Airtel Africa has released its full-year financial report, which ended in March 2024. The report revealed an $89 million after-tax deficit, primarily impacted by a substantial foreign exchange loss of $549 million.

In the report released on Thursday, Airtel attributed the loss to the devaluation of the naira and kwacha (Malawian currency).

The report said, “Loss after tax was $89 million, primarily impacted by significant foreign exchange headwinds, resulting in a $549 million exceptional loss net of tax following the Nigerian naira devaluation in June 2023 and Q4’24 and the Malawian kwacha devaluation in November 2023.”

In constant currency terms, the telco achieved 20.9 per cent growth in the fiscal year, soaring to 23.1 per cent growth in the fourth quarter of 2023. It noted that despite challenging conditions, Nigeria’s constant currency revenue reached 34.2 per cent growth in that period.

However, in reported currency (dollar), it earned a revenue of $4.98 billion in the full year, indicating a 5.3 per cent decline from the $5.26 billion reached in 2022/2023.

Its customer base increased by 9.0 per cent, totalling 152.7 million. Furthermore, it witnessed a 17.8 per cent increase in data customers to 64.4 million and a 20.8% increase in data usage per customer.

According to Olusegun Ogunsanya, the CEO of Airtel Africa, propelling the telco’s growth remains crucial to its performance.

He pointed out, “The investment in our distribution to catalyse growth and the technology required to support this growth have been key.”

Mr Ogunsanya noted that the company took steps to minimise its balance sheet and properly allocate capital, reducing the negative impacts of the currency devaluation on the business.