Economy
Airtel Africa Grows Earnings to $4.7bn in Nine Months
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
About $4.7 billion was generated by Airtel Africa Plc in nine-month period ended December 31, 2025, details of the company’s financial statements revealed.
The telco disclosed that in the period under review, mobile services revenue grew by 23.3 per cent in constant currency, as data revenues, the largest contributor to group revenues, increased by 36.5 per cent, with voice revenues growing by 13.5 per cent.
In the same vein, EBITDA grew by 35.9 per cent in reported currency to $2.3 billion, with EBITDA margins expanding further to 48.9 per cent from 46.2 per cent in the prior period.
The third quarter of the fiscal year witnessed a further sequential increase in EBITDA margins to 49.6 per cent, driving EBITDA growth of 31.0 per cent in constant currency and 40.8 per cent in reported currency.
The financial results showed that profit after tax of $586 million improved from $248 million in the prior period. Higher profit after tax in the current period was driven by higher operating profit and derivative and foreign exchange gains of $99 million versus the $153 million derivative and foreign exchange losses in the prior period.
Commenting, the chief executive of Airtel Africa, Mr Sunil Taldar, said, “These results highlight the strength of our strategy, with strong operating and financial trends across the business. During the quarter, we accelerated investment to enhance coverage and data capacity while also expanding our fibre network.
“Coupling this investment with innovative partnerships, strengthens our customer proposition and positions us to capture the considerable growth opportunity across our markets.
“Digitisation, technology innovation and embedding AI in our processes will also optimise the customer experience with increased digital offerings and closer integration of GSM and Airtel Money services allowing us to unlock the strong demand across our markets. Smartphone adoption continues to increase with penetration of 48.1 per cent, and we are seeing solid progress in the development of our home broadband business, reflecting the need for reliable, high-speed connectivity across our markets.
“Our push to enhance financial inclusion across the continent continues to gain momentum with our Mobile Money customer base expanding to 52 million, surpassing the 50 million milestone. Annualised total processed value of over $210 billion in Q3’26 underscores the depth of our merchants, agents and partner ecosystem, and remains a key player in driving improved access to financial services across Africa. We remain on track for the listing of Airtel Money in the first half of 2026.
“Disciplined execution on cost efficiency, alongside accelerating revenue growth has enabled another sequential improvement in our quarterly EBITDA margin to 49.6 per cent, – underpinning constant currency EBITDA growth of 31 per cent – and we remain focussed on driving further incremental margin improvements.
“Our strategic priorities remain clear: to keep investing in best in class connectivity, accelerate financial inclusion through our mobile money platform and deliver a great customer experience. These results reinforce our confidence in the long term potential of our markets and our ability to create value for all our stakeholders.”
By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange recorded its best performance this year on Tuesday, June 2, closing higher by 1.89 per cent.
During the session, the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) went up by 81.62 points to 4,406.30 points from the preceding day’s 4,324.68 points, and the market capitalisation added N48.48 billion to close at N2.636 trillion compared with Monday’s N2.587 trillion.
Business Post reports that the bourse recorded five price gainers and one price loser, Geo-Fluid Plc, which fell by 1 Kobo to N2.87 per unit from N2.88 per unit.
Conversely, Nipco Plc gained N31.57 to sell at N347.27 per share versus N315.70 per share, FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc grew by N9.86 to N196.51 per unit from N186.68 per unit, Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc improved by N3.13 to N76.10 per share from N72.97 per share, Food Concepts Plc added 27 Kobo to sell at N2.95 per unit compared with the preceding day’s N2.68 per unit, and UBN Property Plc expanded by 17 Kobo to N2.20 per share from N2.03 per share.
Yesterday, the volume of securities transacted by investors depreciated by 91.4 per cent to 307,363 units from the previous session’s 3.6 million units, and the value of securities dropped 75.9 per cent to N42.8 million from the preceding session’s N177.4 million, while the number of deals went up by 13.5 per cent to 42 deals from Monday’s 37 deals.
At the close of trades, Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc was the most traded stock by value on a year-to-date basis with 3.4 billion units traded for N8.4 billion, followed by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc with 2.3 billion units sold for N6.5 billion, and CSCS Plc with 64.3 million units exchanged for N4.4 billion.
GNI Plc also finished as the most active stock by volume on a year-to-date basis with 3.4 billion units worth N8.4 billion, followed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units valued at N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units sold for N415.7 million.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira further firmed up against the US Dollar by N5.74 or 0.42 per cent in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) on Tuesday, June 2, trading at N1,361.05/$1 compared with the previous day’s N1,366.95/$1.
It was also the same scenario in the official market yesterday, where the Nigerian currency gained 9 Kobo against the Pound Sterling to close at N1,833.19/£1 versus N1,833.28/£1, and against the Euro, it appreciated by N2.73 to sell for N1,584.39/€1 compared with Monday’s rate of N1,587.12/€1.
At the parallel market, the Naira traded flat against the United States Dollar at N1,380/$1, and also closed flat at the GTBank forex counter at N1,378/$1.
Data showed that FX turnover declined to $169.822 million across 168 deals, from $177.927 million in the previous day.
Following the stellar performance witnessed in the first half of 2026, there are expectations that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) will continue to inject FX inflows into the official market, while elevated oil prices in the global commodity market will buoy the country’s FX reserves.
The launch of the fourth edition of the CBN’s Foreign Exchange Manual is also expected to make rules clearer in the country’s financial system, including the introduction of new measures covering imports, exports, travel allowances, trade finance, and foreign remittances as the apex bank seeks to improve transparency and efficiency in the FX market.
In the cryptocurrency market, there was a reversal in spikes seen in April price levels amid a price sell-off triggered by geopolitical uncertainties as well as attractiveness of traditional markets, where stocks are near record highs, and the Dollar index remains rangebound.
Bitcoin (BTC) slipped by 4.1 per cent to $67,352.62, Binance Coin (BNB) slumped by 5.6 per cent to $644.72, Solana (SOL) declined by 5.6 per cent to $75.09, Ethereum (ETH) fell by 5.3 per cent to $1,878.96, and Dogecoin (DOGE) depreciated by 5.2 per cent to $0.0942.
Further, Cardano (ADA) dipped by 3.7 per cent to $0.2158, Ripple (XRP) went down by 2.2 per cent to $1.24, TRON (TRX) dropped 2.0 per cent to sell at $0.3330, the US Dollar Tether (USDT) shed 0.14 per cent to settle at $0.9986, and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) slipped by 0.03 per cent to $0.9997.
By Dipo Olowookere
The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited further weakened by 0.35 per cent on Tuesday due to persistent selling pressure across the key sectors of the bourse.
During the session, the banking index shed 1.63 per cent, the consumer goods space lost 0.50 per cent, the insurance counter declined by 0.44 per cent, and the energy segment slipped by 0.04 per cent, while the industrial goods sector was flat.
Consequently, the All-Share Index (ASI) decreased by 874.00 points to 246,686.66 points from 247,560.66 points, and the market capitalisation went down by N479 billion to N158.219 trillion from N158.698 trillion.
Like the preceding day, investor sentiment was bearish after Customs Street ended with 18 price gainers and 35 price losers, representing a negative market breadth index.
PZ Cussons lost 10.00 per cent to trade at N88.20, CWG also shrank by 10.00 per cent to N21.60, ABC Transport crashed by 9.95 per cent to N6.88, Wema Bank slumped by 9.09 per cent to N30.00, and Sovereign Trust Insurance crumbled by 8.16 per cent to N2.70.
On the flip side, CWG gained 9.86 per cent to finish at N5.46, Trans-Nationwide Express chalked up 7.14 per cent to trade at N5.10, Neimeth appreciated by 6.80 per cent to N11.00, LivingTrust Mortgage Bank rose by 5.00 per cent to N4.20, and Abbey Mortgage Bank improved by 4.44 per cent to N7.05.
A look at the activity log showed that Access Holdings led with 113.1 million shares worth N2.7 billion, Zenith Bank transacted 38.1 million equities valued at N4.8 billion, Consolidated Hallmark exchanged 35.4 million stocks for N243.4 million, Neimeth sold 28.8 million shares worth N298.8 million, and Sterling Holdings traded 28.2 million equities valued at N220.1 million.
At the close of transactions, market participants bought and sold 718.8 million stocks for N29.3 billion in 71,683 deals compared with the 1.1 billion stocks worth N44.3 billion transacted in 91,880 deals a day earlier. This indicated that the trading volume, value, and number of deals depreciated by 34.66 per cent, 33.86 per cent, and 21.98 per cent, respectively.
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