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(Sharecast News) - Airtel Africa shares were in the red on Thursday morning, even after it reported a 31% increase in first-quarter revenue to $1.85bn as constant currency growth of 21.1% was complemented by currency appreciation across its markets.
EBITDA rose 36.6% to $928m, lifting the EBITDA margin to 50.1% from 48.0%, while profit after tax increased 27.0% to $198m and basic earnings per share improved to 4.4cents from 3.4cents.
The FTSE 100 telecoms group said its customer base grew 11.6% to 189.0 million, with mobile money customers rising 23.3% to 56.5 million.
It said it accelerated network investment during the quarter, with capital expenditure rising to $389m from $121m as it added more than 920 sites and expanded its fibre network to 82,100km.
Airtel Africa also confirmed London as its preferred listing venue for the planned IPO of Airtel Money in 2026, while maintaining its share buyback programme after repurchasing 10.2 million shares for $46.6m by the end of June.
Net leverage improved to 1.7 times from 2.2 times, reflecting stronger earnings.
At 0854 BST, shares in Airtel Africa were down 3.95% at 335.2p.
Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.
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