit before tax 656 178
Income tax expense 7 280 99
Profit for the period 376 79
Profit before tax (as presented above) 656 178
Add: Exceptional items 8 - 231
Underlying profit before tax 656 409
Profit after tax (as presented above) 376 79
Add: Exceptional items 8 - 151
Underlying profit after tax 376 230
Notes For the six months ended
30 September 2025 30 September 2024
Profit for the period (continued from previous page) 376 79
Other comprehensive income ('OCI')
Items to be reclassified subsequently to profit or loss:
Gain (Loss) due to foreign currency translation differences 146 (3)
Gain on debt instruments at fair value through other comprehensive income - 0
Loss on cash flow hedges (0) (0)
Share of OCI of associate and joint venture accounted for using equity 1 0
method
Cash flow hedges reclassified to profit or loss (0) -
Tax on above 0 2
147 (1)
Items not to be reclassified subsequently to profit or loss:
Re-measurement gain/(loss) on defined benefit plans 0 (1)
Tax on above (0) 0
(0) (1)
Other comprehensive income/(loss) for the period 147 (2)
Total comprehensive income/ (loss) for the period 523 77
Profit for the period attributable to: 376 79
Owners of the company 303 31
Non-controlling interests 73 48
Other comprehensive income/(loss) for the period attributable to: 147 (2)
Owners of the company 135 2
Non-controlling interests 12 (4)
Total comprehensive income for the period attributable to: 523 77
Owners of the company 438 33
Non-controlling interests 85 44
Earnings per share
Basic 9 8.3 cents 0.8 cents
Diluted 9 8.3 cents 0.8 cents
Interim Condensed Consolidated Statement of Financial Position
(All amounts are in US$ millions unless stated otherwise)
Notes As of
30 September 2025 31 March 2025
Assets
Non-current assets
Property, plant and equipment 10 2,147 2,086
Capital work-in-progress 10 229 194
Right of use assets 3,297 3,029
Goodwill 11 3,145 3,008
Other intangible assets 876 810
Intangible assets under development 17 8
Investments accounted for using equity method 6 5
Financial assets
- Investments 0 0
- Derivative instruments 0 0
- Others 17 10
Income tax assets (net) 6 8
Deferred tax assets (net) 471 509
Other non-current assets 184 195
10,395 9,862
Current assets
Inventories 13 19
Financial assets
- Derivative instruments 0 1
- Trade receivables 200 203
- Cash and cash equivalents 12 634 552
- Other bank balances 12 98 81
- Balance held under mobile money trust 1,155 952
- Others 77 67
Other current assets 334 286
2,511 2,161
Assets classified as held for sale 9 -
Total assets 12,915 12,023
Notes As of
30 September 2025 31 March 2025
Liabilities
Current liabilities
Financial liabilities
- Borrowings 14 1,083 1,095
- Lease liabilities 247 231
- Put option liability 530 542
- Derivative instruments 17 10
- Trade payables 558 485
- Mobile money wallet balance 1,120 928
- Others 402 383
Provisions 72 111
Deferred revenue 158 135
Current tax liabilities (net) 106 89
Other current liabilities 254 233
4,547 4,242
Net current liabilities (2,036) (2,081)
Non-current liabilities
Financial liabilities
- Borrowings 14 1,269 1,226
- Lease liabilities 3,632 3,430
- Derivative instruments 0 0
- Others 226 216
Provisions 34 25
Deferred tax liabilities (net) 117 106
Other non-current liabilities 6 3
5.284 5,006
Total liabilities 9,831 9,248
Net Assets 3,084 2,775
Equity
Share capital 13 1,828 1,835
Reserves and surplus 921 651
Equity attributable to owners of the company 2,749 2,486
Non-controlling interests ('NCI') 335 289
Total equity 3,084 2,775
The accompanying notes form an integral part of these interim condensed
consolidated financial statements.
For and on behalf of the Board of Airtel Africa plc
Sunil Taldar
Chief Executive Officer
27 October 2025
Interim Condensed Consolidated Statement of Changes in Equity
(All amounts are in US$ millions unless stated otherwise)
Equity attributable to owners of the company
Share Capital Reserves and Surplus Equity attributable to owners of the company
Amount Retained earnings Transactions with NCI reserve Other components of equity Non-controlling interests (NCI) Total
equity
No. of shares
Total
As of 1 April 2024 3,750,761,649 1,875 5,056 (838) (3,933) 285 2,160 140 2,300
Profit for the period - - 31 - - 31 31 48 79
Other comprehensive income/(loss) - - (1) - 3 2 2 (4) (2)
Total comprehensive income - - 30 - 3 33 33 44 77
Transaction with owners of equity
Employee share-based payment reserve - - (3) - (2) (5) (5) - (5)
Purchase of own shares (net) - - - - 6 6 6 - 6
Ordinary shares buy back programme (53,159,199) (26) (79) - 55 (24) (50) - (50)
Transactions with NCI - - - 17 - 17 17 0 17
Dividend to owners of the company - - (133) - - (133) (133) - (133)
Dividend (including tax) to NCI - - - - - - - (42) (42)
As of 30 September 2024 3,697,602,450 1,849 4,871 (821) (3,871) 179 2,028 142 2,170
Profit for the period - - 189 - - 189 189 60 249
Other comprehensive income - - 2 - 175 177 177 46 223
Total comprehensive income - - 191 - 175 366 366 106 472
Opening reserve adjustment for hyperinflation (refer to Note 6) - - - - 246 246 246 62 308
Transaction with owners of equity
Employee share-based payment reserve - - (1) - 1 - - - -
Purchase of own shares (net) - - - - 2 2 2 - 2
Ordinary shares buy back programme (27,072,574) (14) (41) - 5 (36) (50) - (50)
Transactions with NCI - - - (10) - (10) (10) (1) (11)
Dividend to owners of the company - - (96) - - (96) (96) - (96)
Dividend (including tax) to NCI - - - - - - - (20) (20)
As of 31 March 2025 3,670,529,876 1,835 4,924 (831) (3,442) 651 2,486 289 2,775
Profit for the period - - 303 - - 303 303 73 376
Other Comprehensive income - - 0 - 135 135 135 12 147
Total comprehensive income - - 303 - 135 438 438 85 523
Transactions with owners of equity
Employee share-based payment reserve - - (0) - 4 4 4 - 4
Purchase of own shares (net) - - - - 1 1 1 - 1
Ordinary shares buy back programme (14,227,243) (7) (37) - (8) (45) (52) - (52)
Transactions with NCI((1)) - - - 15 - 15 15 - 15
Dividend to owners of the company - - (143) - - (143) (143) - (143)
Dividend (including tax) to NCI - - - - - - - (39) (39)
As of 30 September 2025 3,656,302,633 1,828 5,047 (816) (3,310) 921 2,749 335 3,084
( )
( )
(1) Transactions with NCI reserve increased mainly due to-
- reversal of put option liability by $9m (September 2024: $15m) for dividend
distribution to put option NCI holders. Any dividend paid to NCI holders is
adjustable against the put option liability based on the put option
arrangement.
- $6m pertains to remeasurement of put option liability due to deferment of
exercisable date of put options by 12 months. Refer to note 4(c)
For the six months ended
Interim Condensed Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows
(All amounts are in US$ millions unless stated otherwise)
30 September 2025 30 September 2024
Cash flows from operating activities
Profit before tax 656 178
Adjustments for -
Depreciation and amortization 488 381
Finance income (13) (12)
Net monetary loss relating to hyperinflationary accounting 0 -
Finance costs
- Derivative and foreign exchange (gain)/loss
Nigerian naira (54) 231
Other currencies (36) 29
- Other finance costs 407 280
Share of profit of associate and joint venture accounted for using (1) (0)
equity method
Other non-cash adjustments((1)) 6 7
Operating cash flow before changes in working capital 1,453 1,094
Changes in working capital
Decrease/(Increase) in trade receivables 9 (16)
Decrease/(Increase) in inventories 6 (6)
Increase in trade payables 52 17
Increase in mobile money wallet balance 120 89
Decrease in provisions (34) (6)
Increase in deferred revenue 21 4
Increase in other financial and non-financial liabilities 27 3
Increase in other financial and non-financial assets (63) (0)
Net cash generated from operations before tax 1,591 1,179
Income taxes paid (203) (200)
Net cash generated from operating activities (a) 1,388 979
Cash flows from investing activities
Purchase of property, plant and equipment and capital (301) (412)
work-in-progress
Purchase of intangible assets and intangible assets under development (55) (100)
Maturity of deposits with bank 206 360
Investment in deposits with bank (224) (46)
Sale of other short term investment (1) 1
Interest received 10 20
Net cash used in investing activities (b) (365) (177)
Cash flows from financing activities
Purchase of shares under buy-back programme (52) (79)
Purchase of own shares by ESOP trust (net) 0 (2)
Proceeds from sale of shares to NCI - 2
Proceeds from borrowings 523 770
Repayment of borrowings (438) (917)
Repayment of lease liabilities (102) (130)
Dividend paid to non-controlling interests (48) (51)
Dividend paid to owners of the company (143) (133)
Payment of deferred spectrum liability (8) (1)
Interest on borrowings, lease liabilities and other liabilities (399) (296)
Outflow on maturity of derivatives (net) (31) (116)
Net cash used in financing activities (c) (698) (953)
Increase/(Decrease) in cash and cash equivalents during the period (a+b+c) 325 (151)
Currency translation differences relating to cash and cash equivalents 71 15
Cash and cash equivalent as at beginning of the period 1,060 900
Cash and cash equivalents as at end of the period (refer to Note 12) ((2)) 1,456 764
((1)) For the six months ended 30 September 2025 and 30 September 2024, this
mainly includes movement in impairment of trade receivables and other
provisions.
((2)) Includes balances held under mobile money trust of $1,155m (September
2024: $830m) on behalf of mobile money customers which are not available for
use by the Group.
Notes to Interim Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements
(All amounts are in US$ millions unless stated otherwise)
1. Corporate information
Airtel Africa plc ('the Company') is a public company limited by shares
incorporated and domiciled in the United Kingdom ('UK') under the Companies
Act 2006 and is registered in England and Wales (registration number
11462215). The registered address of the company is First Floor, 53/54
Grosvenor Street, London, W1K 3HU, United Kingdom. The company is listed both
on the London Stock Exchange ('LSE') and Nigerian Stock Exchange ('NGX'). The
company is a subsidiary of Airtel Africa Mauritius Limited ('the parent'), a
company registered in Mauritius. The registered address of the parent is c/o
IQ EQ Corporate Services (Mauritius) Ltd., 33, Edith Cavell Street, Port
Louis, 11324, Mauritius.
The company together with its subsidiary undertakings (hereinafter referred to
as 'the Group') has operations in Africa. The principal activities of the
Group, its associate and its joint venture primarily consist of the provision
of telecommunications and mobile money services.
Basis of preparation
These interim condensed consolidated financial statements have been prepared
in accordance with IAS 34 'Interim Financial Reporting' as issued by the
International Accounting Standards Board ('IASB') and approved for use in the
United Kingdom ('UK') by the UK Accounting Standards Endorsement Board
('UKEB'). Accordingly, the interim financial statements do not include all the
information required for a complete set of financial statements and should be
read in conjunction with the Group's annual consolidated financial statements
for the year ended 31 March 2025. Further, selected explanatory notes have
been included to explain events and transactions that are significant for the
understanding of the changes in the Group's financial position and performance
since the latest annual consolidated financial statements.
These interim condensed consolidated financial statements for the six months
ended 30 September 2025 do not constitute statutory accounts as defined in
section 434 of the UK Companies Act 2006 and are unaudited. The information
relating to the year ended 31 March 2025 is an extract from the Group's
published annual report for that year, which has been delivered to the
Companies House on 16 July 2025, and on which the auditor's report was
unqualified and did not contain any emphasis of matter or statements under
section 498(2) or 498(3) of the UK Companies Act 2006.
These interim condensed consolidated financial statements apply the same
accounting policies, presentation and methods of calculation as those followed
in the preparation of the Group's annual consolidated financial statements for
the year ended 31 March 2025. Further, there have been no changes in critical
accounting estimates, assumptions and judgements except as highlighted below.
Effective 1 April 2025, the amendments to IAS 21 'The Effects of Changes in
Foreign Exchange Rates' relating to lack of exchangeability are applicable.
These amendments require an entity to estimate the spot exchange rate when it
concludes that a currency is not exchangeable into another currency.
The Group has evaluated the applicability of the amendment in the standard in
the jurisdictions it which it operates. Judgement is needed in determining
whether currencies in the jurisdictions in which the Group operates are not
exchangeable.
The Group believes that considering the relevant economic and regulatory
environment and the presence of functioning foreign exchange mechanisms in
these jurisdictions, the IAS 21 amendment's requirements are not clearly met.
The Group will continue to evaluate the situation on an ongoing basis.
These interim condensed consolidated financial statements of the Group for the
six months ended 30 September 2025 were authorised by the Board of Directors
on 27 October 2025.
3. Basis of measurement
The interim condensed consolidated financial statements have been prepared on
the historical cost basis, adjusted for the effects of inflation where Group
entities operate in hyperinflationary economies, except for financial
instruments held at fair value and are presented in United States Dollars
('USD'), with all values stated in US$ million and rounded to the nearest
million except when otherwise indicated. Further, amounts which are less than
half a million are appearing as '0'.
3.1 Going concern
These interim consolidated financial statements have been
prepared on a going concern basis. In making this going concern assessment,
the Group has considered cash flow projections to December 2026 (going concern
assessment period) under both a base case and reasonable worst-case scenarios
including a reverse stress test.
This assessment takes into consideration its principal risks
and uncertainties including a reduction in revenue and EBITDA and a
devaluation of the various currencies in the countries in which the Group
operates including the Nigerian Naira. This assessment also takes into
consideration the repayment of all liabilities that fall due over the going
concern period including the repayment of borrowings and other liabilities. As
part of this evaluation, the Group has considered available ways to mitigate
these risks and uncertainties and has also considered committed undrawn
facilities of $168m expiring beyond the going concern assessment period, which
will fulfil the Group's cash flow requirement under both the base and
reasonable worst-case scenarios.
Having considered all the above-mentioned factors impacting
the Group's businesses, the impact of downside sensitivities, and the
mitigating actions available to the group including a reduction and deferral
of capital expenditure, the directors are satisfied that the Group has
adequate resources to continue its operational existence for the foreseeable
future. Accordingly, the directors continue to adopt the going concern basis
of accounting in preparing the interim condensed consolidated financial
statements.
4. Significant transactions/new developments
a) The directors recommended on 7 May 2025 and shareholders approved
on 9 July 2025, a final dividend of 3.90 cents per ordinary share for the year
ended 31 March 2025, which was paid on 25 July 2025 to the holders of ordinary
shares on the register of members at the close of business on 20 June 2025.
b) On 23 December 2024, the Company announced the commencement of
its $100m second share buy-back programme to be achieved in two tranches.
Following the completion of its first tranche of the buy-back on 24 April
2025, the company has announced the commencement of its second tranche of the
programme on 14 May 2025. As part of the programme, the Company has entered
into an agreement with Barclays Capital Securities Limited ('Barclays') to
conduct the second tranche of the buy-back amounting to a maximum of $55m and
carry out on-market purchases of its ordinary shares, with the Company
subsequently purchasing its ordinary shares from Barclays. The shares so
purchased under the second tranche will be cancelled by the company.
During the six months ended 30 September 2025, the Company bought-back
21,716,287 shares (7,489,044 shares and 14,227,243 shares against first and
second tranche respectively) and has cancelled 14,227,243 shares against the
second tranche resulting in 3,656,302,633 ordinary shares outstanding as of 30
September 2025. The purchase price of the shares bought-back was $50m and the
Company carries a liability of $20m as part of 'other financial liabilities'
relating to the remaining buy-back against the second tranche of agreement
with Barclays. The nominal value ($0.5 per share) of the cancelled shares,
amounting to $7m, has been transferred to the capital redemption reserve.
Further, 7,489,044 shares bought back against the first tranche, which have
not been cancelled are being held as treasury shares.
c) During the year ended 31 March 2022, the Group had completed a
transaction with TPG's The Rise Fund and Mastercard for sale of interests in
one of the Group's subsidiary, Airtel Mobile Commerce BV ('AMC BV'), pursuant
to which the Group had written a put option in favour of investors to buy back
their stock on fair value (subject to cap) at the end of 48 months from first
close date, in the event of no Initial Public Offering for the said
subsidiary.
During the current period, Group has agreed with The Rise Fund and Mastercard
to defer the exercisable date of their put options under their respective
agreements by 12 months. Accordingly, the Group has remeasured its put option
liability by $6m to reflect the said extension by a corresponding adjustment
to 'Transaction with NCI reserve'.
5. Segmental information
The Group's segment information is provided on the basis of geographical
clusters and products to the Group's Chief Executive Officer (Chief Operating
Decision Maker - 'CODM') for the purposes of resource allocation and
assessment of performance.
The Group's operating segments are as follows:
Nigeria mobile services - Comprising of mobile service operations in Nigeria;
East Africa mobile services - Comprising of mobile service operations in
Uganda, Kenya,Zambia, Tanzania, Malawi and Rwanda;
Francophone Africa mobile services - Comprising of mobile service operations
in Democratic Republic of the Congo Chad, Niger, Gabon, the Republic of the
Congo, Madagascar and Seychelles;
Mobile money services*- Comprising of mobile money services across the Group.
* Mobile money services segment consolidates the results of mobile money
operations from all operating entities within the Group. Airtel Money Commerce
B.V. ('AMC BV') is the holding company for all mobile money services for the
Group, and as of 30 September 2025, it controls all mobile money operations
excluding operations in Nigeria. It is management's intention to continue work
to transfer the Nigerian mobile money services operations into AMC BV, subject
to local regulatory approvals.
Each segment derives revenue from the respective services housed within each
segment, as described above. Expenses, assets and liabilities primarily
related to the corporate headquarters and centralised functions of the Group
are presented as unallocated items.
The amounts reported to CODM are based on the accounting principles used in
the preparation of the financial statements. Each segment's performance is
evaluated based on segment revenue and segment result.
The segment result is Underlying EBITDA (defined as operating profit/(loss)
for the period before depreciation, amortisation and exceptional items
relating to operating profit, if any). This is the measure reported to the
CODM for the purpose of resource allocation and assessment of segment
performance. During the six months ended 30 September 2025 and 30 September
2024, the definition of EBITDA was equal to underlying EBITDA since there were
no exceptional items pertaining to EBITDA and therefore EBITDA is presented in
the segment information below.
Inter-segment pricing and terms are reviewed and changed by management to
reflect changes in market conditions and changes to such terms are reflected
in the period in which the changes occur.
The 'Eliminations' column comprises inter-segment transactions eliminated upon
consolidation.
Segment assets and segment liabilities comprise those assets and liabilities
directly managed by each segment. Segment assets primarily include
receivables, property, plant and equipment, capital work in progress,
right-to-use assets, intangibles assets, inventories and cash and cash
equivalents. Segment liabilities primarily include operating liabilities.
Segment capital expenditure comprises investment in property, plant and
equipment, capital work in progress, intangible assets (excluding licenses)
and capital advances.
Investment elimination upon consolidation and resulting goodwill impacts are
reflected in the 'Eliminations' column.
Summary of the segmental information and disaggregation of revenue is as
follows:
For the six months ended 30 September 2025
Mobile money Others
Nigeria mobile services East Africa mobile services Francophone Africa mobile services (unallocated) Total
Eliminations
Revenue from external customers
Voice revenue 268 517 315 - - - 1,110
Data revenue 357 434 370 - - - 1,161
Mobile money revenue ((1)) - - - 494 - - 494
Other revenue ((2)) 71 86 60 - 10 - 227
Total revenue from external customers 696 1,037 745 494 10 - 2,982
Inter-segment revenue 1 10 4 129 5 (149) -
Total revenue 697 1,047 749 623 15 (149) 2,982
EBITDA 393 505 296 323 (70) (0) 1,447
Less:
Depreciation and amortisation 138 201 125 13 11 - 488
Finance costs
- Derivative and foreign exchange gain
Nigerian naira (54)
Other currencies (36)
- Other finance costs 407
Finance income (13)
Net monetary losses relating to hyperinflationary accounting 0
Share of profit of associate and joint venture accounted for using equity (1)
method
Profit before tax 656
Other segment items
Capital expenditure 74 124 87 24 9 - 318
As of 30 September 2025
Segment assets 2,756 3,113 2,065 1,860 20,862 (17,741) 12,915
Segment liabilities 2,965 3,245 2,750 1,356 4,254 (4,739) 9,831
Investment in associate accounted for using equity method (included in segment - - 6 - - - 6
assets above)
((1)) Mobile money revenue is net of inter-segment elimination of $129m mainly
for commission on sale of airtime. It includes $82m pertaining to East Africa
mobile services, $45m pertaining to Francophone Africa mobile services and
balance $2m pertaining to Nigeria Mobile Services.
((2)) Other revenue includes messaging, value added services, enterprise, site
sharing and handset sale revenue.
Summary of the segmental information and disaggregation of revenue is as
follows:
For the six months ended 30 September 2024
Mobile money Others
Nigeria mobile services East Africa mobile services Francophone Africa mobile services (unallocated) Total
Eliminations
Revenue from external customers
Voice revenue 209 438 313 - - - 960
Data revenue 229 355 260 - - - 844
Mobile money revenue ((1)) - - - 361 - - 361
Other revenue ((2)) 50 83 61 - 11 - 205
Total revenue from external customers 488 876 634 361 11 - 2,370
Inter-segment revenue 1 7 2 105 4 (119) -
Total revenue 489 883 636 466 15 (119) 2,370
EBITDA 238 418 244 247 (60) - 1,087
Less:
Depreciation and amortisation 92 158 115 10 6 - 381
Finance costs
- Derivative and foreign exchange losses
Nigerian naira 231
Other currencies 29
- Other finance costs 280
Finance income (12)
Share of profit of associate and joint venture accounted for using equity (0)
method
Profit before tax 178
Other segment items
Capital expenditure 75 156 66 10 9 - 316
As of 31s March 2025
Segment assets 2,592 2,960 1,994 1,534 20,551 (17,608) 12,023
Segment liabilities 2,856 3,127 2,681 1,145 4,447 (5,008) 9,248
Investment in associate accounted for using equity method (included in segment - - 5 - - - 5
assets above)
((1)) Mobile money revenue is net of inter-segment elimination of $105m mainly
for commission on sale of airtime. It includes $71m pertaining to East Africa
mobile services and balance $34m pertaining to Francophone Africa mobile
services.
((2)) Other revenue includes messaging, value added services, enterprise, site
sharing and handset sale revenue.
6. Hyperinflation
As at 31 December 2024, Malawi met the requirements to be designated as a
hyperinflationary economy under IAS 29 'Financial Reporting in
Hyperinflationary Economies'. The Group has therefore applied
hyperinflationary accounting, as specified in IAS 29, at its Malawi operations
whose functional currency is the Malawian Kwacha. As this was applied from
December 2024, there is no impact on the income statement for the six months
ended 30 September 2024.
The Group has selected the consumer price index (CPI) issued by the National
Statistical Office of Malawi, which we have determined to be the most
appropriate inflation index to reflect the change in the purchasing power.
During the period, the CPI has increased by 4.5% and the average adjustment
factor used to determine the impact on the income statement for the six months
ended 30 September 2025 was 1.04, which represents the movement between the
average and closing CPI.
The main impact on these interim condensed consolidated financial statements
for the six months ended 30 September 2025 of the above-mentioned adjustments
are shown below:
For the six months ended
30 September 2025
Increase in revenue 7
Operating loss (6)
Net monetary loss relating to hyperinflationary accounting (0)
Loss after tax for the period (7)
As of
30 September 2025 31 March 2025
Increase in non-monetary assets 544 514
Increase in equity 544 514
7. Income tax
The major components of the income tax expense are:
For the six months ended
30 September 2025 30 September 2024
Current tax 222 136
Deferred tax 58 (37)
Income tax expense 280 99
The tax charge for the six months ended 30 September 2025 has been calculated
for each operating country by applying an estimated effective rate of tax
expected to apply for the period ending 31 March 2026 on the pre-tax profits
using rates substantively enacted by 30 September 2025. The charge is adjusted
for discrete items (if any) occurring in the interim period as required by IAS
34 'Interim Financial Reporting'.
Tax charge for the six months ended 30 September 2025 also includes the
related tax impacts arising out of withholding tax ('WHT') on unremitted
earnings and cross charge to Group entities and deferred tax asset recognition
basis projected profitability in operating countries, wherever applicable.
In one of the country in which Group operates, the Finance Act has been
amended which restricts the carry forward of tax losses to five years
(previously an indefinite period) effective 1 July 2025, with no transitional
rules explicitly mentioned for prior year losses. At this stage and in the
absence of clarity on transitional rules from the tax authorities, management
believes that it is probable that the historical losses prior to the last five
years will not be disallowed.
8. Exceptional items
Underlying profit before tax excludes the following exceptional
items
For the six months ended
30 September 2025 30 September 2024
Profit before tax 656 178
Add: Exceptional items
Finance costs
- Derivative and foreign exchange losses
Nigerian naira - 231
- 231
Underlying profit before tax 656 409
Underlying profit after tax excludes the following exceptional items:
( )
For the six months ended
30 September 2025 30 September 2024
Profit after tax 376 79
-Exceptional items (as above) - 231
- Tax on above exceptional items
Nigerian naira - (80)
- 151
Underlying profit after tax 376 230
Profit attributable to non-controlling interests include benefit of Nil and
$0m during the six months ended 30 September 2025 and 30 September 2024
respectively, relating to the above exceptional items.
9. Earnings per share ('EPS')
The details used in the computation of basic EPS:
For the six months ended
30 September 2025 30 September 2024
Profit for the period attributable to owners of the company 303 31
Weighted average ordinary shares outstanding for basic EPS (number of shares) 3,654,151,266 3,726,752,375
Basic earnings per share 8.3 cents 0.8 cents
The details used in the computation of diluted EPS:
For the six months ended
30 September 2025 30 September 2024
Profit for the period attributable to owners of the company 303 31
Weighted average ordinary shares outstanding for diluted EPS((1)) (number of 3,661,843,041 3,731,482,789
shares)
Diluted earnings per share 8.3 cents 0.8 cents
(1) The difference between the basic and diluted number of shares at the end
of September 2025 being 7,691,775 (September 2024: 4,730,414) shares relates
to awards committed but not yet issued under the Group's share-based payment
schemes.
10. Property, plant and equipment ('PPE')
The following table presents the reconciliation of changes in the carrying
value of PPE for the six months ended 30 September 2025 and 30 September 2024:
Leasehold Improvements Building Land Plant and Equipment Furniture & Fixture Vehicles Office Equipment Computer Total Capital work in progress ((2))
Gross carrying value
Balance as of 1 April 2024 44 33 24 2,382 61 21 57 593 3,215 232
Additions / capitalization 0 - - 271 2 0 10 33 316 306
Disposals / adjustments ((1)) (0) - - (4) (0) (0) (1) (1) (6) (316)
Foreign currency translation impact 0 (0) 0 (136) (0) 0 (2) (9) (147) (18)
Balance as of 30 September 2024 44 33 24 2,513 63 21 64 616 3,378 204
Balance as of 1 April 2025 46 51 24 3,138 72 23 82 719 4,155 194
Additions / capitalization 1 - 0 218 2 3 6 13 243 271
Disposals / adjustments ((1)) - - - (44) (0) (0) (0) (400) (444) (243)
Foreign currency translation impact 2 2 2 264 6 0 5 38 319 7
Hyperinflationary impact for the period 0 1 0 19 0 0 0 4 24 0
Balance as of 30 September 2025 49 54 26 3,595 80 26 93 374 4,297 229
Accumulated Depreciation
Balance as of 1 April 2024 38 16 - 704 29 20 43 539 1,388 -
Charge 1 1 - 159 6 0 8 17 192 -
Disposals / adjustments ((1)) (0) - - (3) (0) (0) (2) (2) (7) -
Foreign currency translation impact 0 (0) - (55) 1 0 (1) (7) (62) -
Balance as of 30 September 2024 39 17 - 805 35 20 48 547 1,511 -
Balance as of 1 April 2025 41 30 - 1,236 46 22 63 631 2,069 -
Charge 1 2 - 192 6 0 8 8 217 -
Disposals / adjustments ((1)) (0) - - (40) (0) (0) (0) (341) (381) -
Foreign currency translation impact 2 1 - 179 5 0 5 33 225 -
Hyperinflationary impact for the period 0 1 - 15 0 0 0 4 20 -
Balance as of 30 September 2025 44 34 - 1,582 57 22 76 335 2,150 -
As of 1 April 2025, 5 21 24 1,902 26 1 19 88 2,086 194
As of 30 September 2025, 5 20 26 2,013 23 4 17 39 2,147 229
-
(1) Related to the reversal of gross carrying value and accumulated
depreciation on retirement/ disposal of PPE and reclassification from one
category of asset to another. During the six months ended 30 September 2025,
the Group has reclassified Intangibles amounting to $59m (gross carrying
value: $86m, and accumulated amortisation: $27m) from property plant and
equipment to other intangible assets.
(2) The carrying value of capital work-in-progress as of 30 September 2025
and 30 September 2024 mainly pertains to plant and equipment.
11. Goodwill
The following table presents the reconciliation of changes in the carrying
value of goodwill for the six months ended 30 September 2025 and 30 September
2024
Goodwill
Balance as of 1 April 2024 2,569
Foreign currency translation impact (38)
Balance as of 30 September 2024 2,531
Balance as of 1 April 2025 3,008
Foreign currency translation impact 107
Hyperinflationary impact for the period 30
Balance as of 30 September 2025 3,145
12. Cash and bank balances
Cash and cash equivalents As of
30 September 2025 31 March 2025
Balances with banks
- On current accounts 291 269
- Bank deposits with original maturity of three months or less 198 116
- On settlement account 10 8
Balance held in wallets 127 156
Remittance in transit 7 2
Cash on hand 1 1
634 552
Other bank balances
As of
30 September 2025 31 March 2025
Term deposits with banks with original maturity of 93 76
more than three months but less than 12 months
Margin money deposits ((1)) 5 5
Unpaid dividend 0 0
98 81
(1) Margin money deposits represent amount given as collateral
for legal cases and/or bank guarantees for disputed matters.
For the purpose of the statement of cash flows, cash and cash equivalents are
as follows:
As of
30 September 2025 30 September 2024
Cash and cash equivalents as per statement of financial position 634 406
Balance held under mobile money trust 1,155 830
Bank overdraft (333) (472)
1,456 764
13. Share capital
As of
30 September 2025 31 March 2025
Issued, subscribed and fully paid-up shares
3,656,302,633 ordinary shares of $0.50 each 1,828 1,835
(March 2025: 3,670,529,876)
1,828 1,835
Terms/rights attached to equity shares
· The company has only one class of ordinary equity shares having
par value of $0.50 per share. Each holder of equity shares is entitled to cast
one vote per share and carry a right to dividends.
14. Borrowings
Non-current
As of
30 September 2025 31 March 2025
Secured
Term loans((1)) 296 237
296 237
Unsecured
Term loans((1)) 973 989
973 989
1,269 1,226
Current
As of
30 September 2025 31 March 2025
Secured
Term loans((1)) 66 55
66 55
Unsecured
Term loans((1)) 684 596
Bank overdraft 333 444
1,017 1,040
1,083 1,095
((1)) Includes debt origination costs.
15. Investment in Subsidiaries
Summarised income statement of the principal subsidiaries having material
non-controlling interests is as follows:
A. Airtel Mobile Commerce B.V. sub-group (i.e. including subsidiaries of
AMCBV)
For the six months ended
30 September 2025 30 September 2024
Revenue 620 464
Net profit 188 148
Other comprehensive gain/(loss) 17 (0)
Total comprehensive income 205 148
% of ownership interest held by NCI ((1)) 22% 22%
Profit allocated to NCI 39 31
(1) The NCI in AMCBV of 22.11% (September 2024: 22.11%) excludes the
profit $12m attributed to NCI (September 2024: $10m) in the subsidiaries
within the AMCBV group (i.e. Tanzania, Niger, and the Republic of the Congo.).
B. Airtel Tanzania Public Limited Company
For the six months ended
30 September 2025 30 September 2024
Revenue 181 151
Net profit/(loss) 15 (2)
Other comprehensive gain/(loss) 13 (8)
Total comprehensive income/(loss) 28 (10)
% of ownership interest held by NCI 49% 49%
Net Profit/(loss) allocated to NCI 7 (1)
C. Airtel Malawi Plc
For the six months ended
30 September 2025 30 September 2024
Revenue 111 81
Net profit 13 16
Other comprehensive loss (32) (0)
Total comprehensive (loss)/income (18) 16
% of effective ownership interest held by NCI 20% 20%
Net profit allocated to NCI 3 3
16. Contingent liabilities and commitments
(i) Contingent liabilities
As of
30 September 2025 31 March 2025
(a) Taxes, duties and other demands (under adjudication / appeal / dispute)
-Income tax 30 24
-Value added tax 29 25
-Customs duty & Excise duty 12 8
-Other miscellaneous demands 11 10
(b) Claims under legal and regulatory cases including 106 81
arbitration matters
188 148
The increase of $40m in contingent liabilities during the six months ended 30
September 2025 is primarily on account of new demands in income tax, value
added tax, legal case, regulatory cases and other taxes in some of the
subsidiaries of the group offset by settlement of a legal case in one of the
subsidiaries of the Group.
Claims under legal and regulatory cases including arbitration matter
During the six months ended 30 September 2025, one of the subsidiaries of the
Group has been informed by it's banking partner of cancellation of its
historical foreign currency allocation by the central bank, which were swapped
to spot at a fee with this bank. Accordingly, subsequent to the period end the
bank has unilaterally charged the subsidiary's account by $66m (including
interest thereon amounting to $17m) for the reversal of this allocation. The
Group is of the view that the subsidiary's liability ended upon the execution
of the spot forex contract and any repayment obligation not expressly agreed
is un-enforceable under local banking regulations. This view is also supported
by the lawyers of the Group. Accordingly, the subsidiary has initiated an
arbitration proceeding and sought a court injunction for reversal of the
unilateral charge. The Group has disclosed this matter as a contingent
liability. No provision has been made against this matter.
In addition to the individual matters disclosed above, in the ordinary course
of business, the Group is a defendant or co-defendant in various litigations
and claims which are immaterial individually
Guarantees:
Guarantees outstanding as of 30 September 2025 and 31 March 2025 amounting to
$9m and $13m respectively have been issued by banks and financial institutions
on behalf of the Group. These guarantees include certain financial bank
guarantees which have been given for sub-judice matters and the amounts with
respect to these have been disclosed under capital commitments, contingencies
and liabilities, as applicable, in compliance with the applicable accounting
standards.
Commitments
Capital Commitments
The Group has contractual commitments towards capital expenditure (net of
related advances paid) of $543m and $303m as of 30 September 2025 and 31 March
2025 respectively.
17. Related Party disclosure
a) List of related parties
i) Parent company
Airtel Africa Mauritius Limited
ii) Intermediate parent entities
Network i2i Limited
Bharti Airtel Limited
Bharti Telecom Limited
iii) Ultimate controlling entity
Bharti Enterprises (Holding) Private Limited. It is held by private trusts of
Bharti family, with Mr. Sunil Bharti Mittal's family trust effectively
controlling the company.
iv) Associate:
Seychelles Cable Systems Company Limited
v) Joint Venture
Mawezi RDC S.A.
vi) Other entities with whom transactions have taken place during the
reporting period
a. Fellow subsidiaries
Nxtra Data Limited
Bharti Airtel Services Limited
Bharti International (Singapore) Pte Ltd
Bharti Airtel (UK) Limited
Bharti Airtel (France) SAS
Bharti Airtel Lanka (Private) Limited (till June 2024)
Bharti Hexacom Limited
Xtelify Limited
b. Other related parties
Singapore Telecommunication Limited
Bharti Global Limited
Emtel Limited
Bharti Axa Life Insurance Company Limited
vii) Key Management Personnel ('KMP')
a) Executive directors
Olusegun Ogunsanya (till June 2024)
Sunil Taldar (w.e.f. 1 July 2024)
Jaideep Paul (till 9 July 2025)
Kamal Dua (w.e.f. 9 July 2025)
b) Non-Executive directors
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Awuneba Ajumogobia
John Danilovich (retired w.e.f. 3 July 2024)
Andrew James Green
Akhil Gupta (till 9 July 2025)
Shravin Bharti Mittal
Annika Poutiainen
Ravi Rajagopal
Tsega Gebreyes
Paul Thomas Arkwright (since May 2024)
Gopal Vittal (since October 2024)
Cynthia Gordon (since 1 April 2025)
c) Others
Ian Basil Ferrao
Razvan Ungureanu
Daddy Mukadi Bujitu
Ramakrishna Lella
Rogany Ramiah
Stephen Munyao Nthenge
Anthony Shiner (till June 2024)
Apoorva Mehrotra
Carl Cruz (till November 2024)
Rohit Marwha (since April 2024)
Sunil Taldar (till June 2024)
Dinesh Balsingh (since November 2024)
Anwar Soussa
Martin Frechette
Oliver Fortuin
Jacques Barkhuizen
(b) The summary of significant transactions with the related parties for the
six months ended 30 September 2025 and 30 September 2024 respectively are
provided below:-
For the six months ended
30 September 2025 30 September 2024
Sales/rendering of services
Bharti Airtel (UK) Limited 25 38
Purchase/receiving of services
Bharti Airtel (France) SAS 6 8
Bharti Airtel (UK) Limited 11 15
Bharti Airtel Limited 5 5
Xtelify Limited 4 -
Dividend paid
Bharti Airtel Mauritius Limited 89 75
(c) Key management compensation ('KMP')
KMP are those persons having authority and responsibility for planning,
directing and controlling the activities of the Group, directly or indirectly,
including any director, whether executive or otherwise. For the Group, these
include executive committee members. Remuneration to KMP were as follows:
For the six months ended
30 September 2025 30 September 2024
Short-term employee benefits 5 6
Performance linked incentive 2 2
Share-based payment 3 3
Other long term benefits 1 1
Other benefits 1 1
12 13
18. Fair Value of financial assets and liabilities
The details as to the carrying value, fair value and the level of fair value
measurement hierarchy of the group's financial instruments are as follows:
Carrying value as of Fair value as of
30 September 2025 31 March 2025 30 September 2025 31 March 2025
Financial assets
FVTPL
Derivatives
- Forward and option Level 2 0 1 0 1
contracts
Investments Level 2 0 0 0 0
Amortised cost
Trade receivables 200 203 200 203
Cash and cash equivalents 634 552 634 552
Other bank balances 98 81 98 81
Balance held under mobile money trust 1,155 952 1,155 952
Other financial assets 95 77 95 77
2,182 1,866 2,182 1,866
Financial liabilities
FVTPL
Derivatives
- Forward and option Level 2 17 10 17 10
contracts
- Embedded derivatives Level 2 0 0 0 0
Amortised cost
Long term borrowings - fixed rate Level 2 601 592 590 588
Long term borrowings - floating rate 668 634 668 634
Short term borrowings 1,083 1,095 1,083 1,095
Put option liability Level 3 530 542 535 544
Trade payables 558 485 558 485
Mobile money wallet balance 1,120 928 1,120 928
Other financial liabilities 628 599 628 599
5,205 4,885 5,199 4,883
The following methods/assumptions were used to estimate the fair values:
· The carrying value of bank deposits, trade receivables, trade
payables, balance held under mobile money trust, mobile money wallet balance,
short-term borrowings, other current financial assets and liabilities
approximate their fair value mainly due to the short-term maturities of these
instruments.
· Fair value of quoted financial instruments is based on quoted
market price at the reporting date.
· The fair value of non-current financial assets, long-term
borrowings and other financial liabilities is estimated by discounting future
cash flows using current rates applicable to instruments with similar terms,
currency, credit risk and remaining maturities.
· The fair values of derivatives are estimated by using pricing
models, wherein the inputs to those models are based on readily observable
market parameters. The valuation models used by the Group reflect the
contractual terms of the derivatives (including the period to maturity), and
market-based parameters such as interest rates, foreign exchange rates,
volatility etc. These models do not contain a high level of subjectivity as
the valuation techniques used do not require significant judgement and inputs
thereto are readily observable. For details pertaining to valuation of cross
currency swaps, please refer to level 3 details below.
· The fair value of the put option liability to buy back the stake
held by non-controlling interest in AMC BV is measured at the present value of
the redemption amount (i.e. expected cash outflows). Since, the liability will
be based on fair value of the equity shares of AMC BV (subject to a cap) at
the end of 60 months, the expected cash flows are estimated by determining the
projected equity valuation of the AMC BV at the end of 60 months expiring in
July 2026 and applying a cap thereon. The figure in the above table reflects
the maximum payable under the agreement.
During the six months ended 30 September 2025 and year ended 31 March 2025
there were no transfers between Level 1 and Level 2 fair value measurements,
and no transfer into or out of Level 3 fair value measurements.
The following table describes the key inputs used in the valuation (basis
discounted cash flow technique) of the Level 2 financial assets/liabilities as
of 30 September 2025 and 31 March 2025:
Financial assets / liabilities Inputs used
- Currency swaps, forward and option contracts and other bank balances Forward foreign currency exchange rates, Interest rate
- Interest rate swaps Prevailing / forward interest rates in market, Interest rate
- Embedded derivatives Prevailing interest rates in market, inflation rates
- Other financial assets / fixed rate borrowing / other financial Prevailing interest rates in market, Future payouts, Interest rates
liabilities
Key inputs for level 3
The fair value of cross currency swap (CCS) has been estimated based on the
contractual terms of the CCS and parameters such as interest rates, foreign
exchange rates etc. Since the data from any observable markets in respect of
interest rates is not available, the interest rates are considered to be
significant unobservable inputs to the valuation of this CCS.
Reconciliation of fair value measurements categorised within level 3 of the
fair value hierarchy - Financial Assets/(Liabilities) (net)
• Cross Currency Swaps ('CCS')
For the six months ended
30 September 2025 30 September 2024
Opening Balance - (155)
Recognized in finance costs in profit and loss (unrealised) - (38)
Payment of Interest - 5
Payment on Maturity - 100
Foreign currency translation impact recognized in OCI - 26
Closing Balance - (62)
• Put option liability
For the six months ended
30 September 2025 30 September 2024
Opening Balance (542) (552)
Remeasurement of liability (refer note 4(c)) 6 -
Liability de-recognized by crediting transaction with NCI reserve 9 15
Recognized in finance costs in profit and loss (unrealised) (3) (1)
Closing Balance (530) (539)
19. Events after the balance sheet date
No material subsequent events or transactions have occurred since the date of
statement of financial position except as disclosed below:
· An interim dividend of 2.84 cents per share was approved by the
Board on 27 October 2025 and has not been included as a liability as at 30
September 2025.
Appendix
Additional information pertaining to three months ended 30 September 2025
Condensed Consolidated Statement of Comprehensive Income
(All amounts are in US$ millions unless stated otherwise)
For three months ended
30 September 2025 30 September 2024
Income
Revenue 1,567 1,214
Other income 8 4
1,575 1,218
Expenses
Network operating expenses 296 232
Access charges 62 61
License fee and spectrum usage charges 74 65
Employee benefits expense 88 77
Sales and marketing expenses 208 161
Reversal of impairment loss on financial assets 3 1
Other expenses 76 57
Depreciation and amortisation 255 193
1,062 847
Operating profit 513 371
Finance costs
- Derivative and foreign exchange gain/(loss)
Nigerian naira (55) 109
Other currencies (13) 15
- Other finance costs 206 147
Finance income (7) (4)
Net monetary gain relating to hyperinflationary accounting (1) -
Share of profit for associate and joint venture accounted for using equity 0 (0)
method
Profit before tax 383 104
Tax expense 164 56
Profit for the period 219 48
Profit before tax (as presented above) 383 104
Add: Exceptional items (net) - 109
Underlying profit before tax 383 213
Profit after tax (as presented above) 219 48
Add: Exceptional items (net) - 71
Underlying profit after tax 219 119
Other comprehensive income ('OCI')
Items to be reclassified subsequently to profit or loss:
Net gain/ (loss) due to foreign currency translation differences 108 (8)
Gain on debt instruments at fair value through other comprehensive income - 0
Share of OCI of associate and joint venture accounted for using 1 0
equity method
Losses on cash flow hedges (0) (0)
Cash flow hedges reclassified to profit and loss (0) -
Tax on above (0) 1
109 (7)
For three months ended
30 September 2025 30 September 2024
Items not to be reclassified subsequently to profit or loss:
Re-measurement gain/(loss) on defined benefit plans 1 (1)
Tax on above (0) 0
1 (1)
Other comprehensive income/(loss) for the period 110 (8)
Total comprehensive income for the period 329 40
Profit for the period attributable to: 219 48
Owners of the company 177 24
Non-controlling interests 42 24
Other comprehensive income/(loss) for the period attributable to: 110 (8)
Owners of the company 96 (5)
Non-controlling interests 14 (3)
Total comprehensive income for the period attributable to: 329 40
Owners of the company 273 19
Non-controlling interests 56 21
Alternative performance measures (APMs)
Introduction
In the reporting of financial information, the directors have adopted various
APMs. These measures are not defined by International Financial Reporting
Standards (IFRS) and therefore may not be directly comparable with other
companies APMs, including those in the Group's industry.
APMs should be considered in addition to and are not intended to be a
substitute for, or superior to, IFRS measurements.
Purpose
The directors believe that these APMs assist in providing additional useful
information on the underlying trends, performance and position of the Group.
APMs are also used to enhance the comparability of information between
reporting periods and geographical units (such as like-for-like sales), by
adjusting for non-recurring or uncontrollable factors which affect IFRS
measures, to aid users in understanding the Group's performance. Consequently,
APMs are used by the directors and management for performance analysis,
planning, reporting and incentive-setting purposes.
The directors believe the following metrics to be the APMs used by the Group
to help evaluate growth trends, establish budgets and assess operational
performance and efficiencies. These measures provide an enhanced understanding
of the Group's results and related trends, therefore increasing transparency
and clarity into the core results of the business.
The following metrics are useful in evaluating the Group's operating
performance:
APM Closest equivalent IFRS measure Adjustments to reconcile to IFRS measure Definition and purpose
EBITDA(1) and margin Operating profit · Depreciation and amortisation The Group defines EBITDA as operating profit/(loss) for the period before
depreciation and amortisation.
The Group defines EBITDA margin as EBITDA divided by revenue.
EBITDA and margin are measures used by the directors to assess the trading
performance of the business and are therefore the measure of segment profit
that the Group presents under IFRS. EBITDA and margin are also presented on a
consolidated basis because the directors believe it is important to consider
profitability on a basis consistent with that of the Group's operating
segments. When presented on a consolidated basis, EBITDA and margin are APMs.
Depreciation and amortisation is a non-cash item which fluctuates depending on
the timing of capital investment and useful economic life. Directors believe
that a measure which removes this volatility improves comparability of the
Group's results period on period and hence is adjusted to arrive at EBITDA and
margin.
Underlying profit / (loss) before tax Profit / (loss) before tax · Exceptional items The Group defines underlying profit/(loss) before tax as profit/(loss) before
tax adjusted for exceptional items.
The directors view underlying profit/(loss) before tax to be a meaningful
measure to analyse the Group's profitability.
Effective tax rate Reported tax rate · Exceptional items The Group defines effective tax rate as reported tax rate (reported tax charge
divided by reported profit before tax) adjusted for exceptional items, foreign
· Foreign exchange rate movements exchange rate movements and one-off tax items of prior period adjustment, tax
settlements, impact of hyperinflationary accounting and impact of permanent
· One-off tax impact of prior period, tax litigation settlement, impact differences on tax.
of hyperinflationary accounting and impact of tax on permanent differences
This provides an indication of the current on-going tax rate across the Group.
Foreign exchange rate movements are specific items that are non-tax deductible
in a few of the entities which are loss making and/or where DTA is not yet
triggered and hence are considered to hinder comparison of the Group's
effective tax rate on a period-to-period basis and therefore excluded to
arrive at effective tax rate.
One-off tax impact on account of prior period adjustment, any tax litigation
settlement, impact of hyperinflationary accounting and tax impact on permanent
differences are additional specific items that because of their size and
frequency in the results, are considered to hinder comparison of the Group's
effective tax rate on a period-to-period basis.
Underlying profit/(loss) after tax Profit/(loss) for the period · Exceptional items The Group defines underlying profit/(loss) after tax as profit/(loss) for the
period adjusted for exceptional items.
The directors view underlying profit/(loss) after tax to be a meaningful
measure to analyse the Group's profitability.
Earnings per share before exceptional items EPS · Exceptional items The Group defines earnings per share before exceptional items as profit/(loss)
for the period before exceptional items attributable to owners of the company
divided by the weighted average number of ordinary shares in issue during the
financial period.
This measure reflects the earnings per share before exceptional items for each
share unit of the company.
Earnings per share before exceptional items and derivative and foreign EPS · Exceptional items The Group defines earnings per share before exceptional items and derivative
exchange losses
and foreign exchange losses as profit/(loss) for the period before exceptional
· Derivative and foreign exchange losses items and derivative and foreign exchange losses (net of tax) attributable to
owners of the company divided by the weighted average number of ordinary
shares in issue during the financial period.
This measure reflects the earnings per share before exceptional items and
derivative and foreign exchange losses for each share unit of the company.
Derivative and foreign exchange losses are due to revaluation of US dollar
balance sheet liabilities and derivatives as a result of currency devaluation.
Operating free cash flow Cash generated from operating activities · Income tax paid The Group defines operating free cash flow as net cash generated from
operating activities before income tax paid, changes in working capital, other
· Changes in working capital non-cash items, non-operating income, exceptional items and after capital
expenditures. The Group views operating free cash flow as a key liquidity
· Other non-cash items measure, as it indicates the cash available to pay dividends, repay debt or
make further investments in the Group.
· Non-operating income
· Exceptional items
· Capital expenditures
Net debt and leverage ratio · Borrowings · Lease liabilities
· Operating profit · Cash and cash equivalent The Group defines net debt as borrowings, including lease liabilities less
cash and cash equivalents, term deposits with banks, deposits given against
· Term deposits with banks borrowings/non-derivative financial instruments, processing costs related to
borrowings and fair value hedge adjustments.
· Deposits given against borrowings/ non-derivative financial instruments
The Group defines leverage ratio as net debt divided by EBITDA for the
· Fair value hedges preceding 12 months.
The directors view net debt and the leverage ratio to be meaningful measures
to monitor the Group's ability to cover its debt through its earnings.
Lease- adjusted leverage · Borrowings · Cash and cash equivalent The Group defines lease-adjusted leverage ratio as Lease-adjusted net debt
divided by Lease-adjusted EBITDA (EBITDAaL) for the preceding 12 months,
· Operating profit · Term deposits with banks where:
· Deposits given against borrowings/ non-derivative financial - Lease-adjusted net debt is defined as borrowings excluding lease
instruments liabilities less cash and cash equivalents, term deposits with banks, deposits
given against borrowings/non-derivative financial instruments, processing
· Fair value hedges costs related to borrowings and fair value hedge adjustments.
· Depreciation and amortisation - Lease-adjusted EBITDA is defined as operating profit/(loss) for
the period before depreciation and amortisation less principal repayments due
· Principal repayments due on right-of-use assets on right-of-use assets during the period and interest on lease liabilities
· Interest on lease liabilities Lease-adjusted leverage is a prominent metric used by debt rating agencies and
the capital markets. This APM reduces the volatility in the leverage ratio
associated with lease accounting under IFRS16, improves comparability between
periods and reflects the Group's financial market debt position.
Accordingly, the Directors view lease adjusted leverage as a meaningful
measure to analyse the Group's performance.
Return on capital employed No direct equivalent · Exceptional items to arrive at EBIT The Group defines return on capital employed ('ROCE') as EBIT divided by
average capital employed.
The directors view ROCE as a financial ratio that measures the Group's
profitability and the efficiency with which its capital is being utilised.
The Group defines EBIT as operating profit/(loss) for the period.
Capital employed is defined as sum of equity attributable to owners of the
company (grossed up for put option provided to minority shareholders to
provide them liquidity as part of the sale agreements executed with them
during year ended 31 March 2022), non-controlling interests and net debt.
Average capital employed is average of capital employed at the closing and
beginning of the relevant period.
For quarterly computations, ROCE is calculated by dividing EBIT for the
preceding 12 months by the average capital employed (being the average of the
capital employed averages for the preceding four quarters).
(1)Underlying EBITDA was disclosed in prior year (FY25) instead of EBITDA
given that there were exceptional items impacting operating profit/(loss). In
H1'26 as well as H1'25 there are no exceptional items impacting operating
profit/(loss). Therefore, we have used EBITDA instead of Underlying EBITDA,
which is not a new APM.
Some of the Group's IFRS measures and APMs are translated at constant currency
exchange rates to measure the organic performance of the Group. In determining
the percentage change in constant currency terms, both current and previous
financial reporting period's results have been converted using exchange rates
prevailing as on 31 March 2025 for all countries. Reported currency percentage
change is derived based on the average actual periodic exchange rates for that
financial period. Variances between constant currency and reported currency
percentages are due to exchange rate movements between the previous financial
reporting period and the current period. The constant currency numbers only
reflect the retranslation of reported numbers into exchange rates as of 31
March 2025 and are not intended to represent the wider impact that currency
changes have on the business.
Reconciliation between GAAP and alternative performance measures (APMs)
Table A: EBITDA and margin
Description Unit of measure Half year ended
September 2025 September 2024
Operating profit $m 959 706
Add:
Depreciation and amortisation $m 488 381
EBITDA $m 1,447 1,087
Revenue $m 2,982 2,370
EBITDA margin (%) % 48.5% 45.8%
Table B: Underlying profit before tax
Description Unit of measure Half year ended
September 2025 September 2024
Profit before tax $m 656 178
Finance cost - exceptional items $m - 231
Underlying profit before tax $m 656 409
Table C: Effective tax rate
Description Unit of measure Half year ended
September 2025 Sep
tem
ber
202
4
Profit before taxation Income tax expense Tax rate % Profit before taxation Income tax expense Tax rate %
Reported effective tax rate (after EI) $m 656 280 42.8% 178 99 55.5%
Exceptional items (provided below) $m - - 231 80
Reported effective tax rate (before EI) $m 656 280 42.8% 409 179 43.7%
Adjusted for:
Foreign exchange rate movement for loss making entity and/or non-DTA operating $m 5 - 13 -
companies and holding companies
One-off adjustment and tax on permanent differences $m 6 (15) - (9)
Effective tax rate $m 667 265 39.8% 422 170 40.3%
a
Exceptional items
Derivative and foreign exchange rate losses $m - - 231 80
Total $m - - 231 80
Exceptional items
Derivative and foreign exchange rate losses
$m
-
-
231
80
Total
$m
-
-
231
80
a. $80m exceptional tax gain in the prior period, i.e. half year period
ended 30 September 2024 is tax gain corresponding to $231m derivative and
foreign exchange losses following Nigerian naira devaluation.
Table D: Underlying profit after tax
Description Unit of measure Half year ended
September 2025 September 2024
Profit after tax $m 376 79
Finance cost - exceptional items $m - 231
Tax exceptional items $m - (80)
Underlying profit after tax $m 376 230
Table E: Earnings per share before exceptional items
Description Unit of Half year ended
measure
September 2025 September 2024
Profit for the period attributable to owners of the company $m 303 31
Finance cost - exceptional items $m - 231
Tax exceptional items $m - (80)
Non-controlling interest on exceptional items $m - (0)
Profit for the period attributable to owners of the company- $m 303 182
before exceptional items
Weighted average number of ordinary shares in issue during the million 3,654 3,727
financial period.
Earnings per share before exceptional items cents 8.3 4.9
Table F: Earnings per share before exceptional items and derivative and
foreign exchange losses
Description Unit of measure Half year ended
September 2025 September 2024
Profit for the period attributable to owners of the company $m 303 31
Finance cost - exceptional items $m - 231
Tax exceptional items $m - (80)
Non-controlling interest exceptional items $m - (0)
Profit for the period attributable to owners of the company- before $m 303 182
exceptional items
Derivative and foreign exchange (gain)/losses (excluding exceptional items) $m (90) 29
Tax on derivative and foreign exchange gain/(losses) (excluding exceptional $m 31 (5)
items)
Non-controlling interest on derivative and foreign exchange gain/(losses) $m 8 (6)
(excluding exceptional items) - net of tax
Profit for the period attributable to owners of the company- before $m 252 200
exceptional items and derivative and foreign exchange losses
Weighted average number of ordinary shares in issue during the financial million 3,654 3,727
period
Earnings per share before exceptional items and derivative and foreign cents 6.9 5.4
exchange losses
Table G: Operating free cash flow
Description Unit of measure Half year ended
September 2025 September 2024
Net cash generated from operating activities $m 1,388 979
Add: Income tax paid $m 203 200
Net cash generation from operation before tax $m 1,591 1,179
Less: Changes in working capital
(Decrease)/Increase in trade receivables $m (9) 16
(Decrease)/Increase in inventories $m (6) 6
Increase in trade payables $m (52) (17)
Increase in mobile money wallet balance $m (120) (89)
Decrease in provisions $m 34 6
Increase in deferred revenue $m (21) (4)
Increase in other financial and non-financial liabilities $m (27) (3)
Increase in other financial and non-financial assets $m 63 0
Operating cash flow before changes in working capital $m 1,453 1,094
Other non-cash adjustments $m (6) (7)
EBITDA $m 1,447 1,087
Less: Capital expenditure $m (318) (316)
Operating free cash flow $m 1,129 771
Table H1: Net debt and leverage
Description Unit of measure As of As of As of
September 2025 March 2025 September 2024
Non-current borrowing $m 1,269 1,226 1,123
Current borrowing $m 1,083 1,095 1,096
Add: Processing costs related to borrowings $m 8 9 10
Less: Cash and cash equivalents $m (634) (552) (406)
Less: Term deposits with banks $m (93) (76) (31)
Add: Lease liabilities $m 3,879 3,661 3,363
Net debt $m 5,512 5,363 5,155
EBITDA (LTM) $m 2,664 2,304 2,213
Leverage (LTM) times 2.1x 2.3x 2.3x
Table H2: Lease adjusted net debt and leverage
Description Unit of measure As of As of As of
September 2025 March 2025 September 2024
Non-current borrowing $m 1,269 1,226 1,123
Current borrowing $m 1,083 1,095 1,096
Add: Processing costs related to borrowings $m 8 9 10
Less: Cash and cash equivalents $m (634) (552) (406)
Less: Term deposits with banks $m (93) (76) (31)
Add: Lease liabilities $m 3,879 3,661 3,363
Net debt $m 5,512 5,363 5,155
Less: Lease liabilities $m 3,879 3,661 3,363
Lease adjusted net debt $m 1,633 1,702 1,792
Description Unit of Last twelve month (LTM) ended
measure
September 2025 March 2025 September 2024
Operating profit $m 1,711 1,457 1,461
Add:
Depreciation and amortisation $m 937 831 752
Operating exceptional items $m 16 16 -
Underlying EBITDA $m 2,664 2,304 2,213
Less: Interest on lease liabilities $m 427 319 213
Less: Repayment of lease liabilities $m 184 219 289
Total lease repayments $m 611 538 502
Lease-adjusted underlying EBITDA (EBITDAaL) $m 2,053 1,766 1,711
Description Unit of measure As of As of As of
September 2025 March 2025 September 2024
Lease adjusted underlying EBITDA (EBITDAaL) $m 2,053 1,766 1,711
Lease adjusted Leverage times 0.8x 1.0x 1.0x
Table I: Return on capital employed
Description Unit of Period ended
measure
September 2025 September 2024
Operating profit (LTM) $m 1,711 1,461
Less:
Operating exceptional items $m 16 -
Underlying EBIT (LTM) $m 1,727 1,461
Equity attributable to owners of the company $m 2,749 2,028
Add: Put option given to minority shareholders $m 530 539
Gross equity attributable to owners of the company $m 3,279 2,567
Non-controlling interests (NCI) $m 335 142
Net debt (refer to Table H1) $m 5,512 5,155
Capital employed $m 9,126 7,864
Average capital employed (1) $m 8,495 7,365
Return on capital employed % 20.3% 19.8%
((1)) Average capital employed is calculated as average of capital employed
at closing and opening of relevant period.
Independent review report to Airtel Africa plc
Conclusion
We have been engaged by the company to review the condensed set of financial
statements in the half yearly financial report for the six months ended 30
September 2025, which comprises the interim condensed consolidated statement
of comprehensive income, the interim condensed consolidated statement of
financial position, the interim condensed consolidated statement of changes in
equity, the interim condensed consolidated statement of cash flows and related
notes 1 to 19.
Based on our review, nothing has come to our attention that causes us to
believe that the condensed set of financial statements in the half-yearly
financial report for the six months ended 30 September 2025 is not prepared,
in all material respects, in accordance with United Kingdom adopted
International Accounting Standard 34 and the Disclosure Guidance and
Transparency Rules of the United Kingdom's Financial Conduct Authority.
Basis for conclusion
We conducted our review in accordance with International Standard on Review
Engagements (UK) 2410 "Review of Interim Financial Information Performed by
the Independent Auditor of the Entity" issued by the Financial Reporting
Council for use in the United Kingdom (ISRE (UK) 2410). A review of interim
financial information consists of making inquiries, primarily of persons
responsible for financial and accounting matters, and applying analytical and
other review procedures. A review is substantially less in scope than an audit
conducted in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) and
consequently does not enable us to obtain assurance that we would become aware
of all significant matters that might be identified in an audit. Accordingly,
we do not express an audit opinion.
As disclosed in note 2, the annual financial statements of the group are
prepared in accordance with United Kingdom adopted international accounting
standards. The condensed set of financial statements included in this
half-yearly financial report has been prepared in accordance with United
Kingdom adopted International Accounting Standard 34, "Interim Financial
Reporting".
Conclusion relating to going concern
Based on our review procedures, which are less extensive than those performed
in an audit as described in the Basis for Conclusion section of this report,
nothing has come to our attention to suggest that the directors have
inappropriately adopted the going concern basis of accounting or that the
directors have identified material uncertainties relating to going concern
that are not appropriately disclosed.
This Conclusion is based on the review procedures performed in accordance with
ISRE (UK) 2410; however future events or conditions may cause the entity to
cease to continue as a going concern.
Responsibilities of the directors
The directors are responsible for preparing the half-yearly financial report
in accordance with the Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules of the
United Kingdom's Financial Conduct Authority.
In preparing the half-yearly financial report, the directors are responsible
for assessing the group's ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing
as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern
basis of accounting unless the directors either intend to liquidate the
company or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.
Auditor's responsibilities for the review of the financial information
In reviewing the half-yearly financial report, we are responsible for
expressing to the company a conclusion on the condensed set of financial
statements in the half-yearly financial report. Our Conclusion, including our
Conclusion Relating to Going Concern, are based on procedures that are less
extensive than audit procedures, as described in the Basis for Conclusion
paragraph of this report.
Use of our report
This report is made solely to the company in accordance with ISRE (UK) 2410.
Our work has been undertaken so that we might state to the company those
matters we are required to state to it in an independent review report and for
no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or
assume responsibility to anyone other than the company, for our review work,
for this report, or for the conclusions we have formed.
Deloitte LLP
Statutory Auditor
Birmingham, United Kingdom
27 October 2025
Statement of directors' responsibilities
We confirm that to the best of our knowledge:
a) the condensed set of financial statements has been prepared in
accordance with UK-adopted IAS 34 'Interim Financial Reporting'
b) the interim management report gives a true and fair view of the
assets, liabilities, financial position and profit or loss of the Company;
c) the interim management report includes a fair review of the
information required by DTR 4.2.7R (indication of important events and their
impact during the first six months and description of principal risks and
uncertainties for the remaining six months of the year); and
d) the interim management report includes a fair review of the
information required by DTR 4.2.8R (disclosure of related parties'
transactions and changes therein).
This responsibility statement was approved by the board of directors on 27
October 2025 and is signed on its behalf by:
Sunil Taldar
Chief executive officer
Airtel Africa plc
27 October 2025
Glossary
Technical and industry terms
4G data customer A customer having a 4G handset and who has used at least 1 MB on any of the
Group's GPRS, 3G and 4G network in the last 30 days.
Airtel Money (mobile money) Airtel Money is the brand name for Airtel Africa's mobile money products and
services. The term is used interchangeably with 'mobile money' when referring
to our mobile money business, finance, operations and activities.
Airtel Money ARPU Mobile money average revenue per user per month. This is derived by dividing
total mobile money revenue during the relevant period by the average number of
active mobile money customers and dividing the result by the number of months
in the relevant period.
Airtel Money customer base Total number of active subscribers who have enacted any mobile money usage
event in last 30 days.
Airtel Money customer penetration The proportion of total Airtel Africa active mobile customers who use mobile
money services. Calculated by dividing the mobile money customer base by the
Group's total customer base.
Airtel Money total processed value (TPV) Value of any financial transaction performed on Airtel Africa's mobile money
platform.
Airtel Money TPV per customer per month Calculated by dividing the total mobile money transaction value on the Group's
mobile money platform during the relevant period by the average number of
active mobile money customers and dividing the result by the number of months
in the relevant period.
Airtime credit service A value-added service where the customer can take an airtime credit and
continue to use our voice and data services, with the credit recovered through
subsequent customer recharge. This is classified as a mobile services product
(not a mobile money product).
ARPU Average revenue per user per month. This is derived by dividing total revenue
during the relevant period by the average number of customers during the
period and dividing the result by the number of months in the relevant period.
Capital expenditure An alternative performance measure (non-GAAP). Defined as investment in gross
fixed assets (both tangible and intangible but excluding spectrum and
licences) plus capital work in progress (CWIP), excluding provisions on CWIP
for the period.
Constant currency The Group has presented certain financial information that is calculated by
translating the results at a fixed 'constant currency' exchange rate, which is
done to measure the organic performance of the Group and represents the
performance of the business in a better way. Constant currency amounts and
growth rates are calculated using closing exchange rates as of 31 March 2025
for all reporting regions and service segments.
Customer Defined as a unique active subscriber with a unique mobile telephone number
who has used any of Airtel's services in the last 30 days.
Customer base The total number of active subscribers that have used any of our services
(voice calls, SMS, data usage or mobile money transaction) in the last 30
days.
Data ARPU Data average revenue per user per month. Data ARPU is derived by dividing
total data revenue during the relevant period by the average number of data
customers and dividing the result by the number of months in the relevant
period.
Data customer base The total number of subscribers who have consumed at least 1 MB on the Group's
GPRS, 3G or 4G network in the last 30 days.
Data customer penetration The proportion of customers using data services. Calculated by dividing the
data customer base by the total customer base.
Data usage per customer per month Calculated by dividing the total data consumed on the Group's network during
the relevant period by the average data customer base over the same period and
dividing the result by the number of months in the relevant period.
Digitalisation We use the term digitalisation in its broadest sense to encompass both
digitisation actions and processes that convert analogue information into a
digital form and thereby bring customers into the digital environment and the
broader digitalisation processes of controlling, connecting and planning
processes digitally; the processes that effect digital transformation of our
business and of industry, economics and society as a whole through bringing
about new business models, socio-economic structures and organisational
patterns.
Diluted earnings per share Diluted EPS is calculated by adjusting the profit for the period attributable
to the shareholders and the weighted average number of shares considered for
deriving basic EPS, for the effects of all the shares that could have been
issued upon conversion of all dilutive potential shares. The dilutive
potential shares are adjusted for the proceeds receivable had the shares
actually been issued at fair value. Further, the dilutive potential shares are
deemed converted as at beginning of the period, unless issued at a later date
during the period.
Earnings per share (EPS) EPS is calculated by dividing the profit for the period attributable to the
owners of the company by the weighted average number of ordinary shares
outstanding during the period.
Foreign exchange rate movements for non-DTA operating companies Foreign exchange rate movements are specific items that are non-tax deductible
in a few of our operating entities, hence these hinder a like-for-like
and holding companies comparison of the Group's effective tax rate on a period-to-period basis and
are therefore excluded when calculating the effective tax rate.
Indefeasible Rights of Use (IRU) A standard long-term leasehold contractual agreement that confers upon the
holder the exclusive right to use a portion of the capacity of a fibre route
for a stated period.
Information and communication technologies (ICT) ICT refers to all communication technologies, including the internet, wireless
networks, cell phones, computers, software, middleware, videoconferencing,
social networking and other media applications and services.
Interconnect usage charges (IUC) Interconnect usage charges are the charges paid to the telecom operator on
whose network a call is terminated.
Lease liability Lease liability represents the present value of future lease payment
obligations.
Market debt Market debt is defined as borrowings from banks or financial institutions and
debt capital market issuances in the form of bonds.
Minutes of usage Minutes of usage refer to the duration in minutes for which customers use the
Group's network for making and receiving voice calls. It includes all incoming
and outgoing call minutes, including roaming calls.
Mobile services Mobile services are our core telecom services, mainly voice and data services,
but also including revenue from tower operation services provided by the Group
and excluding mobile money services.
Net debt An alternative performance measure (non-GAAP). The Group defines net debt as
borrowings, including lease liabilities less cash and cash equivalents, term
deposits with banks, processing costs related to borrowings and fair value
hedge adjustments.
Net debt to EBITDA (LTM) An alternative performance measure (non-GAAP) Calculated by dividing net debt
as at the end of the relevant period by EBITDA for the preceding 12 months
(from the end of the relevant period). This is also referred to as the
leverage ratio.
Lease-adjusted Net Debt An alternative performance measure (non-GAAP). The Group defines
Lease-adjusted net debt as borrowings excluding lease liabilities less cash
and cash equivalents, term deposits with banks, processing costs related to
borrowings and fair value hedge adjustments.
Lease adjusted leverage (LTM) An alternative performance measure (non-GAAP) Calculated by dividing
Lease-adjusted net debt as at the end of the relevant period by Lease-adjusted
EBITDA (EBITDAaL) for the preceding 12 months (from the end of the relevant
period).
Net monetary gain relating to hyperinflationary accounting Net monetary gain relating to hyperinflationary accounting is computed as
difference resulting from the restatement of non-monetary net assets, equity
and items in the statement of comprehensive income due to application of IAS
29 hyperinflationary accounting.
Network towers or 'sites' Physical network infrastructure comprising a base transmission system (BTS)
which holds the radio transceivers (TRXs) that define a cell and coordinates
the radio link protocols with the mobile device. It includes all ground-based,
roof top and in-building solutions.
Operating company (OpCo) Operating company (or OpCo) is a defined corporate business unit, providing
telecoms services and mobile money services in the Group's footprint.
Operating free cash flow An alternative performance measure (non-GAAP). Calculated by subtracting
capital expenditure from EBITDA.
Operating profit Operating profit is a GAAP measure of profitability. Calculated as revenue
less operating expenditure (including depreciation and amortisation and
operating exceptional items).
Other revenue Other revenue includes revenues from messaging, value added services (VAS),
enterprise, site sharing and handset sale revenue.
Reported currency Our reported currency is US dollars. Accordingly, actual periodic exchange
rates are used to translate the local currency financial statements of OpCos
into US dollars. Under reported currency the assets and liabilities are
translated into US dollars at the exchange rates prevailing at the reporting
date whereas the statements of profit and loss are translated into US dollars
at monthly average exchange rates.
Smartphone A smartphone is defined as a mobile phone with an interactive touch screen
that allows the user to access the internet and additional data applications,
providing additional functionality to that of a basic feature phone which is
used only for making voice calls and sending and receiving text messages.
Smartphone penetration Calculated by dividing the number of smartphone devices in use by the total
number of customers. For data and mobile money services smartphone
penetration, it is computed by dividing the smartphone devices using these
services to customers using these services.
Data Usage Includes total data consumed (uploaded and downloaded) on the network during
the relevant period.
EBIT Defined as operating profit/(loss) for the period adjusted for exceptional
items.
EBITDA An alternative performance measure (non-GAAP). Defined as operating profit
before depreciation and amortisation.
EBITDA margin An alternative performance measure (non-GAAP). Calculated by dividing EBITDA
for the relevant period by revenue for the relevant period.
Lease-adjusted EBITDA (EBITDAaL) An alternative performance measure (non-GAAP). Defined as operating profit
before depreciation, amortisation, interest on lease liabilities and repayment
of lease liabilities due during the relevant period
Unstructured supplementary service data (USSD) Unstructured supplementary service data (USSD), also known as "quick codes" or
"feature codes", is a communications protocol for GSM mobile operators,
similar to SMS messaging. It has a variety of uses such as WAP browsing,
prepaid callback services, mobile-money services, location-based content
services, menu-based information services and for configuring phones on the
network.
Voice minutes of usage per customer per month Calculated by dividing the total number of voice minutes of usage on the
Group's network during the relevant period by the average number of customers
and dividing the result by the number of months in the relevant period.
Weighted average number of shares The weighted average number of shares is calculated by multiplying the number
of outstanding shares by the portion of the reporting period those shares
covered, doing this for each portion and then summing the total.
Mobile money - wallet services This includes cash-in (deposits)/cash-out (withdrawals) services for mobile
money customers.
Mobile money - payments and transfers This includes P2P money transfers, airtime and bundle recharges, utility bills
and merchant payments, cash collection, corporate bulk payments and
international money transfers.
Mobile money - financial services This includes bank-to-wallet (B2W) and wallet-to-bank (W2B) transfers,
lending, insurance, wealth management and savings products for mobile money
customers.
Mobile money - others revenue This relates to retention revenue received from mobile services.
Abbreviations
2G Second-generation mobile technology
3G Third-generation mobile technology
4G Fourth-generation mobile technology
5G Fifth-generation mobile technology
ARPU Average revenue per user
bn Billion
bps Basis points
B2W Bank to Wallet
CAGR Compound annual growth rate
Capex Capital expenditure
CBN Central Bank of Nigeria
CSR Corporate social responsibility
DTA Deferred Tax Asset
EBIT Earnings before interest and tax
EBITDA Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation
EBITDAaL Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation after lease
payments
EPS Earnings per share
FPPP Financial position and prospects procedures
GAAP Generally accepted accounting principles
GB Gigabyte
HoldCo Holding company
IAS International accounting standards
ICT Information and communication technologies
ICT (Hub) Information communication technology (Hub) IFRS
IFRS International financial reporting standards
IMF International monetary fund
IPO Initial public offering
KPIs Key performance indicators
KYC Know your customer
LTE Long-term evolution (4G technology)
LTM Last 12 months
m Million
MB Megabyte
MI Minority interest (non-controlling interest)
NGO Non-governmental organisation
OpCo Operating company
P2P Person to person
PAYG Pay-as-you-go
QoS Quality of service
RAN Radio access network
SIM Subscriber identification module
Single RAN Single radio access network
SMS Short messaging service
TB Terabyte
TPV Total Processed Value
Telecoms Telecommunications
UoM Unit of measure
USSD Unstructured supplementary service data
W2B Wallet to Bank
1 An explanation of constant currency growth is provided on page 49
2 The term 'transaction value' has been redefined as 'total processed
value.' There is no change to the underlying definition or method of
calculation.
3 Alternative performance measures (APM) are described on page 47.
4 Alternative performance measures (APM) are described on page 47.
5 Alternative performance measures (APM) are described on page 47.
6 Mobile money contribution is based upon mobile money revenue, including
cross-charge revenue from mobile services which is eliminated upon
consolidation.
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