Kenya’s biggest telecom operator Safaricom PLC posted annual net income of more than $770 million on Thursday, helped by strong growth in its mobile money and data businesses as losses from its Ethiopia expansion narrowed.
The company said net income for the year ended March 31 rose to 100 billion Kenyan shillings ($772 million), while group service revenue climbed 11.5% to 414.1 billion shillings ($3.2 billion).
Safaricom declared a total dividend of 2 shillings per share, amounting to 80.1 billion shillings ($618 million), up 66.7% from a year earlier.
“We have shown strong execution in the first year of our five-year strategy,” Group CEO Peter Ndegwa said in a statement, adding that the company exceeded guidance despite currency reforms and market repair measures in Ethiopia.
Safaricom’s Kenyan business remained its largest earnings driver, with service revenue rising 10% to 400.8 billion shillings ($3.1 billion), while earnings before interest and tax grew 15.3% to 182.3 billion shillings ($1.4 billion).
The company’s Ethiopia unit, launched in 2022, continued to gain traction, with subscriber numbers increasing to 13.6 million customers. Service revenue from Ethiopia jumped 86.6% to 14.1 billion shillings ($109 million), supported by network expansion to 3,504 sites covering 60% of the population.
Chairman Adil Khawaja said the group was beginning to see benefits from scale in Ethiopia as startup costs eased.
“This balance in growth, investment and discipline is exactly what the board expects at this stage of our journey,” he said.
Revenue from M-PESA, Safaricom’s mobile money platform, rose 13.4% to 182.7 billion shillings ($1.4 billion), while mobile data revenue increased 18.3% to 92.9 billion shillings ($717 million).
Safaricom said its total customer base across Kenya and Ethiopia grew to 71.6 million users.