Airtel Money reports 25% growth in first-half revenue in maiden results

Airtel Money, the African mobile money service that listed in London this month, ‌reported revenue of $830 million for the six months to end-September, up 25.1% from a year earlier in constant currency, in its maiden results on Monday.

Profit after tax rose to $228 million from $188 million, primarily reflecting the strong revenue growth over the first-half period Customers grew by 18.7% to 56.7 million, driving mobile money penetration of Airtel Africa’s telco customer base to 42.9%, up 3.2 percentage points

Average revenue per user grew by 5.1% in constant currency, reflecting an increase in transaction value per customer to $397 per month, an increase of 14.9%. The company will ‌pay an interim dividend of 6.4 cents per share and reiterated its full-year guidance

Chief Executive Ian Basil Ferrao said the company’s Francophone markets, which were more under-penetrated, saw particularly strong growth. A changing revenue mix was positive, he said, with payments and transfers and financial services, up 32.8% and 49.7% respectively, growing faster than the traditional wallet business, which was up 25.0%. Shares in Airtel Money, which were priced at 196 pence when the company floated on October 9, rose 2.5% to trade at 184 pence in early deals