Airtel Africa Q1 profits jump 32% to $360M as revenue surges 31% to $1.85B

Airtel Africa reported profit before tax of $360 million for Q1 2026/27 (quarter ended June 30), up 32% from $273 million last year. Revenue surged 31% year-on-year to $1.85 billion, with voice at $640 million (+20.1%), data at $750 million (+36.5%), mobile money at $434 million (+38.9%) and other revenue at $129 million (+19.7%).

Profit after tax reached $198 million (from $156 million) and basic earnings per share rose to 4.4 cents (from 3.4 cents). Customer growth remained strong: mobile users at 189.0 million (+11.6%), data customers at 87.3 million (+15.0%) and mobile money users at 56.5 million (+23.3%). Smartphone penetration hit 51.0%, up 5.2 percentage points year-on-year.

EBITDA increased to $928 million (+36.6%) with margin improving to 50.1% from 48.0%. Operating profit hit $627 million (+40.7%) despite finance costs rising to $269 million due to a $37 million exceptional dispute settlement. Net leverage improved to 1.7x from 2.2x while lease-adjusted leverage fell to 0.5x from 0.9x. Share buybacks saw 10.2 million shares repurchased for $46.6 million.

Airtel Africa shares traded at N5,801.40 on July 22 (flat daily but up 155.6% year-to-date from N2,270.00), giving it N21.8 trillion market cap as NGX's most valuable stock. With digital transformation accelerating across Africa, does Airtel's consistent outperformance signal lasting sector strength, or should investors assess valuation concerns amid rising costs?

SOURCE: https://nairametrics.com/2026/07/23/airtel-africa-plc-reports-360-million-pre-tax-profit-in-q1-2026/