THUR JULY 23 2026-theGBJournal| Airtel Africa Plc (AIRTELAFRI) released its Q1-27 unaudited results today, reporting a 27.9% y/y growth in EPS to USD0.04 (Q1-26: USD0.03).
Earnings performance was underpinned by robust revenue growth (+31.0% y/y) and a 206bps y/y expansion in EBITDA margin to 50.1%, reflecting sustained growth in data consumption, continued subscriber additions, and ongoing benefits from the group’s cost efficiency initiatives.
Revenue in reported currency grew by 31.0%, to $1,853 million, reflecting constant currency growth of 21.1% and macroeconomic tailwinds supporting currency appreciation.
All segments continued to see double-digit constant currency revenue growth, with mobile services revenue growing by 19.1%, and mobile money growing by 25.8%.
Across mobile services, voice continued to see strong constant currency growth of 11.2% and data revenue grew by 27.2%.
In East Africa and Francophone Africa, constant currency revenues grew by 17.8% and 18.0% respectively, while Nigerian revenues grew by 29.8%, fully reflecting the lapping effect of the tariff adjustments which were implemented in Q4’25.
Constant currency EBITDA increased by 24.4%, with reported currency EBITDA of $928m growing by 36.6%.
The Q1’27 EBITDA margin of 50.1%, an increase of 206bps year-on-year, continues to reflect the success of our ongoing cost optimisation programme, despite the recent energy cost inflation arising from geopolitical developments.
Profit after tax of $198 million improved from $156 million in the prior period. Higher profit after tax in the current period was driven by higher operating profit partially offset by derivative and foreign exchange losses of $6 million in the current period compared to $22 million derivative and foreign exchange gains in the prior period.
Furthermore, Profit after tax was impacted by the recognition of an exceptional finance cost of $37 million following an in-principle settlement reached during the quarter in respect of a commercial dispute in one of the Group’s subsidiaries.
”We have started this year with another pleasing performance. Our continued focus on the customer experience translated into accelerating customer base growth across all business segments,” says Sunil Taldar, chief executive officer, on the trading update.
Meanwhile, accelerated network investments drove capex of $389 million, up from $121 million in the prior period.
Supported by an elevated pace of deployment, Airtel added more than 920 sites during the quarter, their highest first-quarter site rollout, while further expanding its fibre network to 82,100 kilometer.
The company said the accelerated investment programme is designed to strengthen network quality, capacity and coverage, enabling it to capture future growth opportunities and enhance customer experience.
Leverage has also improved from 2.2x to 1.7x, with lease-adjusted leverage also improving to 0.5x from 0.9x in the prior period, primarily driven by the improvement in EBITDA.
During the period, the Board approved a share buyback programme to repurchase up to 1% of its issued share capital.
As of 30 June 2026, the company had purchased approximately 10.2 million shares for a total consideration of $46.6 million.
”As we continue to digitise our business, we are streamlining customer journeys, increasing digital adoption and harnessing data and AI to improve service delivery and support a strong, sustainable growth profile.” Taldar said.
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