Airtel Money reported a sharp rise in revenue and transaction volumes in the six months to September, as the mobile financial services business expanded its customer base and merchant network across Africa in its first results since listing on the London Stock Exchange.
Revenue rose 34% in reported currency to $830 million for the half year ended September 30, 2026, compared with $620 million a year earlier. On a constant-currency basis, revenue increased 25.1%, reflecting continued growth in customer numbers, transaction values and the use of financial services.
The results are the first reported by Airtel Mobile Commerce N.V., the holding company for Airtel Money, since its admission to the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange on October 14 under the ticker AMC. The company was valued at about £5.3 billion, or roughly $7 billion, following the sale of 270 million existing shares at £1.96 each.
Airtel Money said its customer base increased 18.7% to 56.7 million during the period, pushing mobile-money penetration among Airtel’s telecommunications customers to 42.9%, from 39.7% a year earlier.
The company still has significant room to expand within its existing telecommunications base. Chief Executive Officer Ian Basil Ferrao said around 75 million Airtel telco subscribers across its markets are not yet using Airtel Money.
“The growth trajectory remains compelling, supported by powerful structural tailwinds and proven execution,” Ferrao said.
The company’s smartphone-based app was one of the fastest-growing parts of the business. The Airtel Money app customer base increased 64.3% to 4.1 million, as the company pushed digital onboarding and greater engagement with its platform.
The growth in users was accompanied by higher transaction activity. Annualised total processed value reached $270 billion in the second quarter, representing 36.4% growth in constant currency. For the six-month period, total processed value increased 36.8% in constant currency to $128 billion.
Transaction value per customer also increased. Average total processed value per customer rose 14.9% in constant currency to $397 per month, while average revenue per user increased 5.1% on the same basis.
Airtel Money’s distribution network continued to expand alongside the customer base. Active agents increased 26.3% to 2.4 million, while its merchant network surged 85.5% to more than 587,000.
The merchant expansion is part of Airtel Money’s broader effort to move beyond traditional person-to-person transfers and build a wider digital payments ecosystem. The company is expanding acceptance through interoperable QR codes, merchant codes, app and point-of-sale payments, tap-and-pay and payment links.
Financial performance was also supported by the diversification of the business beyond wallet services.
Wallet services revenue increased 27.6% in constant currency, while payments and transfers grew 29.4%. Financial services recorded the fastest growth among the major categories, with revenue increasing 44.8% in constant currency.
The shift toward payments, transfers and financial services is strategically important for Airtel Money as it seeks to develop from a mobile wallet into a broader digital financial services platform.
The company has identified merchant acquiring, e-commerce, lending, insurance, savings, wealth management and virtual and physical cards as areas for further product expansion.
Gross profit increased 31.3% in reported currency to $499 million, while underlying EBITDA rose 26.4% to $398 million. The underlying EBITDA margin, however, fell to 48% from 50.8% a year earlier.
Airtel Money attributed much of the margin pressure to changes in intra-group agreements with Airtel Africa that took effect in July 2025. The company said the revised arrangements had a 270-basis-point impact on its first-half underlying EBITDA margin.
An additional levy in the Democratic Republic of Congo also reduced the margin by 60 basis points.
The company expects some of the impact to moderate in the second half of the financial year, leaving it on track to meet its full-year targets.
Profit after tax increased 21.6% to $228 million from $188 million, while basic earnings per share rose to 7.9 US cents from 6.5 US cents.
Operating free cash flow increased 27.1% to $378 million, underlining the cash-generative nature of the business. The pre-tax conversion ratio rose to 94.9%.
The strong cash generation is also supporting shareholder returns. Airtel Money’s board declared an interim dividend of 6.4 US cents per share, representing 81% of profit attributable to owners of the company and slightly above its stated minimum payout target of 80%.
The dividend will be paid on December 4 to shareholders on the register at the close of business on November 20.
East Africa remains Airtel Money’s largest market
East Africa remained the company’s biggest regional business, generating $615 million in revenue during the half year, up 20.5% in constant currency.
The region’s customer base grew 13.5% to 44.1 million, while mobile-money penetration among Airtel’s telecommunications customers increased to 49.7%.
Total processed value in East Africa rose 34.7% in constant currency to $98 billion. Payments and transfers were particularly strong, with revenue increasing 27.1%, while financial services revenue grew 41.6%.
Underlying EBITDA for the region increased 14.4% in constant currency to $303 million.
Airtel Money’s East African footprint covers Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.
Francophone Africa posts faster customer growth
Francophone Africa recorded even faster growth, with revenue increasing 40.2% in constant currency to $215 million.
The region’s customer base expanded 41.9% to 12.6 million, lifting Airtel Money penetration by 5.6 percentage points to 29%.
Total processed value increased 44.1% in constant currency to $30 billion, while financial services revenue jumped 57.9%.
The rapid increase in customers, particularly in the Francophone markets, has not yet translated into an equivalent increase in transaction value per customer. Airtel Money said this reflects the large number of new users who are still building transaction frequency and engagement.
Airtel Money enters a new phase
The results come less than two weeks after Airtel Money began unconditional trading on the London Stock Exchange, marking a new phase for one of Africa’s largest mobile-money businesses.
Existing shareholders sold 10% of the company’s issued share capital through the listing. Airtel Money itself did not raise new capital in the transaction.
The company is now targeting revenue growth in the mid-20% range in constant currency for the full 2027 financial year, while expecting its underlying EBITDA margin to moderate by up to about two percentage points from the previous financial year.
Over the medium term, Airtel Money expects constant-currency revenue growth to trend upwards in line with its historical growth rate and is targeting an underlying EBITDA margin above 50%.
For Airtel Money, the opportunity extends beyond acquiring new customers. The company is seeking to increase the frequency with which existing users transact, migrate more customers to its smartphone app, expand merchant acceptance and build additional financial products around its mobile wallet.
With 56.7 million customers already using the platform and another 75 million Airtel telecommunications subscribers yet to adopt Airtel Money, the company is betting that Africa’s shift from cash to digital financial services still has considerable room to run.
