Economy
Weaker Naira Shrinks Airtel Africa 2025 Revenue by 30.4% to $4.955bn
By Adedapo Adesanya
Top telecommunication service provider, Airtel Africa Plc, saw its revenue fall by 30.4 per cent to $4.955 billion, significantly impacted by derivative and foreign exchange losses, primarily in Nigeria.
According to a report released to the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Thursday, the Profit After Tax (PAT) closed at $328 million for its year ended March 31, 2025, marking a return from an $89 million loss in the preceding year.
Nigeria’s persistent currency depreciation led to declines across all segments. Airtel saw its voice verticals fall by 36.9 per cent year-on-year, data fell by 26.2 per cent, and other services dropped 17.4 per cent year-on-year.
However, in constant currency, revenue grew by 36.4 per cent growth year-on-year, reflecting growth in voice (24.3 per cent in the same period), data (44.5 per cent), and other (58.7 per cent) revenue segments.
The revenue growth was driven by a 4.7 per cent increase in the total subscriber base to 53.32 million (with 1.17 million net additions in the last quarter of the company’s 2025 calender) and strong demand for data services, with data usage per subscriber rising 33.4 per cent year-on-year to 8.4 GB per month.
Airtel’s $4.955 billion grew 21.1 per cent in constant currency but declined by 0.5 per cent in reported currency as currency devaluation impacted reported revenues.
“Strong execution and the tariff adjustments in Nigeria contributed to a further quarter of accelerating growth, with Q4’25 revenue growth of 23.2% in constant currency, and 17.8% in reported currency as currency headwinds eased,” Airtel Africa said.
Across the Group, mobile services revenue grew by 19.6 per cent in constant currency, driven by voice revenue growth of 10.6 per cent and data revenue growth of 30.5 per cent and mobile money revenue grew by 29.9 per cent in constant currency.
EBITDA, which stands for Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortisation, and is used to access a company’s operating performance, declined by 5.1 per cent in reported currency to $2.3 billion with underlying EBITDA margins of 46.5 per cent compared to 48.8 per cent in the prior year, impacted by increased fuel prices and the lower contribution of Nigeria to the Group.
However, following a more stable operating environment and benefits from its cost efficiency programme, underlying EBITDA margins have expanded from 45.3 per cent in the first quarter of 2025 to 47.3 per cent in the last quarter of 2025.
Airtel Africa’s customer base grew by 8.7 per cent to 166.1 million, with its focus on digital inclusion supporting a 4.3 per cent increase in smartphone penetration to 44.8 per cent.
Data customers increased by 14.1 per cent to 73.4million, with data usage per customer increasing by 30.4 per cent to 7.0 GB, supporting data Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) growth of 15.4 per cent in constant currency.
Airtel Money agent network which offers enhanced digital offerings and expanded use cases contributed to a 17.3 per cent increase in mobile money subscribers to 44.6 million and a 11.4 per cent growth in constant currency ARPU.
Speaking on the performance, the chief executive of Airtel Africa, Mr Sunil Taldar, said, “We have reported another strong operating performance as our strategy continues to deliver against the significant opportunity that exists across our markets. The focus on our refreshed strategy has seen continued investment in the network while also driving improvements in our digital platforms and offerings to further enhance the customer experience.”
“An improving operating environment and focused execution contributed to strong momentum in our financial results with constant currency revenue growth peaking at 23.2% in Q4’25. Part of this acceleration in the last quarter has also been driven by the Nigerian tariff adjustments,” he added.
Looking ahead, he said – “We are making significant progress in our preparations for the Airtel Money IPO and remain committed to this objective.
“However, we are also mindful of evolving market conditions. Therefore, subject to these conditions, we anticipate a listing event in the first half of calendar year 2026.”
“The recent stability in the operating environment is encouraging, however we remain conscious of global developments that may impact our business. We will remain focused on delivering our strategy to transform the lives of our customers and support economic prosperity across our markets,” he added.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The National Pension Commission (PenCom) has defended its decision to allow Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) to invest in the parent companies of their custodians, insisting that adequate safeguards are in place to protect contributors’ funds.
The director-general of the pension regulator, Ms Omolola Oloworaran, speaking on Tuesday during the Meet the Press Briefing at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, said the commission’s decision to relax the investment restriction followed a comprehensive risk assessment that found minimal conflict of interest.
She explained that under PenCom’s investment regulations, PFAs are only permitted to invest pension assets in carefully selected instruments that meet stringent criteria, including profitability, strong credit ratings and proven track records.
According to her, the commission regularly reviews its investment regulations, conducts routine examinations and spot checks on PFAs to ensure strict compliance with established risk management guidelines.
“PFAs cannot just go into the stock market and buy any kind of stock. There are strict guidelines. Companies must demonstrate profitability, have a proven track record and satisfy other criteria before pension funds can invest,” she said.
Ms Oloworaran noted that each PFA also operates under the oversight of a board, an investment committee and a risk management committee, providing additional layers of governance to safeguard contributors’ funds.
She said PenCom recently issued a circular allowing PFAs to invest in the parent companies of their custodians after determining that the potential conflict of interest was negligible.
The PenCom boss explained that the parent companies involved are largely Tier-1 banks, including First Bank, United Bank for Africa (UBA) and Zenith Bank, which she described as A-rated institutions with strong financial foundations.
She said the policy was intended to widen investment opportunities for pension funds without compromising safety.
Using Stanbic IBTC as an example, Ms Oloworaran explained that if its custodian is Zenith Bank, the previous restriction prevented the pension administrator from investing in Zenith Bank shares despite the bank’s strong performance.
“We reviewed the risks and any potential conflict of interest and found the risks to be very low. That is why we opened that investment window,” she said.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
Analysts at Meristem Research have predicted that the inflation rate for June 2026 in Nigeria should marginally rise to 15.95 per cent on a year-on-year basis from the 15.93 per cent reported in May 2026.
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) is expected to release inflation numbers for last month later today, Wednesday, July 15, 2026.
In its report sighted by Business Post, Meristem Research said it expects inflationary pressures to re-emerge across key economies in the near term, as the re-escalation of the US-Iran conflict has reignited upward pressure on global oil prices.
It disclosed that this marks a sharp reversal from most of June, when the ceasefire between the two countries helped drive oil prices lower, raising expectations of some relief on the inflation front.
With conflicts now flaring up again, oil prices are likely to increase again, and the anticipated easing in energy-driven inflation may not materialise as broadly as earlier envisaged.
“Nonetheless, some relief is likely from the food segment, where robust supply conditions across major producing regions and softening demand should continue to ease food price pressures,” it stated.
The team also explained that it projected a 15.95 per cent inflation rate because of the lingering effects of persistent food price pressures.
“However, we expect core inflation to moderate as the sharp reversal in energy prices begins to filter through to transportation, distribution, and other energy-related costs, easing underlying price pressures.
“On a month-on-month basis, the combined effect of lower petrol prices, a relatively stable Naira, and the gradual pass-through of reduced energy costs across the supply chain should exert further downward pressure on inflation.
“Based on our assessment, food inflation is expected to remain the key swing factor, as seasonal pre-harvest supply constraints are likely to offset some of the gains from lower logistics costs,” it said.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The duo of Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc and Afriland Properties Plc weakened the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange by 1.61 per cent on Tuesday, July 14.
CSCS Plc saw its stock value drop N9.08 to close at N82.40 per share compared with the preceding session’s N91.48 per share, and Afriland Properties Plc slid by 17 Kobo to sell at N15.00 per unit versus N15.70 per unit.
The losses recorded by the two securities pulled back the market capitalisation by N41.64 billion to N2.546 trillion from N2.587 trillion, and cracked the NASD Security Index (NSI) by 69.36 points to 4,242.31 points from 4,311.67 points.
It was observed that the exchange witnessed two price advancers during the session, led by FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc, which gained N1.37 to end at N151.37 per share compared with the previous day’s N150.00 per share, and Food Concepts Plc chalked up 5 Kobo to settle at N2.50 per unit versus N2.45 per unit.
The volume of securities traded by market participants surged by 50.7 per cent to 13.7 million units from the previous 9.1 million units, while the value of securities went down by 79.7 per cent to N65.2 million from N320.4 million, and the number of deals crashed by 3.6 per cent to 27 deals from the previous session’s 28 deals.
At the close of transactions, Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc remained the most traded stock by value on a year-to-date basis, with the sale of 3.4 billion units for N8.4 billion, trailed by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc, which exchanged 2.3 billion units valued at N6.5 billion, and CSCS Plc with 73.9 million units transacted for N5.2 billion.
GNI Plc also closed the trading day as the most traded 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 traded for N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units valued at N415.7 million.
