Airtel Money posts $830M half-year revenue, up 25%, declares 6.4¢ dividend after London listing
Airtel Money reported $830 million revenue for the six months ended September 30, 2026 — up 25.1% year-on-year in constant currency — in its first results since listing on the London Stock Exchange earlier this month. Profit after tax rose 21.6% to $228 million, while the customer base grew 18.7% to 56.7 million across its 13 African markets. The board declared an interim dividend of 6.4 US cents per share, representing 81% of attributable profit.
Financial services drove the strongest growth at 44.8% (constant currency), followed by payments and transfers at 29.4% and wallet services at 27.6%. Total transaction value hit $128 billion, up 36.8%. However, underlying EBITDA margin compressed to 48% from 50.8% due to revised intra-group agreements effective July 2025 (270 basis points impact) and a new levy in DRC (60 basis points). Management expects margins to recover in the second half.
The platform now serves 42.9% of Airtel Africa's telecom customers, up 3.2 percentage points. App users surged 64.3% to 4.1 million, agents grew 26.3% to 2.4 million, and merchants jumped 85.5% to over 587,000. Average revenue per user rose 5.1% while monthly transaction value per customer reached $397.
Airtel Money reaffirmed full-year guidance of mid-20% revenue growth in constant currency for the 2027 financial year, with EBITDA margins expected to moderate by up to two percentage points before returning above 50% medium-term. The strategy focuses on expanding digital adoption, growing the distribution network, and adding merchant payments, lending, insurance, savings and wealth management.
With Airtel Money deepening beyond basic wallets into full financial services, will Nigerian users see faster feature rollouts, or will the London listing pressure shift focus toward shareholder returns over local market investment?