Airtel Africa PLC (LSE:AAF) shares climbed 6.5% in early Tuesday trading after the telecoms company posted a sharp rebound in first-half revenue and profit, hiked its dividend 9% and raised its capex guidance.
Plans for a potential IPO of its Airtel Money unit were said to be on track for the first half of 2026.
Net profit for the FTSE 100 group leapt $376 million from $79 million a year earlier, with the prior period significantly hit by derivative and foreign exchange losses in Nigeria.
The first half of this year also benefited from a $90 million gain largely arising from Nigerian naira appreciation in Q2 and the Central African franc in Q1.
EBITDA grew 33.2% to $1.45 billion, with margins improving to 48.5% from 45.8%.
Growth in mobile data and financial services drove performance as revenue rose 25.8% to $2.98 billion for the six months to 30 September, with data traffic revenues growing 37% to $1.16 billion, overtaking voice as the group’s largest segment.
This was accompanied by a 20% increase in Airtel Money customers to 49.8 million, with over $193 billion in annualised transactions processed during the second quarter.
The group raised its full-year capex guidance to between $875 million and $900 million and declared an interim dividend of 2.84 cents per share, with a previous $100 million share buyback remaining on track.