Airtel Africa Profit Decline by 57 Per Cent

Airtel Africa Plc has attributed the reported 57 per cent decline in its after-tax in the quarter ended June 30, 2020 profit to foreign exchange loss of $19.4m in finance cost and higher tax payments.

Airtel reported $57m profit after tax as against $132m in the corresponding period of 2019, said was as a result of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, added that the restriction on movements imposed as a result of the pandemic impacted customer usage, particularly in voice.

The Indian telecommunication company reported a revenue growth of 6.9 per cent, with constant currency growth of 13 per cent but was partially offset by currency devaluation, mainly in Nigeria (6.9 per cent), Zambia (28.3 per cent) and Kenya (4.4 per cent).

Commenting on the report, Raghunath Mandava, Chief Executive Officer, Airtel Africa, said the business was impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, as restrictions on movements of people and ways of socialising were introduced to contain the spread of the infection affected consumer behaviour.

“COVID-19 impacted customer usage pattern, particularly during the month of April, however, as some of these restrictions started to be lifted, customer usage trends in May and June returned to being broadly consistent with pre-COVID-19 trends.”