Airtel Money reports a 25 per cent rise in revenue in its first financial statements following its London IPO

NAIROBI – Airtel Money, the mobile money division of the telecoms group Airtel Africa, has recorded a 25 per cent jump in revenue at constant exchange rates in its first financial results since its debut on the London Stock Exchange in mid-October. In the first six months of the 2026–2027 financial year, ending in September, the group posted revenue of $830 million, compared with $620 million in the same period last year.

The rise in revenue has driven an increase in net profit, which rose from 188 million in the same half of last year to 228 million dollars as reported in the financial results published yesterday (+21.6 per cent). The rise in earnings is mainly attributed to the increase in the number of users subscribed to the service, which rose to 56.7 million (+18.7 per cent) across the 13 African countries covered by the mobile payment system. Revenue per user rose by over 5 per cent, again at constant exchange rates, driven by an average transaction value per user of $397 per month. The total value of transactions processed stood at $128 billion (+46.1%) on a half-yearly basis, reaching $280 billion on an annualised basis in the second quarter of 2026.

EBITDA rose by 26.5 per cent to $398 million, but margins narrowed from 50.8 per cent to 48 per cent “thanks” to changes to certain internal agreements and additional taxes introduced in markets such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The company’s chief executive, Ian Basil Ferrao, expects margins to “strengthen” in the second half of the 2026–2027 financial year.

One of the areas for expansion highlighted by Ferrao is the approximately 75 million users of the parent company Airtel Africa who ‘do not yet use Airtel Money’ – a customer base that could bolster the growth prospects of one of the most thriving and widespread technologies on the continent. The ambition is to scale up further, although the company has confirmed to *Il Sole 24 Ore* that – for the time being – there are no plans to enter countries other than those already in its portfolio. Airtel Money faces high-profile competitors such as M-Pesa, which is in turn controlled by the Kenyan company Safaricom.

The company will pay a dividend of 6.4 pence per share, in line with its policy of distributing at least 80 per cent of profits to shareholders. Airtel Money made its debut on the London Stock Exchange on 14 October, with shares priced at £1.96, raising approximately £529 million (between $700 million and $703 million) and achieving a valuation of £5.3 billion or $7 billion: one of the strongest IPOs of the last five years on the London Stock Exchange, breathing new life into a market that had suffered from a dearth of new listings for years. The share price rose by 2.5 per cent in early trading yesterday, before settling at a gain of around 2.3 per cent at the close.