Airtel Africa reported a $328 million profit after taxes in its 2025 financial year reports ended March 31, 2025. This is an improvement over the previous period’s $89 million loss.
This is despite the group’s revenue in reported currency declined by 0.5 percent to $4,955 million while currency growth remained steady at 21.1 percent.
Derivative and foreign exchange losses, mostly in Nigeria, had a major effect on the previous period.
“The recent stability in the operating environment is encouraging, however we remain conscious of global developments that may impact our business. We will remain focussed on delivering our strategy to transform the lives of our customers and support economic prosperity across our markets,” Airtel Africa’s CEO stated.
Profit before tax of $661 million
The $179 million in derivative and foreign exchange losses, the translation impact of the large currency devaluation in the previous period, and the impact of the tower contract renewals all contributed significantly to the $661 million profit before taxes for the year that ended on March 31, 2025.
Total finance costs of $822 million
The total finance costs for the year ended March 31, 2025, were $822 million, with $179 million in foreign exchange and derivative losses (which reflected the revaluation of US dollar balance sheet liabilities and derivatives after currency devaluations) contributing to that amount.
Of that amount, $87 million was deemed exceptional after the devaluation of the Nigerian naira in H1’25, which was partially offset by the appreciation of the Tanzanian shilling and Nigerian naira in Q3’25.
Tower contract renewals with ATC and I.H.S. caused finance expenses, excluding derivatives and foreign exchange losses, to rise from $444 million to $643 million in the current period. This had a neutral to positive effect on cash flows.
A rise in financing costs during the current time was also caused by a growth in OpCo market debt and a switch from foreign to local currency debt, which has a higher average interest rate.
Taxation of $333 million
Tax charges totalled $333 million, up from $26 million during the previous period.
Due to unusual derivative and foreign exchange losses, the total tax charges for the current period showed an exceptional gain of $30 million, while the previous period showed an exceptional gain of $258 million.
In the year that ended on March 31, 2025, tax charges, excluding exceptional items, were $363 million, up from $284 million in the previous period.
The implementation of hyperinflationary accounting for Malawian operations, a one-time deferred tax credit in the previous period, and a shift in the profit mix among the OpCos were the main causes of the $79 million increase in tax charges.