Half Year Results

Airtel Africa PLC

25 October 2024

Airtel Africa plc

Results for half year ended 30 September 2024

25 October 2024

Sustained operating momentum reflecting continued execution against significant growth opportunity

Operating highlights

· Total customer base grew by 6.1% to 156.6 million. Data customer penetration continues to rise, driving a 10.4% increase in data customers to 66.0 million. Data usage per customer increased by 30.9% to 6.6 GBs, with smartphone penetration increasing 5.3% to reach 42.9%.

· Mobile money subscribers of 41.5 million, increased by 13.4% reflecting our continued investment into distribution to support increased financial inclusion across our markets. Transaction value increased by 30.1% in constant currency² with annualised transaction value of $128bn.

· Data ARPU growth of 13.5% and mobile money ARPU growth of 10.9% in constant currency continued to support overall ARPU's which rose 11.1% YoY in constant currency.

· Customer experience remains core to our strategy with sustained network investment during the period. Data capacity across our network has increased by 20% with the rollout of over 2,800 sites and around 3,500 kms of fibre.

Financial performance

· Revenue in constant currency grew by 19.9% in H1'25 with growth accelerating to 20.8% in Q2'25 driven by an acceleration of growth in Nigeria to 38.2% and in Francophone Africa to 9.0%. Across the Group mobile services revenue grew by 18.4% and Mobile Money revenue grew by 28.8% in constant currency. Reported currency revenues declined by 9.7% to $2,370m reflecting the impact of currency devaluation, particularly in Nigeria.

· A substantial increase in fuel prices across our markets and the lower contribution of Nigeria to the Group after the naira devaluation contributed to a decline in EBITDA margins to 45.8% from 49.6% in H1'24. In Q2'25, EBITDA margin at 46.4% improved sequentially from 45.3% in Q1'25 reflecting the initial successes in our cost efficiency programme launched earlier in the year. Constant currency EBITDA increased 13.5% whilst reported currency EBITDA declined by 16.5% to $1,087m for H1'25.

· Profit after tax of $79m was impacted by $151m of exceptional derivative and foreign exchange losses (net of tax), arising from the further depreciation in the Nigerian naira during the period.

· EPS before exceptional items declined from 7.0 cents in the prior period to 4.9 cents, primarily reflecting the translation impact of currency devaluation. Basic EPS of 0.8 cents compares to negative (1.5 cents) in the prior period, predominantly reflecting the $471m exceptional derivative and foreign exchange losses in the prior period, compared to $231m in the current period.

Capital allocation

· Capex at $316m was 1.3% higher compared to prior period. Capex guidance for the full year remains between $725m and $750m as we continue to invest for future growth.

· Over the year we have significantly reduced our foreign currency debt exposure, having paid down $809m of foreign currency debt. 89% of our OpCo debt (excl. lease liabilities) is now in local currency, up from 71% a year ago.

· To secure beneficial contract structures and further enhance our partnership with ATC, we have extended our tower lease agreements for approximately 7,100 sites in four markets for a further 12-year period. The new agreements have a focus on renewable energy investment which will drive operating cost efficiencies over the medium-term and will have a neutral to positive impact on near-term free cash flow. The renewals has resulted in a $1.2bn increase in lease liabilities, which has been the primary driver of the increase in leverage to 2.3x from 1.6x in the previous quarter. No further material change in leverage should be expected from further renewals in the near-to-medium term.

· The Board has declared an interim dividend of 2.6 cents per share, an increase of 9%, in-line with our progressive dividend policy. The $100m share buyback continues, with 61m shares purchased for a consideration of $88m as at the end of September 2024.

Sunil Taldar, Chief executive officer, on the trading update:

"The sustained operating momentum over the period is testament to our teams' ability to execute our strategy brilliantly. During the period we refined our strategy to significantly increase our focus on delivering best in class experience to our customers. To meet our customer's expectations, we will strengthen our 'go-to-market' through enhanced distribution, simplified customer journeys and best in class network experience. This will further unlock the significant opportunity Africa offers and will provide the foundation of strong growth across our markets and our business segments, especially as we build and scale up the B2B and home broadband segments.

The scale of the opportunity across our markets remains substantial. A young and fast-growing population, combined with low levels of SIM and banking penetration on one hand, and increasing smartphone and digital payment adoption across our existing base on the other, provides a unique opportunity to leverage our extensive infrastructure for sustained growth in Sub-Saharan Africa.

We have already seen strong progress, with an acceleration in constant currency revenue growth over the last quarter as demand for our services remains strong, reflected in the 48% growth in data volumes over the first half of the year, despite the challenging backdrop in some of our markets.

Furthermore, we have seen our cost optimisation programme already show initial green shoots, which combined with operational leverage, has contributed to an expansion of our EBITDA margins in Q2'25 compared to the previous quarter. Foreign currency debt has fallen to just 11% of market debt at the end of September which reflects the work we have undertaken to de-risk the balance sheet.

We remain absolutely focussed on executing against our strategy to efficiently and effectively deliver essential services to improve the lives, communities and economies we serve. The growth opportunity across our markets remains compelling and we continue to focus on margin improvement."

GAAP measures (Half year ended)
Description	Sep-24	Sep-23	Reported currency
Description	$m	$m	change
Revenue	2,370	2,623	(9.7%)
Operating profit	706	885	(20.3%)
Profit/(Loss) after tax	79	(13)	726.3%
Basic EPS ($ cents)	0.8	(1.5)	156.4%
Net cash generated from operating activities	979	1,121	(12.7%)

Alternative performance measures (APM) ¹ (Half year ended)
Description	Sep-24	Sep-23	Reported currency	Constant currency
Description	$m	$m	change	change
Revenue	2,370	2,623	(9.7%)	19.9%
EBITDA	1,087	1,302	(16.5%)	13.5%
EBITDA margin	45.8%	49.6%	(378) bps	(258) bps
EPS before exceptional items ($ cents)	4.9	7.0	(30.3%)
Operating free cash flow	771	990	(22.2%)

(1) Alternative performance measures (APM) are described on page 46

(2) An explanation of constant currency adjustments is described on page 48

About Airtel Africa

Airtel Africa is a leading provider of telecommunications and mobile money services, with a presence in 14 countries in Africa, primarily in East Africa and Central and West Africa.

Airtel Africa offers an integrated suite of telecoms solutions to its subscribers, including mobile voice and data services as well as mobile money services, both nationally and internationally. We aim to continue providing a simple and intuitive customer experience through streamlined customer journeys.

Enquiries

Airtel Africa - Investor Relations

Alastair Jones

Investor.relations@africa.airtel.com

+44 7464 830 011

+44 207 493 9315

Hudson Sandler

Nick Lyon

Emily Dillon

airtelafrica@hudsonsandler.com

+44 207 796 4133

Conference call

Management will host an analyst and investor conference call at 13:00pm UK time (BST), on Friday 25th October 2024, including a Question-and-Answer session.

To receive an invitation with the dial in numbers to participate in the event, please register beforehand using the following link:

Conference call registration link

Key consolidated financial information

Description	Unit of measure	Half year ended				Quarter ended
Description	Unit of measure	Sep-24	Sep-23	Reported currency change %	Constant currency change %	Sep-24	Sep-23	Reported currency change %	Constant currency change %
Profit and loss summary
Revenue ¹	$m	2,370	2,623	(9.7%)	19.9%	1,214	1,246	(2.6%)	20.8%
Voice revenue	$m	960	1,169	(17.9%)	9.4%	484	548	(11.6%)	9.3%
Data revenue	$m	844	915	(7.7%)	28.4%	435	429	1.4%	30.2%
Mobile money revenue ²	$m	466	416	11.9%	28.8%	244	215	13.5%	29.1%
Other revenue	$m	205	216	(5.2%)	25.4%	105	102	3.0%	27.8%
Expenses	$m	(1,295)	(1,337)	(3.1%)	25.5%	(654)	(635)	3.0%	24.8%
EBITDA ³	$m	1,087	1,302	(16.5%)	13.5%	564	620	(9.1%)	15.6%
EBITDA margin	%	45.8%	49.6%	(378) bps	(258) bps	46.4%	49.8%	(334) bps	(208) bps
Depreciation and amortisation	$m	(381)	(417)	(8.7%)	21.3%	(193)	(197)	(2.1%)	22.2%
Operating profit	$m	706	885	(20.3%)	9.7%	371	423	(12.3%)	12.5%
Other finance cost - net of finance income ⁴	$m	(297)	(402)	(26.1%)		(158)	(190)	(17.3%)
Finance cost - exceptional items ⁵	$m	(231)	(471)	(50.9%)		(109)	-	0.0%
Total finance cost	$m	(528)	(873)	(39.5%)		(267)	(190)	40.2%
Profit before tax	$m	178	12	1370.1%		104	233	(55.3%)
Tax	$m	(179)	(179)	0.1%		(94)	(95)	(1.1%)
Tax - exceptional items ⁵	$m	80	154	(48.0%)		38	-	0.0%
Total tax charge	$m	(99)	(25)	(298.4%)		(56)	(95)	(41.0%)
Profit/(Loss) after tax	$m	79	(13)	726.3%		48	138	(65.0%)
Non-controlling interest	$m	(48)	(42)	16.6%		(24)	(23)	6.5%
Profit attributable to owners of the company - before exceptional items	$m	182	262	(30.8%)		95	115	(17.2%)
Profit/(Loss) attributable to owners of the company	$m	31	(55)	156.1%		24	115	(78.9%)
EPS - before exceptional items	cents	4.9	7.0	(30.3%)		2.6	3.1	(16.4%)
Basic EPS	cents	0.8	(1.5)	156.4%		0.6	3.1	(79.1%)
Weighted average number of shares	million	3,727	3,751	(0.6%)		3,717	3,751	(0.9%)
Capex	$m	316	312	1.3%		169	172	(1.6%)
Operating free cash flow	$m	771	990	(22.2%)		395	448	(12.0%)
Net cash generated from operating activities	$m	979	1,121	(12.7%)		565	541	4.6%
Net debt	$m	5,155	3,327			5,155	3,327
Leverage (net debt to EBITDA)	times	2.3x	1.3x			2.3x	1.3x
Return on capital employed	%	19.8%	24.7%	(489) bps		21.8%	23.7%	(189) bps
Operating KPIs
ARPU	$	2.6	3.0	(16.3%)	11.1%	2.6	2.9	(8.9%)	13.0%
Total customer base	million	156.6	147.7	6.1%		156.6	147.7	6.1%
Data customer base	million	66.0	59.8	10.4%		66.0	59.8	10.4%
Mobile money customer base	million	41.5	36.5	13.4%		41.5	36.5	13.4%

⁽¹⁾ Revenue includes inter-segment eliminations of $105m for the half year ended 30 September 2024 and $93m for the prior period.

⁽²⁾ Mobile money revenue post inter-segment eliminations with mobile services were $361m for the half year ended 30 September 2024, and $323m for the prior period.

⁽³⁾ EBITDA includes other income of $12m for the half year ended 30 September 2024 and $16m for the prior period.

⁽⁴⁾ Other finance cost - net of finance income of $297m for the half year ended 30 September 2024 and $402m in the prior period includes derivative and foreign exchange losses of $29m and $183m in the respective periods which have not been treated as exceptional items. Excluding these losses, other finance cost - net of finance income was $268m for the half year ended 30 September 2024 and $219m for the prior period.

⁽⁵⁾ Finance cost - exceptional items of $231m for the half year ended 30 September 2024 and $471m for the prior period relates to derivative and foreign exchange losses following the devaluation of the Nigerian naira, which resulted in an exceptional tax gain of $80m and $154m, respectively. As a result, there was a $151m negative impact on profit after tax in half year ended 30 September 2024 and $317m in the prior period.

Financial review for the half year ended 30 September 2024

Revenue

Group revenue in reported currency declined by 9.7% to $2,370m, with constant currency growth of 19.9%. Group mobile services revenue grew by 18.4% in constant currency, with voice revenue growth of 9.4% and data revenues increasing by 28.4% over the period. In Q2'25, constant currency revenue growth accelerated to 20.8% from 19.0% in Q1'25 primarily driven by 38.2% growth in Nigeria and Francophone Africa revenue growth of 9.0% in Q2'25 respectively. In H1'25, mobile money revenue grew by 28.8% in constant currency, primarily driven by continued strong growth in East Africa.

Reported currency revenue growth was particularly impacted by significant currency devaluations in Nigeria, Malawi, Zambia and Tanzania. In particular, the naira devalued from a weighted average NGN/USD rate of 610 in the prior half-year period to NGN/USD 1,484 in the current period.

EBITDA

Reported currency EBITDA declined by 16.5% to $1,087m reflecting the impact of currency devaluation over the period, particularly in Nigeria. In constant currency, EBITDA increased by 13.5% with EBITDA margins of 45.8%, a decline of 378bps. The lower contribution of Nigeria following the significant naira depreciation and a significant increase in fuel prices (mainly in Nigeria by around 90%), were the primary drivers of the margin decline over the last year. Mobile services EBITDA increased 9.9% in constant currency with EBITDA margin at 45.1%, whilst mobile money EBITDA margins of 53.0%, increased 167bps in constant currency, supporting growth of 33.0%.

Following the launch of a comprehensive cost efficiency programme, EBITDA margins in Q2'25 increased to 46.4% from 45.3% in the previous quarter (Q1'25).

Finance costs

Total finance costs for the half year ended 30 September 2024 was $528m, primarily impacted by $260m of derivative and foreign exchange losses (reflecting the revaluation of US dollar balance sheet liabilities and derivatives following currency devaluation), of which $231m was classified as exceptional following the naira devaluation[1]. Finance costs excluding exceptional items and derivative and foreign exchange losses increased from $219m to $268m in the current period primarily on account of higher market debt and shift of foreign currency debt to local currency debt in the operating entities carrying a higher average interest rate.

Profit/(Loss) before tax

Profit before tax at $178m during the half year ended 30 September 2024 was largely impacted by the $260m derivative and foreign exchange losses as discussed above and lower EBITDA due to significant currency devaluation across key markets.

Taxation

Total tax charges were $99m as compared to a $25m in the prior period. Total tax charges in the current period reflected an exceptional gain of $80m and $154m in the prior period following the Nigerian naira devaluation. Tax charges excluding exceptional items were $179m in the current as well as in the prior period.

Tax charge of $99m during the half year ended 30 September 2024, on a profit before tax of $178m was largely due to profit mix between various OpCo's and withholding taxes.

Profit/(Loss) after tax

Profit after tax of $79m during the half year ended 30 September 2024 was primarily impacted by the $151m of exceptional derivative and foreign exchange losses (net of tax) and lower EBITDA due to significant currency devaluation across key markets.

Basic EPS

Basic EPS at 0.8 cents during the half year ended 30 September 2024 was impacted by the exceptional derivative and foreign exchange losses as explained above. EPS before exceptional items and derivative and foreign exchange losses for the half year ended 30 September 2024 was 5.4 cents as compared to 10.5 cents in the prior period, reflecting the impact of significant currency devaluation across key markets on EBITDA.

Leverage

We have continued to improve our debt structure over the last year, having repaid the outstanding $550m of HoldCo debt in May 2024, and increased the proportion of local currency OpCo debt (excluding lease liabilities) on our balance sheet from 71% a year ago to 89% as of 30 September 2024. In total, we have paid down $809m of US dollar debt over the last year.

As explained in 'Other significant updates' on page 7, we have extended our tower lease agreements with ATC for approximately 7,100 sites in Nigeria, Uganda, Kenya and Niger for a further 12-year period. Under IFRS16 accounting standards, the extension of these tower lease agreements by 12 years has resulted in an approximate $1.2bn increase in lease liabilities, resulting in approximately 0.6x increase in the Group's leverage ratio. Leverage was further impacted by the decrease in reported currency EBITDA following the naira devaluation, resulting in Group leverage of 2.3x as of 30 September 2024. No further material change in leverage should be expected from further renewals.

GAAP measures

Revenue

Reported revenue of $2,370m, declined by 9.7% in reported currency, and grew by 19.9% in constant currency driven by both customer base growth of 6.1% and ARPU growth of 11.1%. The gap between constant currency and reported currency revenue growth was due to the average currency devaluations between the periods, mainly in the Nigerian naira, the Malawian kwacha, the Zambian kwacha, and the Tanzanian shilling partially offset by an appreciation in the Kenya shilling.

Reported mobile services revenue at $2,013m, declined 12.6%, and grew by 18.4% in constant currency. Mobile money revenue grew by 11.9% in reported currency. In constant currency, mobile money revenue grew by 28.8%, driven by revenue growth in East Africa of 31.4% and Francophone Africa of 20.2%.

Operating profit

Operating profit in reported currency declined by 20.3% to $706m as currency headwinds offset the 9.7% growth of operating profit in constant currency.

Total finance costs

Total finance costs of $528m for the half year ended 30 September 2024, was lower by $345m over the prior period. Current and prior period finance costs were primarily impacted by $231m and $471m of exceptional derivative and foreign exchange losses respectively, following the significant devaluation in Nigerian Naira. Excluding exceptional items, finance cost was lower by $105m primarily on account of lower derivative and foreign exchange losses, partially offset by higher interest on market debt due to increase in market debt and shift of foreign currency debt to local currency debt in the operating entities carrying a higher average interest rate.

The Group's effective interest rate increased to 13.2% compared to 8.8% in the prior period, largely driven by higher local currency debt at the OpCo level, in line with our strategy of localising debt at OpCo, and the repayment of $550m of HoldCo debt which carried a lower-than-average interest rate.

Taxation

Total tax charges of $99m compares to $25m in the prior period. Total tax charges in the current period reflected an exceptional gain of $80m and $154m in the prior period on account of the Nigerian naira devaluation. Tax charges excluding exceptional items were $179m in current as well as in the prior period.

Basic EPS

Basic EPS at 0.8 cents during the half year ended 30 September 2024 was impacted by the derivative and foreign exchange losses as explained above.

Net cash generated from operating activities

Net cash generated from operating activities was $979m, lower by 12.7% as compared to $1,121m in the prior period.

Alternative performance measures[2]

EBITDA

EBITDA of $1,087m, declined by 16.5% in reported currency, and increased by 13.5% in constant currency. Growth in constant currency EBITDA was led by revenue growth and supported by continued improvement in operating efficiencies offset by the impact that inflationary cost pressures in a number of markets. The EBITDA margin declined by 378 basis points in reported currency to 45.8% reflecting the impact of lower contribution of Nigeria post significant naira devaluation and inflationary cost pressures.

The gap between constant currency and reported currency EBITDA growth was due to the currency devaluations between the periods, mainly in the Nigerian naira, the Malawian kwacha, the Zambian kwacha, and the Tanzanian shilling partially offset by an appreciation in the Kenyan shilling.

Tax

The effective tax rate was 40.3%, compared to 39.0% in the prior period. The effective tax rate is higher than the weighted average statutory corporate tax rate of approximately 32%, largely due to increase in income tax rate in one of the subsidiaries, the profit mix between various OpCos and withholding taxes on dividends by subsidiaries.

Exceptional items

The exceptional item of $231m in the current period and $471m in the prior period relates to derivative and foreign exchange losses following the devaluation of the Nigerian naira. These losses resulted in an exceptional tax gain of $80m and $154m respectively.

EPS before exceptional items

EPS before exceptional items of 4.9 cents as compared to 7.0 cents in the prior period was primarily impacted by the significant currency headwinds impacting reported currency results. EPS before exceptional items and derivative and foreign exchange losses was 5.4 cents compared to 10.5 cents in the prior period.

Operating free cash flow

Operating free cash flow was $771m, lower by 22.2%, as a result of lower EBITDA due to currency devaluation over the period particularly in Nigeria.

Other significant updates

Renewal of tower lease agreements with ATC

On 30 September 2024, the Company renewed tower lease agreements with American Tower Corporation (ATC) for approximately 7,100 sites across Nigeria, Uganda, Kenya and Niger which were set to expire over the next 12 to 24 months, for a period of 12 years. The tower lease agreements with ATC were initially entered as a sale and leaseback transaction over the period of 2015-16, for ten years. The renewals ensure we continue to benefit from contract structures, including the proportion that is linked to foreign currency.

Integral to the contractual terms is the focus on renewable energy solutions across a significant number of sites, particularly in Nigeria. This is expected to benefit the Company's operating costs in the medium term as the reliance on diesel is reduced, while also advancing Airtel Africa's ambition to drive reduced GHG emissions across the footprint, which remains a key priority for its sustainability agenda.

Under IFRS16 accounting standards, the extension of these tower lease agreements to 12 years will result in an approximate $1.2bn increase in lease liabilities, resulting in an approximate 0.6x increase in the Company's leverage ratio as of 30 September 2024. No further material change in leverage from further renewals is expected in the near-to-medium term.

In addition, there will be increased finance costs in the early years of the contract term and a marginal increase in depreciation due to the recognition of the right-of-use asset on renewal. The impact from these contract renewals on profit after tax in the first year is expected to be approximately $120m - $130m, with 50% of this impact expected in FY'25. This impact is expected to reduce over the term of the contract, in line with the IFRS16 lease accounting methodology and as operating efficiencies materialise.

Importantly, there will be a neutral to positive impact on free cash flow for the Company due to these renewals in the near-term.

The renewals reinforce our commitment to enhance network capacity and reliability, enabling our ambition to offer a best-in-class network experience to our customers.

Kenya license extension

On 6^th September 2024, Airtel Kenya has received confirmation from the regulator on extension of existing Network Facility Provider, Application Service Provider, Content Service Provider and Internationally Gateway Station and Service licence as well as its spectrum in 900 MHz, 1800 MHz and 2100 MHz that were due for renewal in January 2025 for a period of 24 months effective January 2025.

Repayment of remaining $550m bond achieving a zero-debt position at HoldCo

On 20 May 2024, the Company announced that it has repaid in full the 5.35% Guaranteed Senior Notes maturing in May 2024. This bond repayment of $550m was made exclusively out of the cash reserves at the HoldCo and is a continuation of its strategy to reduce external foreign currency debt.

At the time of the IPO in June 2019, the Group had $2,719m of external debt at HoldCo which resulted in significant exposure to currency fluctuations and the reliance on upstreaming funds to cover both interest costs and the principal repayment. Through a consistent execution of its strategy supporting strong free cash flow generation, and continued upstreaming success, the Group has been reducing Holdco debt over the past few years and has now reached the significant milestone of a zero-debt position at HoldCo.

The current leverage and capital structure is a reflection of the Group's successful capital allocation strategy that has been in place since our IPO, and it will aim to continue reducing foreign currency debt obligations across its OpCo's.

Update on share buy-back programme

On 1 February 2024, the Company announced that in light of the increase in HoldCo cash, current leverage and the consistent strong operating cash generation, the Board intended to launch a share buy-back programme of up to $100m, over a 12-month period.

On 1 March 2024, Airtel Africa plc announced the commencement of its share buyback programme. As at the end of September 2024, the Company has purchased 61 million shares for a total consideration of $88m.

Directorate changes

On 9 May 2024, Airtel Africa plc announced the appointment of Paul Arkwright, CMG, as an independent non-executive director of the Company, with immediate effect.

On 3 July 2024, following the conclusion of the AGM, John Danilovich retired as an independent non-executive director of Airtel Africa plc.

Retirement of Airtel Africa plc CEO and appointment of Successor

On 2 January 2024, Airtel Africa plc announced the retirement of Chief Executive Officer Olusegun "Segun" Ogunsanya and the appointment of Sunil Taldar, who joined Airtel Africa in October 2023 as Director - Transformation, as Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Following a transition period, Sunil Taldar has been appointed to the Board as an Executive Director and has assumed the role of CEO on 1 July 2024, at which time Segun retired from the Board and the Company. Following his retirement from Airtel Africa, Segun will be available to advise the Chairman, the Airtel Africa Board and Chief Executive Officer for a 12-month period and appointed as Airtel Africa Charitable Foundation's inaugural Chair.

Nigerian Communications Commission directive on subscriber registration compliance

In December 2023, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) informed Airtel Nigeria, in an industry-wide directive, to undertake full network barring of all SIMs that have failed to submit their National Identity Numbers (NIN) on or before 28 February 2024. Likewise, customers that have submitted their NINs, but remain unverified are to be barred by 31 July 2024 (earlier deadline was 15 April 2024). Furthermore, guidelines were issued whereby no customer can have more than 4 active SIMs and all such excess SIMs must be barred by 29 March 2024. This directive is part of the ongoing Federal Government NIN-SIM harmonisation exercise requiring all subscribers to provide valid NIN information to update SIM registration records.

Airtel Nigeria has complied with the directives issued and barred all customers without NINs as well as customers with more than 4 active SIMs which had a negligible impact on revenue.

Chad License Renewal

In July 2024, Airtel Tchad S.A ("Airtel Tchad"), a subsidiary of the Group was issued with a National Telecom Operator licence for 2G/3G and 4G network. This licence renewal is with effect from April 2024 and is for a period of 10 years for a gross consideration of CFA54bn (approximately $90m).

Dividend payment timetable

The board has declared an interim dividend of 2.6 cents for the half year ended 30 September 2024, payable on 13 December 2024 to shareholders recorded in the register at the close of business on 8 November 2024.

London Stock Exchange Nigerian Stock Exchange

Last day to trade shares cum dividend 6 November 2024 5 November 2024

Shares commence trading ex-dividend 7 November 2024 6 November 2024

Record date 8 November 2024 8 November 2024

Last date for currency election 25 November 2024 25 November 2024

Payment date 13 December 2024 13 December 2024

Information on additional KPIs

An investor relations pack with information on the additional KPIs and balance sheet is available to download on our website at airtel.africa/investors

Strategic overview

The Group provides telecom and mobile money services in 14 emerging markets of Sub-Saharan Africa. Our markets are characterised by young and rapidly growing population, low smartphone penetration, and relatively large unbanked populations. Unique mobile user penetration across the Group's footprint is around 48%, and banking penetration remains under 50%. These indicators illustrate the significant opportunity still available to Airtel Africa to enhance both digital and financial inclusion in the communities we serve, enriching and transforming their lives through digitalisation, whilst at the same time growing our revenues profitably across each of our key services of voice, data and mobile money.

The Group continues to invest in its network and distribution infrastructure to enhance both mobile connectivity and financial inclusion across our countries of operation. In particular, we have continued to invest in expanding our 4G and 5G network to increase data capacity, deploy new sites - especially in rural areas - thereby enhancing coverage and connectivity.

Our refreshed strategy puts the customer at the core of our strategy. We believe that by ensuring great customer experience across our network and touchpoints we will deliver on our corporate purpose of transforming lives across Africa. Our consumer centric strategy is anchored on our 6 new strategic pillars - strengthening our 'go-to-market', delivering best in class network experience, winning more in key markets, digitising and simplifying processes across the business, accelerating Airtel Money and scaling our home broadband business (HBB) and enterprise offerings.

Underpinning the Group's business strategy is our focus on cost optimisation, our ongoing sustainability strategy and the investment into our people to build and retain talent. Our sustainability strategy supports our well-established corporate purpose of transforming lives, our continued commitment to driving sustainable development and acting as a responsible business. Our sustainability strategy sets out our goals and commitments to foster financial inclusion, bridge the digital divide and serve more customers in some of the least penetrated telecommunication markets in the world.

Strengthen 'Go-to-market'

We continue to strengthen our distribution footprint, especially our exclusive channel of kiosks/mini-shops and Airtel Money Branches (AMB) along with multi-brand outlets in both urban and rural markets. During the period, the Group expanded its exclusive franchise stores, adding over 7,400 kiosks and mini shops (taking the total to 88,300 kiosks and mini shops) and adding over 1,200 Airtel Money Branches (AMB). The Group also added over 36,000 activating outlets, an increase of 11%, enabling continued expansion of our customer base and strong growth in overall revenues.

We also continue to accelerate our data revenue growth through a combination of higher mix of smartphones in our base and improving ARPUs. Our smartphone penetration stands at 42.9%, an increase of 5.3% points from H1'24 driven by our expansion of the 4G network and stronger execution. Our data consumption has increased to 7.1 GB per data user, growing by over 36% in Q2'25 driven by improved network experience and customer life-cycle management programs. A notable development is our intervention in Rwanda where we have been able to break barriers of affordability on both smartphone devices and data tariffs, thereby enabling accelerated adoption of data services during the period.

Best in class network experience

The Group remains focused on delivering best-in-class services, enhancing our 4G network availability, along with expanding newly launched 5G technology in key markets like Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. Reaching underserved communities is a key priority and we continue to expand rural coverage through new site rollouts and continue investing in spectrum and technologies to support increased capacity to facilitate our corporate purpose of transforming lives.

We have rolled out over 2,800 sites during the year and close to 4,200 4G sites. 96.6% or our sites are now 4G enabled compared to 92.3% in prior period and we have over 1,200 5G operational sites in five markets.

As part of ensuring our services are future ready, in addition to purchasing spectrum, we grew our fibre infrastructure and 5G capabilities and remain committed to our investment into data centres to further support digital inclusion across our markets. We continued to strengthen our fibre business, which is now delivering encouraging revenue growth. During the year we added a further around 3,500 km of fibre, with a total of 77,100+ km now deployed.

Overall, the capacity investment has resulted in a 20.1% increase in data capacity - reaching almost 34,000 terabytes (TB) per day, with peak hour data utilisation steadily increasing as we optimise asset performance.

Must win markets

Winning customers across all the markets through micro marketing using network and digital tools is fundamental to our strategy and will enable us to drive both financial and digital inclusion. We win in every micro segment by optimizing our network to improve customer experience or strengthen our distribution where our network is strong so that we can acquire new customers with speed and precision. There are clusters of opportunities which have been identified across all opcos which have been called out as "must win markets". To ensure that we win across all must win markets there is stepped up investment on building people capabilities and driving a culture of collaborative working across functions.

In the broader urban areas, including smaller towns and emerging suburban peripheries, some of micromarketing actions include improving indoor coverage, quality of network and delivering seamless experience by stitching our network experience through principles of community of interest. This will allow us to strengthen our position as a reliable network provider, attracting new customers and retaining our existing base.

Rural markets present a big growth opportunity given low penetration of both telecom and financial services. To tap the opportunity, our focus is on improving coverage and distribution expansion across all formats. With intensified network investment and focus on distribution excellence, we are confident that rural markets will contribute to a significant portion of our overall customer additions going forward.

Digitise and simplify

In line with our strategic pillar of "Digitize and Simplify," we have made significant strides in streamlining our digital offerings and improving customer experiences through innovative technologies. Our focus remains on enhancing digital adoption and driving operational efficiencies to simplify user journeys and unlock growth across all digital touchpoints.

The My Airtel App differentiates through a single-app strategy for both telecommunications and wallet use cases and as a result has achieved significant digital adoption and transaction growth. Over the last year we have seen a 92% growth in monthly active users of the My Airtel App, with transaction value on the app increasing by over 70%. This illustrates the growth in customer self-service in performing core communication and wallet related use cases such as airtime recharges, bundle purchase, peer-to-peer and bill payments.

We believe continued investments in digital infrastructure will enable us to accelerate productivity, while also improving experience for all stakeholders positioning Airtel for greater scalability and faster growth.

Accelerate Airtel Money

The low penetration of traditional banking services across our footprint leaves a large number of unbanked customers whose needs can be fulfilled largely through mobile money services. Our goal is to accelerate the adoption of Airtel Money across all regions, leveraging the success of our mobile money business model to expand financial access and inclusion, particularly in some of the world's most underserved communities.

During the period, our efforts were focused on expanding our ecosystem and driving customer acquisition. We introduced new international money transfer routes, rolled out new loan products, and continued to onboard more partners into our ecosystem. Additionally, a key priority was to promote digital app transactions, ensuring a seamless and more integrated experience for our customers while enhancing the overall value of our mobile money services.

We continued to strengthen our exclusive distribution network of Airtel Money Branches and Kiosks, ensuring service availability even in rural areas. The number of kiosks and mini shops grew by 9.1%, while Airtel Money branches saw an increase of over 6.7%. In addition, our non-exclusive mobile money agent network expanded by 40%, driven by the successful implementation of our digital onboarding process. These distribution efforts, combined with enhanced product offerings, led to a 13.4% growth in our mobile money customer base, which now serves 41.5 million customers, representing 26.5% of our total customer base.

Mobile money has become an increasingly vital component of our business, with an annual transaction value of $ 128 billion in reported currency. During the period, mobile money revenue contributed 19.6% to the Group's overall revenues.

Scale HBB and enterprise

Airtel's investment in 5G networks has helped power capacity to service customer need for unlimited internet service across key cities in 5 markets. The demand for these services is evident in the scale of usage, with customers consuming, on average 250GB per month across Nigeria, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda and Zambia.

During the period we have increased our investment into dedicated outbound sales teams which are focussed on-boarding high value customers on unlimited play, utilising our expansive 4G network. Further investment in ensuring customers have a seamless on-boarding to the home broadband service with the My Airtel App has helped improve customer convenience, particularly in the product use and recharges available across multiple integrated payment channels.

Enterprise services remains a key opportunity and focus. In particular, Nxtra by Airtel - our new data centre business - has broken ground in Nigeria and is expected to deliver 38 megawatts of total capacity and host high density racks, incorporating the latest best practice in construction design. This is the first of five hyperscale data centres to be developed by Airtel Africa on the continent. In addition, the launch of 'Telesonic' will leverage its fibre infrastructure across the continent to meet the growing demand for wholesale data in Africa by offering comprehensive fibre and submarine cable solutions.

Financial review for the half year ended 30 September 2024

Nigeria - Mobile services

Description	Unit of measure	Half year ended				Quarter ended
Description	Unit of measure	Sep-24	Sep-23	Reported currency change	Constant currency change	Sep-24	Sep-23	Reported currency change	Constant currency change
Summarised statement of Operations
Revenue	$m	489	878	(44.3%)	35.6%	234	350	(33.2%)	37.9%
Voice revenue	$m	209	414	(49.6%)	23.0%	97	161	(39.7%)	24.5%
Data revenue	$m	229	385	(40.5%)	44.4%	112	157	(28.6%)	47.3%
Other revenue ¹	$m	51	79	(35.1%)	58.0%	25	32	(23.0%)	59.0%
EBITDA	$m	238	474	(49.7%)	22.3%	115	190	(39.4%)	25.2%
EBITDA margin	%	48.7%	54.0%	(526) bps	(531) bps	49.4%	54.4%	(504) bps	(500) bps
Depreciation and amortisation	$m	(92)	(156)	(41.1%)	40.7%	(43)	(66)	(34.4%)	35.5%
Operating profit	$m	155	298	(47.9%)	32.5%	72	116	(37.9%)	35.5%
Capex	$m	75	109	(31.3%)	(31.3%)	37	62	(40.3%)	(40.3%)
Operating free cash flow	$m	163	365	(55.2%)	73.7%	78	128	(38.9%)	104.1%
Operating KPIs
Total customer base	million	48.7	48.6	0.2%		48.7	48.6	0.2%
Data customer base	million	26.3	24.2	8.6%		26.3	24.2	8.6%
Mobile services ARPU	$	1.6	3.0	(45.8%)	31.8%	1.6	2.4	(34.0%)	36.2%

⁽¹⁾ Other revenue includes inter-segment revenue of $1m in the half year ended 30 September 2024 and in the prior period. Excluding inter-segment revenue, other revenue was $50m in half year ended 30 September 2024 and $78m in the prior period.

Revenue grew by 35.6% in constant currency, largely driven by continued strength in the demand for data services across the country, with growth accelerating to 37.9% in Q2'25 compared to 33.2% in Q1'25. In reported currency, revenues declined by 44.3% to $489m on account of the significant devaluation of the Nigerian naira. The constant currency revenue growth was driven by ARPU growth of 31.8% while customer growth was relatively stable following the disconnection of subscribers in compliance with the KYC directives issued by the regulator.

Voice revenue grew by 23.0% in constant currency, driven by voice ARPU growth of 19.6%.

Data revenue grew by 44.4% in constant currency, as a function of both data customer and data ARPU growth of 8.6% and 30.5%, respectively. Data usage per customer increased by 36.0% to 8.1 GB per month (from 5.9 GB in the prior period), with smartphone penetration increasing 6.2% to reach 48.5%. Smartphone data usage per customer reached 10.9 GB per month compared to 8.6 GB per month in the prior period.

EBITDA of $238m declined by 49.7% in reported currency but increased by 22.3% in constant currency. The EBITDA margin declined by 526 basis points to 48.7% reflecting continued inflationary pressures across the business, particularly from the increase in diesel prices. Average diesel prices in Nigeria increased by approximately 90% compared to the prior period. In Q2'25, EBITDA margin has improved to 49.4% from 48.2% in Q1'25.

Operating free cash flow was $163m, up by 73.7% in constant currency, largely due to the constant currency EBITDA growth and lower capex while in reported currency, operating free cash flow declined by 55.2% due to lower reported currency EBITDA following the significant naira devaluation over the year.

East Africa - Mobile services ¹

Description	Unit of measure	Half year ended				Quarter ended
Description	Unit of measure	Sep-24	Sep-23	Reported currency change	Constant currency change	Sep-24	Sep-23	Reported currency change	Constant currency change
Summarised statement of operations
Revenue	$m	883	822	7.5%	19.1%	461	424	8.6%	18.5%
Voice revenue ²	$m	439	441	(0.3%)	10.9%	229	229	(0.1%)	9.5%
Data revenue	$m	355	309	14.7%	26.1%	185	158	16.9%	26.4%
Other revenue ³	$m	89	72	25.1%	38.9%	47	37	27.5%	39.6%
EBITDA	$m	418	408	2.5%	14.2%	221	213	3.6%	13.9%
EBITDA margin	%	47.3%	49.7%	(233) bps	(203) bps	47.9%	50.2%	(232) bps	(191) bps
Depreciation and amortisation	$m	(158)	(145)	9.3%	16.9%	(82)	(71)	15.1%	21.5%
Operating profit	$m	231	240	(3.9%)	10.8%	123	129	(4.6%)	8.4%
Capex	$m	156	107	46.5%	46.5%	79	53	49.7%	49.7%
Operating free cash flow	$m	262	301	(13.1%)	0.8%	142	160	(11.6%)	0.4%
Operating KPIs
Total customer base	million	74.2	68.1	9.0%		74.2	68.1	9.0%
Data customer base	million	28.8	25.7	12.1%		28.8	25.7	12.1%
Mobile services ARPU	$	2.0	2.1	(2.6%)	7.8%	2.1	2.1	(1.0%)	8.0%

⁽¹⁾ The East Africa business region includes Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.

⁽²⁾ Voice revenue includes inter-segment revenue of $1m in the half year ended 30 September 2024 and in the prior period. Excluding inter-segment revenue, voice revenue was $438m in half year ended 30 September 2024 and $440m in the prior period.

⁽³⁾ Other revenue includes inter-segment revenue of $6m in the half year ended 30 September 2024 and in the prior period. Excluding inter-segment revenue, other revenue was $83m in half year ended 30 September 2024 and $66m in the prior period.

East Africa revenue grew by 7.5% in reported currency to $883m, and by 19.1% in constant currency. The constant currency growth was made up of voice revenue growth of 10.9%, data revenue growth of 26.1% and other revenue growth of 38.9%.

Voice revenues were supported by customer base growth of 9.0% while voice ARPU was flat. Voice ARPU's were negatively impacted by reduction in interconnect rate by regulator in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Rwanda. The customer base growth was largely driven by expansion of both increased network coverage and the increasing scale of the distribution network.

Data customer base growth of 12.1% and data ARPU growth of 10.0% drove the strong performance in data revenues. Our continued investment in the network and expansion of 4G network infrastructure resulted in 98.8% of our East Africa network sites on 4G, compared to 93.9% in the prior period. Furthermore, 986 sites are 5G enabled in four markets. In the half year, total data usage per customer increased to 5.9 GB per customer per month, up by 28.4%, with smartphone penetration increasing 4.9% to reach 40.2%. Smartphone data usage per customer reached 7.4 GB per month compared to 6.1 GB per month in the prior period.

EBITDA increased to $418m, up by 2.5% in reported currency and up by 14.2% in constant currency. EBITDA margins of 47.3% declined by 233 basis points as a result of rising fuel prices in several of our key markets. However, in Q2'25, EBITDA margin improved as compared to Q1'25.

Operating free cash flow was $262m, up by 0.8% in constant currency, due largely to EBITDA growth, partially offset by increased capex.

The differential in growth rates (between constant currency and reported currency) is primarily contributed by the devaluation in the Zambian kwacha, the Malawian kwacha, and the Tanzanian shilling, partially offset by the Kenyan shilling appreciation.

Francophone Africa - Mobile services ¹

Description	Unit of measure	Half year ended				Quarter ended
Description	Unit of measure	Sep-24	Sep-23	Reported currency change	Constant currency change	Sep-24	Sep-23	Reported currency change	Constant currency change
Summarised statement of operations
Revenue	$m	636	605	5.2%	5.3%	329	306	7.4%	7.1%
Voice revenue ²	$m	313	317	(1.1%)	(1.0%)	159	159	0.1%	(0.3%)
Data revenue	$m	260	221	17.9%	18.1%	138	114	21.2%	20.9%
Other revenue ³	$m	63	67	(6.7%)	(6.7%)	32	33	(4.8%)	(5.0%)
EBITDA	$m	244	264	(7.8%)	(7.7%)	130	133	(2.9%)	(3.3%)
EBITDA margin	%	38.3%	43.7%	(538) bps	(539) bps	39.4%	43.6%	(418) bps	(419) bps
Depreciation and amortisation	$m	(115)	(103)	11.1%	11.2%	(60)	(53)	11.9%	11.4%
Operating profit	$m	101	138	(26.8%)	(26.8%)	55	68	(19.9%)	(20.3%)
Capex	$m	66	77	(13.8%)	(13.8%)	43	46	(6.2%)	(6.2%)
Operating free cash flow	$m	178	187	(5.2%)	(5.1%)	87	87	(0.9%)	(1.7%)
Operating KPIs
Total customer base	million	33.6	30.9	9.0%		33.6	30.9	9.0%
Data customer base	million	10.9	9.9	10.6%		10.9	9.9	10.6%
Mobile services ARPU	$	3.2	3.4	(4.7%)	(4.6%)	3.3	3.4	(2.1%)	(2.4%)

⁽¹⁾ The Francophone Africa business region includes Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Madagascar, Niger, Republic of the Congo, and Seychelles.

⁽²⁾ Voice revenue includes inter-segment revenue of $2m in the half year ended 30 September 2023. Excluding inter-segment revenue, voice revenue was $315m in the half year ended 30 September 2023.

⁽³⁾ Other revenue includes inter-segment revenue of $2m in the half year ended 30 September 2024 and $1m in the prior period. Excluding inter-segment revenue, other revenue was $61m in half year ended 30 September 2024 and $66m in the prior period.

Revenue grew by 5.2% in reported currency and by 5.3% in constant currency. Revenue growth remains impacted due to high inflation in key markets impacting consumer spend, though it has improved from 3.6% in Q1'25 to 7.1% in Q2'25 on constant currency basis.

Voice revenue declined by 1.0% in constant currency, as customer base growth of 9.0% was more than offset by a decline in voice ARPU. Voice ARPU was negatively impacted by a reduction in the interconnect rate by the regulator in Congo B and Niger coupled with increased competitive intensity in pricing in few markets. Customer base growth was supported by the expansion of both network coverage and distribution infrastructure.

Data revenue grew by 18.1% in constant currency, supported by customer base growth of 10.6%. Our continued 4G network rollout resulted in an increase in total data usage of 41.8% and per customer data usage increase of 22.8%. Data usage per customer increased to 5.1 GB per month (up from 4.2 GB in the prior period), with smartphone penetration increasing 5.4% to reach 40.8%. Smartphone data usage per customer reached 6.2 GB per month compared to 5.1 GB per month in the prior period.

EBITDA at $244m, declined by 7.8% and 7.7% in reported and constant currency, respectively. The EBITDA margin declined to 38.3%, a decline of 538 basis points, impacted by an increase in fixed frequency fees in a key market, rising energy costs combined with a slowdown in revenue growth in key markets. In Q2'25, EBITDA margins increased to 39.4% from 37.1% in the previous quarter.

Operating free cash flow was $178m, declined by 5.1% in constant currency, due to the decline in EBITDA, partially offset by lower capex.

Mobile services

Description	Unit of measure	Half year ended				Quarter ended
Description	Unit of measure	Sep-24	Sep-23	Reported currency change	Constant currency change	Sep-24	Sep-23	Reported currency change	Constant currency change
Summarised statement of operations
Revenue ¹	$m	2,013	2,303	(12.6%)	18.4%	1,026	1,080	(5.0%)	19.3%
Voice revenue	$m	960	1,169	(17.9%)	9.4%	484	548	(11.6%)	9.3%
Data revenue	$m	844	915	(7.7%)	28.4%	435	429	1.4%	30.2%
Other revenue	$m	209	219	(4.8%)	25.6%	107	103	3.6%	27.9%
EBITDA	$m	907	1,149	(21.1%)	9.9%	469	538	(12.9%)	12.0%
EBITDA margin	%	45.1%	49.9%	(484) bps	(347) bps	45.7%	49.8%	(414) bps	(299) bps
Depreciation and amortisation	$m	(365)	(404)	(9.6%)	20.7%	(185)	(190)	(2.9%)	21.6%
Operating profit	$m	494	678	(27.2%)	6.8%	254	315	(19.6%)	8.3%
Capex	$m	297	293	1.7%	1.7%	159	160	(0.9%)	(0.9%)
Operating free cash flow	$m	610	856	(28.8%)	14.2%	310	378	(18.0%)	19.3%
Operating KPIs
Mobile voice
Customer base	million	156.6	147.7	6.1%		156.6	147.7	6.1%
Voice ARPU	$	1.0	1.4	(23.9%)	1.4%	1.0	1.3	(17.3%)	2.2%
Mobile data
Data customer base	million	66.0	59.8	10.4%		66.0	59.8	10.4%
Data ARPU	$	2.2	2.7	(18.4%)	13.5%	2.2	2.4	(8.6%)	17.4%

⁽¹⁾ Mobile service revenue after inter-segment eliminations was $2,009m in the half year ended 30 September 2024 and $2,300m in the prior period.

Overall revenue from mobile services declined by 12.6% in reported currency with growth of 18.4% in constant currency. In Q2'25, constant currency revenue growth accelerated to 19.3% from 17.4% in the prior quarter. The constant currency growth was evident across all regions and services.

Voice revenue grew by 9.4% in constant currency, was supported primarily by the continued growth in the customer base as we continue to invest in our network and enhance our distribution infrastructure. The voice ARPU growth of 1.4% was supported by an increase in voice usage per customer of 3.5%, reaching 295 minutes per customer per month, with total minutes on the network increasing by 11.6%.

Data revenue grew by 28.4% in constant currency, driven by both customer base growth of 10.4% and data ARPU growth of 13.5%. The customer base growth was recorded across all the regions supported by the expansion of our 4G network. 96.6% of our total sites are now on 4G, compared with 92.3% in the prior period. 5G is operational across five countries, with 1,221 sites deployed. Data usage per customer increased to 6.6 GB per customer per month (from 5.1 GB in the prior period), with smartphone penetration increasing 5.3% to reach 42.9%. Smartphone data usage per customer reached 8.5 GB per month compared to 6.9 GB per month in the prior period. Data revenue contributed to 41.9% of total mobile services revenue, up from 39.7% in the prior period.

EBITDA was $907m, down 21.1% in reported currency, and up by 9.9% in constant currency. In Q2'25, EBITDA margins increased to 45.7% from 44.4% in the prior quarter on the back of improvements across all regions. The EBITDA margin declined by 484 basis points YoY to 45.1%, a decline of 347 basis points in constant currency, due largely to increase in fuel prices across key markets.

Operating free cash flow was $610m, up by 14.2% in constant currency, due to the increased constant currency EBITDA, partially offset by higher capex.

Mobile money

Description	Unit of measure	Half year ended				Quarter ended
Description	Unit of measure	Sep-24	Sep-23	Reported currency change	Constant currency change	Sep-24	Sep-23	Reported currency change	Constant currency change
Summarised statement of operations
Revenue ¹	$m	466	416	11.9%	28.8%	244	215	13.5%	29.1%
Nigeria	$m	2	1	-	-	1	0	-	-
East Africa	$m	349	319	9.2%	31.4%	182	165	10.5%	31.1%
Francophone Africa	$m	115	96	20.2%	20.2%	61	50	22.4%	21.9%
EBITDA	$m	247	214	15.4%	33.0%	128	111	15.6%	32.0%
EBITDA margin	%	53.0%	51.4%	162 bps	167 bps	52.6%	51.6%	93 bps	116 bps
Depreciation and amortisation	$m	(10)	(9)	6.9%	29.3%	(5)	(5)	13.5%	34.6%
Operating profit	$m	230	198	16.1%	33.7%	119	103	15.3%	32.1%
Capex	$m	10	10	(3.2%)	(3.2%)	6	7	(13.7%)	(13.7%)
Operating free cash flow	$m	237	204	16.3%	35.1%	122	104	17.5%	35.5%
Operating KPIs
Mobile money customer base	million	41.5	36.5	13.4%		41.5	36.5	13.4%
Transaction value	$bn	63.8	55.7	14.6%	30.1%	33.8	28.9	17.0%	31.5%
Mobile money ARPU	$	2.0	2.0	(3.7%)	10.9%	2.0	2.0	(0.7%)	12.9%

⁽¹⁾ Mobile money service revenue post inter-segment eliminations with mobile services was $361m in the half year ended 30 September 2024 and $323m in the prior year.

Mobile money revenue grew by 11.9% in reported currency, with constant currency growth of 28.8%. The constant currency mobile money revenue growth was driven by revenue growth in both East Africa and Francophone Africa of 31.4% and 20.2%, respectively. In Nigeria, we continue to focus on customer acquisitions with 1.4 million of active customers registered for mobile money services at the end of September 2024. Additionally, we added almost 117,000 agents during the year reaching over 231,000 agents as of 30 September 2024.

The constant currency revenue growth of 28.8% was driven by both our customer base growth of 13.4% and mobile money ARPU growth of 10.9%. The expansion of our distribution network, particularly our exclusive channels of Airtel Money branches and kiosks, supported customer base growth of 13.4%. The mobile money ARPU growth of 10.9% was driven by transaction value per customer growth of 12.1% in constant currency, to $268 per customer per month.

Annualised transaction value amounted to $128bn in reported currency, with mobile money revenue contributing 19.6% of total Group revenue during the half year ended 30 September 2024.

EBITDA was $247m, up by 15.4% and 33.0% in reported and constant currency, respectively. The EBITDA margin reached 53.0%, an improvement of 167 basis points in constant currency and 162 basis points in reported currency, driven by continued operating leverage.

The differential in growth rates (between constant currency and reported currency) is primarily as the result of devaluation in the Zambian kwacha, the Malawi kwacha, and the Tanzanian shilling.

Regional performance

Nigeria

Description	Unit of measure	Half year ended				Quarter ended
Description	Unit of measure	Sep-24	Sep-23	Reported currency change	Constant currency change	Sep-24	Sep-23	Reported currency change	Constant currency change
Revenue	$m	490	879	(44.2%)	35.8%	234	350	(33.1%)	38.2%
Voice revenue	$m	209	414	(49.6%)	23.0%	97	161	(39.7%)	24.5%
Data revenue	$m	229	385	(40.5%)	44.4%	112	157	(28.6%)	47.3%
Mobile money revenue	$m	2	1	-	-	1	0	-	-
Other revenue	$m	51	79	(35.1%)	57.9%	25	32	(23.1%)	58.8%
EBITDA	$m	237	470	(49.5%)	22.7%	115	189	(39.2%)	25.7%
EBITDA margin	%	48.4%	53.5%	(508) bps	(517) bps	49.1%	54.0%	(489) bps	(486) bps
Operating KPIs
ARPU	$	1.6	3.0	(45.8%)	32.0%	1.6	2.4	(33.9%)	36.5%

East Africa

Description	Unit of measure	Half year ended				Quarter ended
Description	Unit of measure	Sep-24	Sep-23	Reported currency change	Constant currency change	Sep-24	Sep-23	Reported currency change	Constant currency change
Revenue	$m	1,159	1,075	7.8%	21.7%	605	556	8.8%	21.2%
Voice revenue	$m	439	441	(0.3%)	10.9%	229	229	(0.1%)	9.5%
Data revenue	$m	355	309	14.7%	26.1%	185	158	16.9%	26.4%
Mobile money revenue	$m	349	320	9.2%	31.4%	182	165	10.5%	31.1%
Other revenue	$m	87	69	25.4%	39.1%	45	36	27.5%	39.8%
EBITDA	$m	609	580	4.9%	19.9%	320	301	6.1%	19.6%
EBITDA margin	%	52.5%	53.9%	(141) bps	(79) bps	52.8%	54.2%	(135) bps	(70) bps
Operating KPIs
ARPU	$	2.7	2.7	(2.4%)	10.2%	2.8	2.8	(0.8%)	10.4%

Francophone Africa

Description	Unit of measure	Half year ended				Quarter ended
Description	Unit of measure	Sep-24	Sep-23	Reported currency change	Constant currency change	Sep-24	Sep-23	Reported currency change	Constant currency change
Revenue	$m	716	670	7.0%	7.1%	371	340	9.4%	9.0%
Voice revenue	$m	313	317	(1.1%)	(1.0%)	159	159	0.1%	(0.3%)
Data revenue	$m	260	221	17.9%	18.1%	138	114	21.2%	20.9%
Mobile money revenue	$m	115	96	20.2%	20.2%	61	50	22.4%	21.9%
Other revenue	$m	62	66	(7.2%)	(7.1%)	31	33	(5.1%)	(5.3%)
EBITDA	$m	307	316	(2.9%)	(2.8%)	163	161	1.2%	0.8%
EBITDA margin	%	42.8%	47.2%	(437) bps	(438) bps	43.8%	47.3%	(354) bps	(355) bps
Operating KPIs
ARPU	$	3.6	3.7	(3.1%)	(3.0%)	3.7	3.7	(0.3%)	(0.7%)

Consolidated performance

Description	UoM	Half year ended September 2024					Half year ended September 2023
Description	UoM	Mobile services	Mobile money	Unallocated	Eliminations	Total	Mobile services	Mobile money	Unallocated	Eliminations	Total
Revenue	$m	2,013	466	-	(109)	2,370	2,303	416	-	(96)	2,623
Voice revenue	$m	960		-	-	960	1,169		-	-	1,169
Data revenue	$m	844		-	-	844	915		-	-	915
Other revenue	$m	209		-	(4)	205	219		-	(3)	216
EBITDA	$m	907	247	(67)	-	1,087	1,149	214	(61)	-	1,302
EBITDA margin	%	45.1%	53.0%			45.8%	49.9%	51.4%			49.6%
Depreciation and amortisation	$m	(365)	(10)	(6)	-	(381)	(404)	(9)	(4)	-	(417)
Operating profit	$m	494	230	(18)	-	706	678	198	9	-	885

Related party transactions

Related party transactions are disclosed in note 16 to the condensed set of financial statements.

There have been no material changes in the related party transactions described in the last annual report.

Risk factors

The risk factors summarised below relate to the Group's business and industry in which it operates. Additional risks and uncertainties relating to the Group that are currently unknown to the Group, or those the Group currently deems immaterial, may, individually or cumulatively, also have a material adverse impact on the Group's business, results of operations and financial position. The Group's principal and emerging risks and risk management process are described in pages 72-79 of our 2024 Annual Report and Accounts. Based on the Group's assessment, there has been no changes to the group's principal risks in the period.

Summary of principal risks

The Group continually monitors its external and internal environment to identify risks which have the ability to impact its operations, financial performance or the achievement of its objectives.

1. We operate in a competitive environment with the potential for aggressive competition by existing players, or the entry of new players, which could both put a downward pressure on prices, adversely affecting our revenue and profitability.

2. Failure to innovate through simplifying the customer experience, developing adequate digital touchpoints in line with changing customer needs and competitive landscape could lead to loss of customers and market share.

3. Global geopolitical and regional tensions have the potential to impact our business directly and indirectly due to the interconnectedness of the global supply chain. Relatedly, adverse macroeconomic conditions such as rising inflation and increased cost of living not only puts pressure on the disposable income of our customers but also increases the cost of inputs for our business negatively impacting sales and profitability.

4. Cybersecurity threats through internal or external sabotage or system vulnerabilities could potentially result in customer data breaches and/or service downtimes.

5. Adverse changes in our external business environment and macro-economic conditions such as supply chain disruptions, increase in global commodity prices and inflationary pressures could lead to a significant increase in our operating cost structure while also negatively impacting the disposable income of consumers. These adverse economic conditions therefore not only put pressure on our profitability but also on customer usage for our services.

6. Shortages of skilled telecommunications professionals in some markets and the inability to identify and develop successors for key leadership positions could both lead to disruptions in the execution of our corporate strategy.

7. Our internal control environment is subject to the risk that controls may become inadequate due to changes in internal or external conditions, new accounting requirements, delays, or inaccuracies in reporting.

8. Our ability to provide quality of service to our customers and meet quality of service (QoS) requirements depends on the robustness and resilience of our technology stack and ecosystem encompassing hardware, software, products, services, and applications and our ability to respond appropriately to any disruptions. However, telecommunications networks are subject to the risks of technical failures, aging infrastructure, human error, wilful acts of destruction or natural disasters.

9. We operate in a diverse and dynamic legal, tax and regulatory environment. Adverse changes in the political, macro-economic and policy environment could have a negative impact on our ability to achieve our strategy. While the group makes every effort to comply with its legal and regulatory obligations in all its operating jurisdictions in line with the group's risk appetite, we are however continually faced with an uncertain and constantly evolving legal, regulatory, and policy environment in some of the markets where we operate.

10. Our multinational footprint means we are constantly exposed to the risk of adverse currency fluctuations and the macroeconomic conditions in the markets where we operate. We derive revenue and incur costs in local currencies where we operate, but we also incur costs in foreign currencies, mainly from buying equipment and services from manufacturers and technology service providers. That means adverse movements in exchange rates between the currencies in our OpCos and the US dollar could have a negative effect on our liquidity and financial condition. In some markets, we face instances of limited supply of foreign currency within the local monetary system. This not only constrains our ability to fully benefit at Group level from strong cash generation by those OpCos but also impacts our ability to make timely foreign currency payments to our international suppliers.

Given the severity of this risk, specifically in some of our OpCos, the Group management continuously monitors the potential impact of this risk of exchange rate fluctuations based on the following methodology:

a) Comparing the average devaluation of each currency in the markets in which the Group operates against US dollar on 3-year and 5-year historic basis and onshore forward exchange rates over a 1-year period.

b) If either of the above devaluation is higher than 5% per annum, management selects the highest of these exchange rates.

c) Management then uses this exchange rate to monitor the potential impact of using such rate on the Group's income statement so that the Group can actively monitor and assess the impact on the Group's financials due to exchange rate fluctuations.

Additionally, for our Nigerian operations, management uses different sensitivity analysis for scenario planning purposes which includes the recent impact of the naira devaluation.

With respect to currency devaluation sensitivity going forward, on a 12-month basis assuming that the USD appreciation occurs at the beginning of the period, a further 1% USD appreciation across all currencies in our OpCos would have a negative impact of $41m - $43m on revenues, $19m - $20m on EBITDA and $27m - $29m on foreign exchange loss (excluding derivatives). Our largest exposure is to the Nigerian naira, for which on a similar basis, a further 1% USD appreciation would have a negative impact of $9m - $10m on revenues, $4m - $5m on EBITDA and $15m - $16m on foreign exchange loss (excluding derivatives).

This does not represent any guidance and is being used solely to illustrate the potential impact of further currency devaluation on the Group for the purpose of exchange rate risk management. The accounting under IFRS is based on exchange rates in line with the requirements of IAS 21 'The Effect of Changes in Foreign Exchange' and does not factor in the devaluation mentioned above.

Based on above-mentioned specific methodology for the identified OpCos, management evaluates specific mitigation actions based on available mechanisms in each of the geographies. For further details on such mitigation action, refer to the risk section of the Annual Report and Accounts 2023/24.

Going concern

As stated in note 3.1 to the condensed financial statements, the directors are satisfied that the Group has sufficient resources to continue in operation for the foreseeable future, a period of not less than 12 months from the date of this report. Accordingly, they continue to adopt the going concern basis in preparing the condensed financial statements.

Forward looking statements

This document contains certain forward-looking statements regarding our intentions, beliefs or current expectations concerning, amongst other things, our results of operations, financial condition, liquidity, prospects, growth, strategies and the economic and business circumstances occurring from time to time in the countries and markets in which the Group operates.

These statements are often, but not always, made through the use of words or phrases such as "believe," "anticipate," "could," "may," "would," "should," "intend," "plan," "potential," "predict," "will," "expect," "estimate," "project," "positioned," "strategy," "outlook", "target" and similar expressions.

It is believed that the expectations reflected in this document are reasonable, but they may be affected by a wide range of variables that could cause actual results to differ materially from those currently anticipated.

All such forward-looking statements involve estimates and assumptions that are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual future financial condition, performance and results to differ materially from the plans, goals, expectations and results expressed in the forward-looking statements and other financial and/or statistical data within this communication.

Among the key factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements are uncertainties related to the following: the impact of competition from illicit trade; the impact of adverse domestic or international legislation and regulation; changes in domestic or international tax laws and rates; adverse litigation and dispute outcomes and the effect of such outcomes on Airtel Africa's financial condition; changes or differences in domestic or international economic or political conditions; the ability to obtain price increases and the impact of price increases on consumer affordability thresholds; adverse decisions by domestic or international regulatory bodies; the impact of market size reduction and consumer down-trading; translational and transactional foreign exchange rate exposure; the impact of serious injury, illness or death in the workplace; the ability to maintain credit ratings; the ability to develop, produce or market new alternative products and to do so profitably; the ability to effectively implement strategic initiatives and actions taken to increase sales growth; the ability to enhance cash generation and pay dividends and changes in the market position, businesses, financial condition, results of operations or prospects of Airtel Africa.

Past performance is no guide to future performance and persons needing advice should consult an independent financial adviser. The forward-looking statements contained in this document reflect the knowledge and information available to Airtel Africa at the date of preparation of this document and Airtel Africa undertakes no obligation to update or revise these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements.

No statement in this communication is intended to be, nor should be construed as, a profit forecast or a profit estimate and no statement in this communication should be interpreted to mean that earnings per share of Airtel Africa plc for the current or any future financial periods would necessarily match, exceed or be lower than the historical published earnings per share of Airtel Africa plc.

Financial data included in this document are presented in US dollars rounded to the nearest million. Therefore, discrepancies in the tables between totals and the sums of the amounts listed may occur due to such rounding. The percentages included in the tables throughout the document are based on numbers calculated to the nearest $1,000 and therefore minor rounding differences may result in the tables. Growth metrics are provided on a constant currency basis unless otherwise stated. The Group has presented certain financial information on a constant currency basis. This is calculated by translating the results for the current financial year and prior financial year at a fixed 'constant currency' exchange rate, which is done to measure the organic performance of the Group. Growth rates for our reporting regions and service segments are provided in constant currency as this better represents the performance of the business.

Airtel Africa plc

Results for the half year ended 30 September 2024

Consolidated Financial Statements

Interim Condensed Consolidated Statement of Comprehensive Income

(All amounts are in US$ millions unless stated otherwise)

	Notes	For the six months ended
	Notes	30 September 2024	30 September 2023
Income
Revenue	5	2,370	2,623
Other income		12	16
		2,382	2,639

Expenses
Network operating expenses		463	491
Access charges		122	179
License fee and spectrum usage charges		127	124
Employee benefits expense		148	152
Sales and marketing expenses		311	289
Impairment loss on financial assets		5	4
Other operating expenses		119	98
Depreciation and amortisation		381	417
		1,676	1,754

Operating profit		706	885

Finance costs
- Derivative and foreign exchange losses
Nigerian naira		231	557
Other currencies		29	97
- Other finance costs		280	236
Finance income		(12)	(17)
Share of profit of associate and joint venture accounted for using equity method		(0)	(0)
Profit before tax		178	12

Income tax expense	6	99	25
Profit/(loss) for the period		79	(13)

Profit before tax (as presented above)		178	12
Add: Exceptional items	7	231	471
Underlying profit before tax		409	483

Profit/(loss) after tax (as presented above)		79	(13)
Add: Exceptional items	7	151	317
Underlying profit after tax		230	304




	Notes	For the six months ended
	Notes	30 September 2024	30 September 2023

Profit/(loss) for the period (continued from previous page)		79	(13)
Other comprehensive income ('OCI')
Items to be reclassified subsequently to profit or loss:
Loss due to foreign currency translation differences		(3)	(677)
Gain on debt instruments at fair value through other comprehensive income		0	-
Share of OCI of associate and joint venture accounted for using equity method		0	(0)
Loss on cash flow hedges		(0)	-
Tax on above		2	4
		(1)	(673)
Items not to be reclassified subsequently to profit or loss:
Re-measurement loss on defined benefit plans		(1)	(0)
Tax on above		0	0
		(1)	(0)

Other comprehensive loss for the period		(2)	(673)

Total comprehensive income/ (loss) for the period		77	(686)

Profit/ (loss) for the period attributable to:		79	(13)

Owners of the company		31	(55)
Non-controlling interests		48	42

Other comprehensive loss for the period attributable to:		(2)	(673)

Owners of the company		2	(659)
Non-controlling interests		(4)	(14)

Total comprehensive income/(loss) for the period attributable to:		77	(686)

Owners of the company		33	(714)
Non-controlling interests		44	28

Earnings/(loss) per share
Basic	8	0.8 cents	(1.5 cents)
Diluted	8	0.8 cents	(1.5 cents)

Interim Condensed Consolidated Statement of Financial Position

(All amounts are in US$ millions unless stated otherwise)

	Notes	As of
	Notes	30 September 2024	31 March 2024
Assets
Non-current assets
Property, plant and equipment	9	1,867	1,827
Capital work-in-progress	9	204	232
Right of use assets		2,713	1,483
Goodwill	10	2,531	2,569
Other intangible assets		739	725
Intangible assets under development		10	4
Investments accounted for using equity method		5	5
Financial assets
- Investments		0	0
- Derivative instruments		0	0
- Others		9	30
Income tax assets (net)		8	5
Deferred tax assets (net)		551	543
Other non-current assets		163	146
		8,800	7,569

Current assets
Inventories		28	26
Financial assets
- Investments		1	2
- Derivative instruments		2	10
- Trade receivables		192	184
- Cash and cash equivalents	11	406	620
- Other bank balances	11	40	353
- Balance held under mobile money trust		830	737
- Others		76	106
Other current assets		274	254
		1,849	2,292
Total assets		10,649	9,861

	Notes	As of
		30 September 2024	31 March 2024
Liabilities Current liabilities
Financial liabilities
- Borrowings	13	1,096	1,426
- Lease liabilities - Put option liability	16	231 539	357 -
- Derivative instruments		68	144
- Trade payables		425	422
- Mobile money wallet balance		808	722
- Others		333	440
Provisions		71	78
Deferred revenue		123	123
Current tax liabilities (net)		58	119
Other current liabilities		205	215
		3,957	4,046

Net current liabilities		(2,108)	(1,754)

Non-current liabilities
Financial liabilities
- Borrowings	13	1,123	947
- Lease liabilities		3,133	1,732
- Put option liability	16	-	552
- Derivative instruments		0	33
- Others		158	146
Provisions		24	22
Deferred tax liabilities (net)		77	67
Other non-current liabilities		7	16
		4,522	3,515

Total liabilities		8,479	7,561

Net Assets		2,170	2,300

Equity
Share capital	12	1,849	1,875
Reserves and surplus		179	285
Equity attributable to owners of the company		2,028	2,160
Non-controlling interests ('NCI')		142	140
Total equity		2,170	2,300

The accompanying notes form an integral part of these interim condensed consolidated financial statements.

For and on behalf of the Board of Airtel Africa plc

Sunil Taldar

Chief Executive Officer

24 October 2024

Interim Condensed Consolidated Statement of Changes in Equity (All amounts are in US$ millions unless stated otherwise)
		Equity attributable to owners of the company
	Share Capital				Reserves and Surplus					Equity attributable to owners of the company
	No. of shares		Amount		Retained earnings	Transactions with NCI reserve	Other components of equity		Total	Equity attributable to owners of the company	Non-controlling interests (NCI)	Total equity
As of 1 April 2023	6,839,896,081			3,420	3,902	(929)	(2,758)	215		3,635	173	3,808
(Loss)/profit for the period	-			-	(55)	-	-	(55)		(55)	42	(13)
Other comprehensive loss	-			-	(0)	-	(659)	(659)		(659)	(14)	(673)
Total comprehensive income/(loss)	-			-	(55)	-	(659)	(714)		(714)	28	(686)
Transaction with owners of equity
Employee share-based payment reserve	-			-	(0)	-	2	2		2	-	2
Purchase of own shares (net)	-			-	-	-	(1)	(1)		(1)	-	(1)
Cancellation of deferred shares	(3,081,744,577)			(1,541)	1,541	-	-	1,541		-	-	-
Transactions with NCI	-			-	-	10	-	10		10	2	12
Dividend to owners of the company	-			-	(123)	-	-	(123)		(123)	-	(123)
Dividend (including tax) to NCI	-			-	-	-	-	-		-	(34)	(34)
As of 30 September 2023	3,758,151,504			1,879	5,265	(919)	(3,416)	930		2,809	169	2,978
(Loss)/Profit for the period	-			-	(110)	-	-	(110)		(110)	34	(76)
Other comprehensive loss	-			-	0	-	(482)	(482)		(482)	(18)	(500)
Total comprehensive income/(loss)	-			-	(110)	-	(482)	(592)		(592)	16	(576)
Transaction with owners of equity
Employee share-based payment reserve	-			-	(1)	-	-	(1)		(1)	-	(1)
Purchase of own shares (net)	-			-	-	-	2	2		2	-	2
Ordinary shares buy back programme	(7,389,855)			(4)	(9)	-	(37)	(46)		(50)	-	(50)
Transactions with NCI	-			-	-	81	-	81		81	(14)	67
Dividend to owners of the company	-			-	(89)	-	-	(89)		(89)	-	(89)
Dividend (including tax) to NCI	-			-	-	-	-	-		-	(31)	(31)
As of 31 March 2024	3,750,761,649			1,875	5,056	(838)	(3,933)	285		2,160	140	2,300
Profit for the period	-			-	31	-	-	31		31	48	79
Other Comprehensive income/(loss)	-			-	(1)	-	3	2		2	(4)	(2)
Total comprehensive income	-			-	30	-	3	33		33	44	77
Transactions with owners of equity
Employee share-based payment reserve	-			-	(3)	-	(2)	(5)		(5)	-	(5)
Purchase of own shares (net)	-			-	-	-	6	6		6	-	6
Ordinary shares buy back programme	(53,159,199)			(26)	(79)	-	55	(24)		(50)	-	(50)
Transactions with NCI⁽¹⁾	-			-	-	17	-	17		17	0	17
Dividend to owners of the company	-			-	(133)	-	-	(133)		(133)	-	(133)
Dividend (including tax) to NCI	-			-	-	-	-	-		-	(42)	(42)
As of 30 September 2024	3,697,602,450			1,849	4,871	(821)	(3,871)	179		2,028	142	2,170

(1) Transaction with NCI reserve increased mainly due to reversal of put option liability by $15m for dividend distribution to put option NCI holders. Any dividend paid to the put option NCI holders is adjustable against the put option liability based on the put option arrangement.


Interim Condensed Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows (All amounts are in US$ millions unless stated otherwise)		For the six months ended
	30 September 2024		30 September 2023
Cash flows from operating activities
Profit before tax	178		12
Adjustments for -
Depreciation and amortization	381		417
Finance income	(12)		(17)
Finance costs
- Derivative and foreign exchange losses
Nigerian naira	231		557
Other currencies	29		97
- Other finance costs	280		236
Loss on sale of property, plant and equipment, net	-		0
Share of profit of associate and joint venture accounted for using equity method	(0)		(0)
Other non-cash adjustments⁽¹⁾	7		(1)
Operating cash flow before changes in working capital	1,094		1,301
Changes in working capital
Increase in trade receivables	(16)		(38)
Increase in inventories	(6)		(7)
Increase in trade payables	17		8
Increase in mobile money wallet balance	89		139
Decrease in provisions	(6)		(18)
Increase in deferred revenue	4		10
Increase in other financial and non-financial liabilities	3		24
Increase in other financial and non-financial assets	(0)		(71)
Net cash generated from operations before tax	1,179		1,348
Income taxes paid	(200)		(227)

Net cash generated from operating activities (a)	979		1,121

Cash flows from investing activities
Purchase of property, plant and equipment and capital work-in-progress	(412)		(387)
Purchase of intangible assets and intangible assets under development	(100)		(137)
Maturity of deposits with bank	360		340
Investment in deposits with bank	(46)		(581)
Sell/(Purchase) of other short term investment	1		(1)
Interest received	20		15
Net cash used in investing activities (b)	(177)		(751)

Cash flows from financing activities
Purchase of shares under buy-back programme	(79)		-
Purchase of own shares by ESOP trust (net)	(2)		(2)
Proceeds from sale of shares to NCI	2		-
Proceeds from borrowings	770		384
Repayment of borrowings	(917)		(249)
Repayment of lease liabilities	(130)		(165)
Dividend paid to non-controlling interests	(51)		(43)
Dividend paid to owners of the company	(133)		(123)
Payment of deferred spectrum liability	(1)		(3)
Interest on borrowings, lease liabilities and other liabilities	(296)		(211)
Outflow on maturity of derivatives (net)	(116)		(0)
Net cash used in financing activities (c)	(953)		(412)

Decrease in cash and cash equivalents during the period (a+b+c)	(151)		(42)
Currency translation differences relating to cash and cash equivalents	15		(64)

Cash and cash equivalent as at beginning of the period	900		841
Cash and cash equivalents as at end of the period (refer to Note 11) ⁽²⁾	764		735

⁽¹⁾ For the six months ended 30 September 2024 and 30 September 2023, this mainly includes movement in impairment of trade receivables and other provisions.

⁽²⁾ Includes balances held under mobile money trust of $830m (September 2023: $720m) on behalf of mobile money customers which are not available for use by the Group.

Notes to Interim Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements

(All amounts are in US$ millions unless stated otherwise)

1. Corporate information

Airtel Africa plc ('the company') is a public company limited by shares incorporated and domiciled in the United Kingdom (UK) under the Companies Act 2006 and is registered in England and Wales (registration number 11462215). The registered address of the company is First Floor, 53/54 Grosvenor Street, London, W1K 3HU, United Kingdom. The company is listed both on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and Nigerian Stock Exchange (NGX). The company is a subsidiary of Airtel Africa Mauritius Limited ('the parent'), a company registered in Mauritius. The registered address of the parent is c/o IQ EQ Corporate Services (Mauritius) Ltd., 33, Edith Cavell Street, Port Louis, 11324, Mauritius.

The company, together with its subsidiary undertakings (hereinafter referred to as 'the Group') has operations in Africa. The principal activities of the Group, its associate and its joint venture primarily consist of the provision of telecommunications and mobile money services.

2. Basis of preparation

These interim financial statements have been prepared in accordance with IAS 34 'Interim Financial Reporting' as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and approved for use in the UK by the UK Accounting Standards Endorsement Board (UKEB). Accordingly, the interim financial statements do not include all the information required for a complete set of financial statements and should be read in conjunction with the Group's annual consolidated financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2024. Further, selected explanatory notes have been included to explain events and transactions that are significant for the understanding of the changes in the Group's financial position and performance since the latest annual consolidated financial statements.

These interim financial statements for the six months ended 30 September 2024 do not constitute statutory accounts as defined in section 434 of the UK Companies Act 2006 and are unaudited. The information relating to the year ended 31 March 2024 is an extract from the Group's published annual report for that year, which has been delivered to the Companies House on 12 July 2024, and on which the auditors' report was unqualified and did not contain any emphasis of matter or statements under section 498(2) or 498(3) of the UK Companies Act 2006.

These interim financial statements apply the same accounting policies, presentation and methods of calculation as those followed in the preparation of the Group's annual consolidated financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2024. Further, there have been no changes in critical accounting estimates, assumptions and judgements. These interim financial statements of the Group for the six months ended 30 September 2024 were authorised by the Board of Directors on 24 October 2024.

3. Basis of measurement

The Interim financial statements have been prepared on the historical cost basis except for financial instruments held at fair value and are presented in United States Dollars (USD), with all values stated in US$ million and rounded to the nearest million except when otherwise indicated. Further, amounts which are less than half a million are appearing as '0'.

3.1 Going concern

These interim consolidated financial statements have been prepared on a going concern basis. In making this going concern assessment, the Group has considered cash flow projections to December 2025 (going concern assessment period) under both a base case and reasonable worst-case scenarios including a reverse stress test.

This assessment takes into consideration its principal risks and uncertainties including a reduction in revenue and EBITDA and a devaluation of the various currencies in the countries in which the Group operates including the Nigerian naira. This assessment also takes into consideration the repayment of all liabilities that fall due over the going concern period including the repayment of borrowings and other liabilities. As part of this evaluation, the Group has considered available ways to mitigate these risks and uncertainties and has also considered committed undrawn facilities of $313m expiring beyond the going concern assessment period, which will fulfil the Group's cash flow requirement under both the base and reasonable worst-case scenarios.

Having considered all the above-mentioned factors impacting the Group's businesses, the impact of downside sensitivities, and the mitigating actions available to the group including a reduction and deferral of capital expenditure, the directors are satisfied that the Group has adequate resources to continue its operational existence for the foreseeable future. Accordingly, the directors continue to adopt the going concern basis of accounting in preparing the consolidated financial statements.

4. Significant transactions/new developments

a) The directors recommended on 8 May 2024 and shareholders approved on 03 July 2024, a final dividend of 3.57 cents per ordinary shares for the year ended 31 March 2024, which was paid on 26 July 2024 to the holders of ordinary shares on the register of members at the close of business on 21 June 2024.

b) On 20 May 2024, Bharti Airtel International (Netherlands) B.V., subsidiary of the Company repaid in full the 5.35% Guaranteed Senior Notes amounting to $550m on its maturity date. The bond repayment was made exclusively out of the cash reserves of the group.

c) During the half year ended September 2024, the Nigerian naira has devalued against the US Dollar by approximately 28% (USD appreciation of 22%) where the exchange rate moved to 1,669 naira per USD at the close of the current half year as against the rate of 1,303 naira per USD at the close of March 2024. This resulted in a material impact on the Group's financial results arising from the translation of monetary items at closing exchange rates in addition to the impact on the valuation of derivatives.

In line with the Group's policy on exceptional items and alternative performance measures, the impact of the devaluation pertaining to the quarters ended June 2024 and September 2024 for the Naira devaluation have been presented as an exceptional item with the following impact:

· the derivative and foreign exchange losses amounting to $231m, and

· the corresponding tax impact of $80m.

d) On 01 March 2024, the Company announced the commencement of its $100m share buy-back programme to be achieved in two tranches of maximum $50m each. Following the completion of its first tranche of the buy-back, the company has announced the commencement of its second tranche of the programme on 19 August 2024. As part of the programme, the Company has entered into an agreement with Citigroup Global Markets Limited ("Citi") to conduct the second tranche of the buy-back amounting to a maximum of $50m and carry out on-market purchases of its ordinary shares, with the Company subsequently purchasing its ordinary shares from Citi. During the six months ended 30 September 2024, the Company bought-back and cancelled 53,159,199 shares (28,194,416 and 24,964,783 against first and second tranche respectively), resulting in 3,697,602,450 ordinary shares outstanding as at 30 September 2024. The purchase price of the shares bought-back was $79m and the Company carries a liability of $12m as part of 'other financial liabilities' relating to the remaining buy-back against the second tranche of agreement with Citi. The nominal value ($0.5 per share) of the cancelled shares, amounting to $26m, has been transferred to the capital redemption reserve.

e) During the period, the Group has renewed the tower lease agreements with American Tower Corporation ('ATC') across four of its OpCos. The renewals relate to approximately 7,100 sites across Nigeria, Uganda, Kenya and Niger which were set to expire over the next 12 to 24 months and were renewed for a period of 12 years.

These material lease extensions of the tower lease agreements represent a modification in accordance with IFRS 16, accordingly, the company has applied modification accounting by remeasuring the lease liability using the updated lease payments over the revised lease term with a corresponding adjustment to the ROU asset. This has resulted in an increase in both lease liabilities and ROU assets by $ 1,225m.

5. Segmental information

The Group's segment information is provided on the basis of geographical clusters and products to the Group's chief executive officer (chief operating decision maker - 'CODM') for the purposes of resource allocation and assessment of performance.

The Group's operating segments are as follows:

Nigeria Mobile Services - Comprising of mobile service operations in Nigeria;

East Africa Mobile Services - Comprising of mobile service operations in Uganda, Zambia, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi and Rwanda;

Francophone Africa Mobile Services - Comprising of mobile service operations in DRC, Gabon, Chad, Niger, Congo B, Madagascar and Seychelles;

Mobile money services*- Comprising of mobile money services across the Group.

* Mobile money services segment consolidates the results of mobile money operations from all operating entities within the Group. Airtel Money Commerce B.V. (AMC BV) is the holding company for all mobile money services for the Group, and as of 30 September 2024, it controls all mobile money operations excluding operations in Nigeria. It is management's intention to continue work to transfer the Nigerian mobile money services operations into AMC BV, subject to local regulatory approvals.

Each segment derives revenue from the respective services housed within each segment, as described above. Expenses, assets and liabilities primarily related to the corporate headquarters and centralised functions of the Group are presented as unallocated Items.

The amounts reported to CODM are based on the accounting principles used in the preparation of the financial statements. Each segment's performance is evaluated based on segment revenue and segment result.

The segment result is Underlying EBITDA (defined as operating profit/(loss) for the period before depreciation, amortisation and exceptional items). This is the measure reported to the CODM for the purpose of resource allocation and assessment of segment performance. During the six months ended 30 September 2024 and 30 September 2023, , the definition of EBITDA is equal to underlying EBITDA since there are no exceptional items pertaining to EBITDA and therefore EBITDA is presented in the segment information below.

Inter-segment pricing and terms are reviewed and changed by management to reflect changes in market conditions and changes to such terms are reflected in the period in which the changes occur.

The 'Eliminations' column comprises inter-segment revenues eliminated upon consolidation.

Segment assets and segment liabilities comprise those assets and liabilities directly managed by each segment. Segment assets primarily include receivables, property, plant and equipment, capital work in progress, right-to-use assets, intangibles assets, inventories and cash and cash equivalents. Segment liabilities primarily include operating liabilities. Segment capital expenditure comprises investment in property, plant and equipment, capital work in progress, intangible assets (excluding licenses) and capital advances.

Investment elimination upon consolidation and resulting goodwill impacts are reflected in the 'Eliminations' column.

Summary of the segmental information and disaggregation of revenue is as follows:

For the six months ended 30 September 2024

	Nigeria mobile services	East Africa mobile services		Francophone Africa mobile services	Mobile money	Others (unallocated)		Total
	Nigeria mobile services	East Africa mobile services		Francophone Africa mobile services	Mobile money	Others (unallocated)	Eliminations	Total
Revenue from external customers
Voice revenue	209	438	313		-	-	-	960
Data revenue	229	355	260		-	-	-	844
Mobile money revenue ⁽¹⁾	-	-	-		361	-	-	361
Other revenue ⁽²⁾	50	83	61		-	11	-	205

Total revenue from external customers	488	876	634		361	11	-	2,370
Inter-segment revenue	1	7	2		105	4	(119)	-
Total revenue	489	883	636		466	15	(119)	2,370
EBITDA	238	418	244		247	(60)	-	1,087

Less:
Depreciation and amortisation	92	158	115		10	6	-	381
Finance costs
- Derivative and foreign exchange losses
Nigerian naira								231
Other currencies								29
- Other finance costs								280
Finance income								(12)
Share of profit of associate and joint venture accounted for using equity method								(0)
Profit before tax								178
Other segment items
Capital expenditure	75	156	66		10	9	-	316

As of 30 September 2024
Segment assets	2,313	2,718	1,915		1,217	20,316	(17,830)	10,649
Segment liabilities	2,613	2,942	2,613		977	4,548	(5,214)	8,479
Investment in associate accounted for using equity method (included in segment assets above)	-	-	5		-	-	-	5

⁽¹⁾ Mobile money revenue is net of inter-segment elimination of $105m mainly for commission on sale of airtime. It includes $71m pertaining to East Africa mobile services and the balance $34m pertaining to Francophone Africa mobile service.

⁽²⁾ Other revenue includes messaging, value added services, enterprise, site sharing and handset sale revenue.

Summary of the segmental information and disaggregation of revenue is as follows:

For the six months ended 30 September 2023

	Nigeria mobile services	East Africa mobile services	Francophone Africa mobile services	Mobile money	Others (unallocated)		Total
	Nigeria mobile services	East Africa mobile services	Francophone Africa mobile services	Mobile money	Others (unallocated)	Eliminations	Total
Revenue from external customers
Voice revenue	414	440	315	-	-	-	1,169
Data revenue	385	309	221	-	-	-	915
Mobile money revenue ⁽¹⁾	-	-	-	323	-	-	323
Other revenue ⁽²⁾	78	66	66	-	6	-	216

Total revenue from external customers	877	815	602	323	6	-	2,623
Inter-segment revenue	1	7	3	93	5	(109)	-
Total revenue	878	822	605	416	11	(109)	2,623
EBITDA	474	408	264	214	(58)	-	1,302

Less:
Depreciation and amortisation	156	145	103	9	4	-	417
Finance costs
- Derivative and foreign exchange losses
Nigerian naira							557
Other currencies							97
- Other finance costs							236
Finance income							(17)
Share of profit of associate and joint venture accounted for using equity method							(0)
Profit before tax							12

Other segment items
Capital expenditure	109	107	77	10	9	-	312

As of 31 March 2024
Segment assets	1,675	2,336	1,647	1,151	20,774	(17,722)	9,861
Segment liabilities	1,890	2,569	2,346	929	9,338	(9,511)	7,561
Investment in associate accounted for using equity method (included in segment assets above)		-	5	-	-	-	5

⁽¹⁾ Mobile money revenue is net of inter-segment elimination of $93m mainly for commission on sale of airtime. It includes $63m pertaining to East Africa mobile services and balance $30m pertaining to Francophone Africa mobile services.

⁽²⁾ Other revenue includes messaging, value added services, enterprise, site sharing and handset sale revenue.

6. Income tax

The major components of the income tax expense are:

	For the six months ended
	30 September 2024	30 September 2023
Current tax	136	197
Deferred tax	(37)	(172)
Income tax expense	99	25

The tax charge for the six months ended 30 September 2024 has been calculated for each operating country by applying the best estimate of the effective rate of tax expected to apply for the period ending 31 March 2025 on the pre-tax profits of the six months period using rates substantively enacted by 30 September 2024.

The charge is adjusted for discrete items (if any) occurring in the interim period as required by IAS 34 'Interim Financial Reporting'.

Tax charge for the six months ended 30 September 2024 also includes the related tax impacts arising out of withholding tax ('WHT') on unremitted earnings and cross charge to Group entities and deferred tax asset recognition basis projected profitability in operating countries, wherever applicable.

7. Exceptional items

Underlying profit before tax excludes the following exceptional items

	For the six months ended
	30 September 2024	30 September 2023
Profit before tax	178	12

Add: Exceptional items
Finance costs
- Derivative and foreign exchange losses
Nigerian naira (refer to note 4(c))	231	471
	231	471
Underlying profit before tax	409	483

Underlying profit after tax excludes the following exceptional items:

	For the six months ended
	30 September 2024	30 September 2023
Profit/ (Loss) after tax	79	(13)
-Exceptional items (as above)	231	471
- Tax on above exceptional items
Nigerian naira (refer to note 4(c))	(80)	(154)
	151	317
Underlying profit after tax	230	304

Profit attributable to non-controlling interests include benefit of $0m and $0m during the six months ended 30 September 2024 and 30 September 2023 respectively, relating to the above exceptional items.

8. Earnings per share ('EPS')

The details used in the computation of basic EPS:

	For the six months ended
	30 September 2024	30 September 2023

Profit/(loss) for the period attributable to owners of the company	31	(55)
Weighted average ordinary shares outstanding for basic EPS	3,726,752,375	3,751,042,649

Basic earnings/(loss) per share	0.8 cents	(1.5 cents)
The details used in the computation of diluted EPS:	For the six months ended
	30 September 2024		30 September 2023

Profit/(loss) for the period attributable to owners of the company	31		(55)
Weighted average ordinary shares outstanding for diluted EPS⁽¹⁾⁽²⁾	3,731,482,789		3,751,042,649

Diluted earnings/(loss) per share	0.8 cents		(1.5 cents)
(1) The difference between the basic and diluted number of shares at the end of September 2024 being 4,730,414 (September 2023: Nil) relates to awards committed but not yet issued under the Group's share-based payment schemes. (2) For the six months ended 30 September 2023, 5,714,418 shares granted under different share-based plans are not included in the calculation of diluted earnings per share as these are anti-dilutive on account of losses during the previous period.

9. Property, plant and equipment ('PPE')

The following table presents the reconciliation of changes in the carrying value of PPE for the six months ended 30 September 2024 and 30 September 2023:

	Leasehold Improvements	Building	Land	Plant and Equipment	Furniture & Fixture	Vehicles	Office Equipment	Computer	Total	Capital work in progress ⁽²⁾
Gross carrying value
Balance as of 1 April 2023	49	43	25	3,249	70	22	61	696	4,215	212
Additions / capitalization	0	0	-	241	5	0	9	22	277	304
Disposals / adjustments ⁽¹⁾	(0)	(1)	-	(20)	(4)	0	1	0	(24)	(277)
Foreign currency translation impact	(5)	(5)	(2)	(910)	(8)	(0)	(10)	(94)	(1,034)	(46)
Balance as of 30 September 2023	44	37	23	2,560	63	22	61	624	3,434	193
Balance as of 1 April 2024	44	33	24	2,382	61	21	57	593	3,215	232
Additions / capitalization	0	-	-	271	2	0	10	33	316	306
Disposals / adjustments ⁽¹⁾	(0)	-	-	(4)	(0)	(0)	(1)	(1)	(6)	(316)
Foreign currency translation impact	0	(0)	0	(136)	(0)	0	(2)	(9)	(147)	(18)
Balance as of 30 September 2024	44	33	24	2,513	63	21	64	616	3,378	204

Accumulated Depreciation
Balance as of 1 April 2023	42	19	-	1,137	30	20	39	633	1,920	-

Charge	1	1	-	181	6	0	8	18	215	-
Disposals / adjustments ⁽¹⁾	0	(0)	-	(26)	(4)	2	4	1	(23)	-
Foreign currency translation impact	(4)	(3)	-	(507)	(4)	(1)	(9)	(85)	(613)	-
Balance as of 30 September 2023	39	17	-	785	28	21	42	567	1,499	-

Balance as of 1 April 2024	38	16	-	704	28	20	43	539	1,388	-
Charge	1	1	-	159	6	0	8	17	192	-
Disposals / adjustments ⁽¹⁾	(0)	-	-	(3)	(0)	(0)	(2)	(2)	(7)	-
Foreign currency translation impact	0	(0)	-	(55)	1	0	(1)	(7)	(62)	-
Balance as of 30 September 2024	39	17	-	805	35	20	48	547	1,511	-

Net carrying value
As of 1 April 2023	7	24	25	2,112	40	2	22	63	2,295	212
As of 30 September 2023	5	20	23	1,775	35	1	19	57	1,935	193
As of 1 April 2024	6	17	24	1,678	33	1	14	54	1,827	232
As of 30 September 2024	5	16	24	1,708	28	1	16	69	1,867	204

(1) Related to the reversal of gross carrying value and accumulated depreciation on retirement/ disposal of PPE and reclassification from one category of asset to another.

(2) The carrying value of capital work-in-progress as of 30 September 2024 and 30 September 2023 mainly pertains to plant and equipment.

10. Goodwill

The following table presents the reconciliation of changes in the carrying value of goodwill for the six months ended 30 September 2024 and 30 September 2023

	Goodwill
Balance as of 1 April 2023	3,516
Foreign currency translation impact	(527)
Balance as of 30 September 2023	2,989

Balance as of 1 April 2024	2,569
Foreign currency translation impact	(38)
Balance as of 30 September 2024	2,531

11. Cash and bank balancess

Cash and cash equivalents	As of
	30 September 2024	31 March 2024
Balances with banks
- On current accounts	251	190
- Bank deposits with original maturity of three months or less	47	311
- On settlement account	6	2
Balance held in wallets	98	111
Remittance in transit	3	5
Cash on hand	1	1
	406	620

Other bank balances

	As of
	30 September 2024	31 March 2024
-Term deposits with banks with original maturity of	31	344
more than three months but less than 12 months
-Margin money deposits ⁽¹⁾	9	9
-Unpaid dividend	0	0
	40	353

(1) Margin money deposits represent amount given as collateral for legal cases and/or bank guarantees for disputed matters.

For the purpose of the statement of cash flows, cash and cash equivalents are as follows:

	As of
	30 September 2024	30 September 2023
Cash and cash equivalents as per statement of financial position	406	429
Balance held under mobile money trust	830	720
Bank overdraft	(472)	(414)
	764	735

12. Share capital

	As of
	30 September 2024	31 March 2024

Issued, subscribed and fully paid-up shares (refer to note 4(d))
3,697,602,450 ordinary shares of $0.50 each (March 2024: 3,750,761,649)	1,849	1,875
	1,849	1,875

Terms/rights attached to equity shares

· Ordinary shares having par value of $0.50 per share. Each holder of equity shares is entitled to cast one vote per share and carry a right to dividends.

13. Borrowings

Non-current

	As of
	30 September 2024	31 March 2024
Secured
Term loans⁽¹⁾	171	124
	171	124
Unsecured
Term loans⁽¹⁾	952	823
	952	823

	1,123	947

Current

	As of
	30 September 2024	31 March 2024
Secured
Term loans⁽¹⁾	66	15
	66	15
Unsecured
Non- convertible bonds⁽¹⁾⁽²⁾	-	550
Term loans⁽¹⁾	558	404
Bank overdraft	472	457
	1,030	1,411
	1,096	1,426

⁽¹⁾ Includes debt origination costs.

⁽²⁾ It includes impact of fair value hedges.

14. Contingent liabilities and commitments

(i) Contingent liabilities

	As of
	30 September 2024	31 March 2024

(a) Taxes, duties and other demands (under adjudication / appeal / dispute)
-Income tax	20	13
-Value added tax	25	20
-Customs duty & Excise duty	8	9
-Other miscellaneous demands	10	7
(b) Claims under legal and regulatory cases including arbitration matters	79	76
	142	125

The increase of $17m in contingent liabilities during the six months ended 30 September 2024 is primarily on account of new demand on income tax, regulatory cases and other taxes in some of the subsidiaries of the group.

Claims under legal and regulatory cases including arbitration matter

One of the subsidiaries of the Group is involved in a dispute with one of its vendors, with respect to invoices for services provided to a subsidiary under a service contract. The original order under the contract was issued by the subsidiary for a total amount of Central African Franc (CFA) 473,800,000 (approximately $1m). After a dispute on the payable amount in 2014, the vendor-initiated arbitration proceedings and was awarded CFA 1.9 billion (approximately $3m) which was paid by bank. The vendor fraudulently claimed not to have received the payment, and after multiple court proceeding from 2015 onwards and in mid-May 2019, the lower courts imposed a penalty of CFA 35 billion (approximately $58m), based on which certain banks of the subsidiary were summoned to release the funds. The subsidiary immediately lodged an appeal in the Supreme Court for a stay of execution which was granted. Subsequently, the vendor filed an appeal before the Common Court of Justice and Arbitration (CCJA). Quite unexpectedly, in April 2020, the CCJA lifted the Supreme Court stay of execution. In May 2021, the Commercial Division of the High Court maintained new seizures carried out by the vendor. In March 2022 the CCJA interpreted its judgment of March 2019 to indicate that the daily penalty could not be maintained after its ruling dated 18 November 2018.

Separately, in December 2020 the subsidiary initiated criminal proceedings against the vendor for fraud and deceitful conduct. In February 2021, the investigating judge issued an order to cease the investigation which was appealed by the Subsidiary. In March 2022, the Court Appeal quashed the investigative judge order and allowed the investigation into the vendor to resume. Testimony in the criminal investigation case happened on 26 April 2022 before the criminal chamber in the Court of Appeal where the honorable judge has further re-examined the facts from the representatives of the subsidiary against this case. A stay of execution was issued on 30 May 2022 by the Chamber of Accusation in favour of subsidiary till the time criminal investigation is completed. In October 2023, the criminal court ordered the dismissal of the case despite evidence of initial payment provided to the judge. The subsidiary has appealed to the Supreme Court, and a decision is awaited.

The substantial appeal has been transferred to CCJA in February 2024, and all Parties have filed their submissions. On 26 June 2024, the vendor filed their last response at the CCJA. No further responses will be submitted by either Party.

On 02 April 2024, Vendor notified the subsidiary with an injunction to pay CFA 54.7 billion (approximately $89m) which was not a court order, after which multiple provisional enforcement measures were instituted against the subsidiary in Apr 2024 including attachment of transferable securities and negotiable instruments of Group entity, attachment for sale of movable assets and attachment for sale of fixed assets. The subsidiary opposed the attachments but the judge allowed their continuation, a decision which was further appealed on 17 Jun 2024. No hearing date has been set.

Also on 12 June 2024, the subsidiary filed a request for a stay of execution with the Supreme Court, pending the decision of the CCJA, which was declared inadmissible on 5 July 2024.

The Group still awaits the decision from CCJA on the merits of the case, and the outcome of the criminal investigations, and until that time has disclosed this matter as Contingent Liability for $60m (included in the closing contingent liability). No provision has been made against this claim.

In addition to the individual matters disclosed above, in the ordinary course of business, the Group is a defendant or co-defendant in various litigations and claims which are immaterial individually.

Guarantees:

Guarantees outstanding as of 30 September 2024 and 31 March 2024 amounting to $12m and $12m respectively have been issued by banks and financial institutions on behalf of the Group. These guarantees include certain financial bank guarantees which have been given for sub-judice matters and the amounts with respect to these have been disclosed under capital commitments, contingencies and liabilities, as applicable, in compliance with the applicable accounting standards.

Commitments

Capital Commitments

The Group has contractual commitments towards capital expenditure (net of related advances paid) of $314m and $317m as of 30 September 2024 and 31 March 2024 respectively.

15. Related Party disclosure

a) List of related parties

i) Parent company

Airtel Africa Mauritius Limited

ii) Intermediate parent entities

Network i2i Limited

Bharti Airtel Limited

Bharti Telecom Limited

iii) Ultimate controlling entity

Bharti Enterprises (Holding) Private Limited. It is held by private trusts of Bharti family, with Mr. Sunil Bharti Mittal's family trust effectively controlling the company.

iv) Associate:

Seychelles Cable Systems Company Limited

v) Joint Venture

Mawezi RDC S.A.

vi) Other entities with whom transactions have taken place during the reporting period

a. Fellow subsidiaries

Nxtra Data Limited

Bharti Airtel Services Limited

Bharti International (Singapore) Pte Ltd

Bharti Airtel (UK) Limited

Bharti Airtel (France) SAS

Bharti Airtel Lanka (Private) Limited

Bharti Hexacom Limited

b. Other related parties

Singapore Telecommunication Limited

Bharti Global Limited

vii) Key Management Personnel ('KMP')

a. Executive directors

Olusegun Ogunsanya (till June 2024)

Sunil Taldar (w.e.f 01 July 2024)

Jaideep Paul

b. Non-Executive directors

Sunil Bharti Mittal

Awuneba Ajumogobia

Douglas Baillie (till October 2023)

John Danilovich (retired w.e.f. 3 July 2024)

Andrew James Green

Akhil Gupta

Shravin Bharti Mittal

Annika Poutiainen

Ravi Rajagopal

Kelly Bayer Rosmarin (till October 2023)

Tsega Gebreyes

Paul Thomas Arkwright (since May 2024)

c. Others

Ian Basil Ferrao

Michael Foley (till June 2023)

Razvan Ungureanu

Luc Serviant (till May 2023)

Daddy Mukadi Bujitu

Ramakrishna Lella

Edgard Maidou (till June 2023)

Rogany Ramiah

Stephen Nthenge

Anthony Shiner (since June 2024)

Apoorva Mehrotra

Oliver Fortuin (since June 2023)

Martin Frechette (since June 2023)

Carl Cruz (since May 2023)

Anwar Soussa (since August 2023)

Rohit Marwah (since April 2024)

Sunil Taldar (from October 2023 to June 2024)

Jacques Barkhuizen (since October 2023)

(b) The summary of significant transactions with the related parties for the six months ended 30 September 2024 and 30 September 2023 respectively are provided below:-

	For the six months ended
	30 September 2024	30 September 2023
Sales/rendering of services
Bharti Airtel (UK) Limited	38	42
Bharti Airtel Limited	1	5

Purchase/receiving of services
Bharti Airtel (France) SAS	8	9
Bharti Airtel (UK) Limited	15	19
Bharti Airtel Limited	5	6

Dividend paid
Bharti Airtel Mauritius Limited	75	69

KMP are those persons having authority and responsibility for planning, directing and controlling the activities of the Group, directly or indirectly, including any director, whether executive or otherwise. For the Group, these include executive committee members. Remuneration to KMP were as follows:

	For the six months ended
	30 September 2024	30 September 2023
Short-term employee benefits	6	5
Performance linked incentive	2	2
Share-based payment	3	1
Other long term benefits	1	1
Other benefits	1	1
	13	10

16. Fair Value of financial assets and liabilities

The details as to the carrying value, fair value and the level of fair value measurement hierarchy of the group's financial instruments are as follows:

		Carrying value as of		Fair value as of
		30 September 2024	31 March 2024	30 September 2024	31 March 2024
Financial assets
FVTPL
Derivatives
- Forward and option contracts	Level 2	2	10	2	10
Other bank balances	Level 2	0	0	0	0
Investments	Level 2	0	0	0	0

FVTOCI
Investments	Level 2	1	2	1	2
Amortised cost
Trade receivables		192	184	192	184
Cash and cash equivalents		406	620	406	620
Other bank balances		40	353	40	353
Balance held under mobile money trust		830	737	830	737
Other financial assets		85	136	85	136

		1,556	2,042	1,556	2,042

Financial liabilities
FVTPL
Derivatives
- Forward and option contracts	Level 2	6	22	6	22
- Cross currency swaps	Level 3	62	155	62	155
- Embedded derivatives	Level 2	0	0	0	0

Amortised cost
Long term borrowings - fixed rate	Level 2	478	271	490	257
Long term borrowings - floating rate		645	676	645	676
Short term borrowings - fixed rate	Level 1	-	550	-	549
Short term borrowings		1,096	876	1,096	876
Put option liability	Level 3	539	552	539	552
Trade payables		425	422	425	422
Mobile money wallet balance		808	722	808	722
Other financial liabilities		491	586	491	586
		4,550	4,832	4,562	4,817

The following methods/assumptions were used to estimate the fair values:

· The carrying value of bank deposits, trade receivables, trade payables, balance held under mobile money trust, mobile money wallet balance, short-term borrowings, other current financial assets and liabilities approximate their fair value mainly due to the short-term maturities of these instruments.

· Fair value of quoted financial instruments is based on quoted market price at the reporting date.

· The fair value of non-current financial assets, long-term borrowings and other financial liabilities is estimated by discounting future cash flows using current rates applicable to instruments with similar terms, currency, credit risk and remaining maturities.

· The fair values of derivatives are estimated by using pricing models, wherein the inputs to those models are based on readily observable market parameters. The valuation models used by the Group reflect the contractual terms of the derivatives (including the period to maturity), and market-based parameters such as interest rates, foreign exchange rates, volatility etc. These models do not contain a high level of subjectivity as the valuation techniques used do not require significant judgement and inputs thereto are readily observable. For details pertaining to valuation of cross currency swaps, please refer to level 3 details below.

· The fair value of the put option liability to buy back the stake held by non-controlling interest in AMC BV is measured at the present value of the redemption amount (i.e. expected cash outflows). Since, the liability will be based on fair value of the equity shares of AMC BV (subject to a cap) at the end of 48 months , the expected cash flows are estimated by determining the projected equity valuation of the AMC BV at the end of 48 months expiring in August 2025 and applying cap thereon.

During the six months ended 30 September 2024 and 31 March 2024 there were no transfers between Level 1 and Level 2 fair value measurements, and no transfer into and out of Level 3 fair value measurements.

The following table describes the key inputs used in the valuation (basis discounted cash flow technique) of the Level 2 financial assets/liabilities as of 30 September 2024 and 31 March 2024:

	Financial assets / liabilities	Inputs used
-	Currency swaps, forward and option contracts and other bank balances	Forward foreign currency exchange rates, Interest rate
-	Interest rate swaps	Prevailing / forward interest rates in market, Interest rate
-	Embedded derivatives	Prevailing interest rates in market, inflation rates
-	Other financial assets / fixed rate borrowing / other financial liabilities	Prevailing interest rates in market, Future payouts, Interest rates

Key inputs for level 3

The fair value of cross currency swap (CCS) has been estimated based on the contractual terms of the CCS and parameters such as interest rates, foreign exchange rates etc. Since the data from any observable markets in respect of interest rates is not available, the interest rates are considered to be significant unobservable inputs to the valuation of this CCS.

Reconciliation of fair value measurements categorised within level 3 of the fair value hierarchy - Financial Assets/(Liabilities) (net)

• Cross Currency Swaps ('CCS')

	For the six months ended
	30 September 2024	30 September 2023
Opening Balance	(155)	(43)
Recognized in finance costs in profit and loss (unrealised)	(38)	(121)
Repayment of cross currency swap & interest	105	4
Foreign currency translation impact recognized in OCI	26	42
Closing Balance	(62)	(118)

• Put option liability

	For the six months ended
	30 September 2024	30 September 2023
Opening Balance	552	569
Liability de-recognized by crediting transaction with NCI reserve⁽¹⁾	(15)	(10)
Recognized in finance costs in profit and loss (unrealised)	2	3
Closing Balance	539	562

(1) Put option liability was reduced by $15m (30 September 2023 $10m) for dividend distribution to put option NCI holders. Any dividend paid to the put option NCI holders is adjustable against the put option liability based on put option arrangement.

17. Events after the balance sheet date

No material subsequent events or transactions have occurred since the date of statement of financial position except as disclosed below:

· The interim dividend of 2.60 cents per share was approved by the Board on 24 October 2024 and has not been included as a liability as at 30 September 2024.

Appendix

Additional information pertaining to three months ended 30 September 2024

Condensed Consolidated Statement of Comprehensive Income

(All amounts are in US$ millions unless stated otherwise)

	For three months ended
	30 September 2024	30 September 2023
Income
Revenue	1,214	1,246
Other income	4	9
	1,218	1,255
Expenses
Network operating expenses	232	223
Access charges	61	78
License fee and spectrum usage charges	65	60
Employee benefits expense	77	79
Sales and marketing expenses	161	149
Reversal of impairment loss on financial assets	1	1
Other expenses	57	45
Depreciation and amortisation	193	197
	847	832

Operating profit	371	423

Finance costs - Derivative and foreign exchange losses
Nigerian naira	109	34
Other currencies	15	50
- Other finance costs	147	115
Finance income	(4)	(9)
Share of profit for associate and joint venture accounted for using equity method	(0)	(0)
Profit before tax	104	233

Tax expense	56	95
Profit for the period	48	138

Profit before tax (as presented above)	104	233
Add: Exceptional items (net)	109	-
Underlying profit before tax	213	233

Profit after tax (as presented above)	48	138
Add: Exceptional items (net)	71	-
Underlying profit after tax	119	138

Other comprehensive income ('OCI')
Items to be reclassified subsequently to profit or loss:
Loss due to foreign currency translation differences	(8)	(114)
Gain on debt instruments at fair value through other comprehensive income	0	-
Share of OCI of associate and joint venture accounted for using equity method	0	(0)
Loss on cash flow hedges	(0)	-
Tax on above	1	0
	(7)	(114)
Items not to be reclassified subsequently to profit or loss:
Re-measurement loss on defined benefit plans	(1)	(1)
Tax on above	0	0
	(1)	(1)

Other comprehensive loss for the period	(8)	(115)
Total comprehensive income for the period	40	23

	For three months ended
	30 September 2024	30 September 2023

Profit for the period attributable to:	48	138

Owners of the company	24	115
Non-controlling interests	24	23

Other comprehensive loss for the period attributable to:	(8)	(115)

Owners of the company	(5)	(106)
Non-controlling interests	(3)	(9)

Total comprehensive income for the period attributable to:	40	23

Owners of the company	19	9
Non-controlling interests	21	14

Alternative performance measures (APMs)

Introduction

In the reporting of financial information, the directors have adopted various APMs. These measures are not defined by International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and therefore may not be directly comparable with other companies APMs, including those in the Group's industry.

APMs should be considered in addition to, and are not intended to be a substitute for, or superior to, IFRS measurements.

Purpose

The directors believe that these APMs assist in providing additional useful information on the underlying trends, performance and position of the Group.

APMs are also used to enhance the comparability of information between reporting periods and geographical units (such as like-for-like sales), by adjusting for non-recurring or uncontrollable factors which affect IFRS measures, to aid users in understanding the Group's performance. Consequently, APMs are used by the directors and management for performance analysis, planning, reporting and incentive-setting purposes.

The directors believe the following metrics to be the APMs used by the Group to help evaluate growth trends, establish budgets and assess operational performance and efficiencies. These measures provide an enhanced understanding of the Group's results and related trends, therefore increasing transparency and clarity into the core results of the business.

While the directors during the period have not changed any APMs, the Group have amended their basis of classification of foreign exchange gains or losses which is disclosed as exceptional. This change has been made to ensure that only significant foreign exchange movements are classified as exceptional which will better align with current foreign exchange movements in the market. This change has been applied prospectively but had it been applied in the half year ended 30 September 2023, an additional $52m of derivative and foreign exchange losses relating to Nigeria would have been classified as exceptional in the prior period. The only APMs impacted by the classification of foreign exchange movements as exceptional include underlying profit/(loss) before tax, effective tax rate, underlying profit/(loss) after tax, earnings per share before exceptional items and earnings per share before exceptional items and derivative and foreign exchange losses.

The following metrics are useful in evaluating the Group's operating performance:

APM	Closest equivalent IFRS measure	Adjustments to reconcile to IFRS measure	Definition and purpose
EBITDA and margin	Operating profit	· Depreciation and amortisation	The Group defines EBITDA as operating profit/(loss) for the period before depreciation and amortisation. The Group defines EBITDA margin as EBITDA divided by revenue. EBITDA and margin are measures used by the directors to assess the trading performance of the business and are therefore the measure of segment profit that the Group presents under IFRS. EBITDA and margin are also presented on a consolidated basis because the directors believe it is important to consider profitability on a basis consistent with that of the Group's operating segments. When presented on a consolidated basis, EBITDA and margin are APMs. Depreciation and amortisation is a non-cash item which fluctuates depending on the timing of capital investment and useful economic life. Directors believe that a measure which removes this volatility improves comparability of the Group's results period on period and hence is adjusted to arrive at EBITDA and margin.
Underlying profit / (loss) before tax	Profit / (loss) before tax	· Exceptional items	The Group defines underlying profit/(loss) before tax as profit/(loss) before tax adjusted for exceptional items. The directors view underlying profit/(loss) before tax to be a meaningful measure to analyse the Group's profitability.
Effective tax rate	Reported tax rate	· Exceptional items · Foreign exchange rate movements · One-off tax impact of prior period, tax litigation settlement and impact of tax on permanent differences	The Group defines effective tax rate as reported tax rate (reported tax charge divided by reported profit before tax) adjusted for exceptional items, foreign exchange rate movements and one-off tax items of prior period adjustment, tax settlements and impact of permanent differences on tax. This provides an indication of the current on-going tax rate across the Group. Foreign exchange rate movements are specific items that are non-tax deductible in a few of the entities which are loss making and/or where DTA is not yet triggered and hence are considered to hinder comparison of the Group's effective tax rate on a period-to-period basis and therefore excluded to arrive at effective tax rate. One-off tax impact on account of prior period adjustment, any tax litigation settlement and tax impact on permanent differences are additional specific items that because of their size and frequency in the results, are considered to hinder comparison of the Group's effective tax rate on a period-to-period basis.
Underlying profit/(loss) after tax	Profit/(loss) for the period	· Exceptional items	The Group defines underlying profit/(loss) after tax as profit/(loss) for the period adjusted for exceptional items. The directors view underlying profit/(loss) after tax to be a meaningful measure to analyse the Group's profitability.
Earnings per share before exceptional items	EPS	· Exceptional items	The Group defines earnings per share before exceptional items as profit/(loss) for the period before exceptional items attributable to owners of the company divided by the weighted average number of ordinary shares in issue during the financial period. This measure reflects the earnings per share before exceptional items for each share unit of the company.
Earnings per share before exceptional items and derivative and foreign exchange losses	EPS	· Exceptional items · Derivative and foreign exchange losses	The Group defines earnings per share before exceptional items and derivative and foreign exchange losses as profit/(loss) for the period before exceptional items and derivative and foreign exchange losses (net of tax) attributable to owners of the company divided by the weighted average number of ordinary shares in issue during the financial period. This measure reflects the earnings per share before exceptional items and derivative and foreign exchange losses for each share unit of the company. Derivative and foreign exchange losses are due to revaluation of US dollar balance sheet liabilities and derivatives as a result of currency devaluation.
Operating free cash flow	Cash generated from operating activities	· Income tax paid · Changes in working capital · Other non-cash items · Non-operating income · Exceptional items · Capital expenditures	The Group defines operating free cash flow as net cash generated from operating activities before income tax paid, changes in working capital, other non-cash items, non-operating income, exceptional items, and after capital expenditures. The Group views operating free cash flow as a key liquidity measure, as it indicates the cash available to pay dividends, repay debt or make further investments in the Group.
Net debt and leverage ratio	Borrowings	· Lease liabilities · Cash and cash equivalent · Term deposits with banks · Deposits given against borrowings/ non-derivative financial instruments · Fair value hedges	The Group defines net debt as borrowings including lease liabilities less cash and cash equivalents, term deposits with banks, deposits given against borrowings/non-derivative financial instruments, processing costs related to borrowings and fair value hedge adjustments. The Group defines leverage ratio as net debt divided by EBITDA for the preceding 12 months. The directors view net debt and the leverage ratio to be meaningful measures to monitor the Group's ability to cover its debt through its earnings.
Return on capital employed	No direct equivalent	· Exceptional items to arrive at EBIT	The Group defines return on capital employed ('ROCE') as EBIT divided by average capital employed. The directors view ROCE as a financial ratio that measures the Group's profitability and the efficiency with which its capital is being utilised. The Group defines EBIT as operating profit/(loss) for the period. Capital employed is defined as sum of equity attributable to owners of the company (grossed up for put option provided to minority shareholders to provide them liquidity as part of the sale agreements executed with them during year ended 31 March 2022), non-controlling interests and net debt. Average capital employed is average of capital employed at the closing and beginning of the relevant period. For quarterly computations, ROCE is calculated by dividing EBIT for the preceding 12 months by the average capital employed (being the average of the capital employed averages for the preceding four quarters).

Some of the Group's IFRS measures and APMs are translated at constant currency exchange rates to measure the organic performance of the Group. In determining the percentage change in constant currency terms, both current and previous financial reporting period's results have been converted using exchange rates prevailing as on 31 March 2024 for all countries. Reported currency percentage change is derived based on the average actual periodic exchange rates for that financial period. Variances between constant currency and reported currency percentages are due to exchange rate movements between the previous financial reporting period and the current period. The constant currency numbers only reflect the retranslation of reported numbers into exchange rates as of 31 March 2024 and are not intended to represent the wider impact that currency changes have on the business.

Reconciliation between GAAP and Alternative Performance Measures

Table A: EBITDA and margin

Description	Unit of measure	Half year ended
Description	Unit of measure	September 2024	September 2023
Operating profit	$m	706	885
Add:
Depreciation and amortisation	$m	381	417
EBITDA	$m	1,087	1,302
Revenue	$m	2,370	2,623
EBITDA margin (%)	%	45.8%	49.6%

Table B: Underlying profit / (loss) before tax

Description	Unit of measure	Half year ended
Description	Unit of measure	September 2024	September 2023
Profit before tax	$m	178	12
Finance cost - exceptional items	$m	231	471
Underlying profit before tax	$m	409	483

Table C: Effective tax rate

Description

Unit of measure

Half year ended

September 2024

September 2023

Profit before taxation

Income tax expense

Tax rate %

Profit before taxation

Income tax expense

Tax rate %

Reported effective tax rate (after EI)

178

55.5%

207.7%

Exceptional items (provided below)

231

471

154

Reported effective tax rate (before EI)

409

179

43.7%

483

179

36.9%

Adjusted for:

Foreign exchange rate movement for loss making entity and/or non-DTA operating companies & holding companies

One-off adjustment and tax on permanent differences

(9)

Effective tax rate

422

170

40.3%

529

207

39.0%

Exceptional items

Derivative and foreign exchange rate losses

231

471

154

Total

231

471

154

a. $80m exceptional tax gain in half year period ended 30 September 2024 is tax gain corresponding to $231m derivative and foreign exchange losses following Nigerian naira devaluation. In prior period, $154m exceptional tax gain on derivative and foreign exchange losses of $471m was also on account of Nigerian naira devaluation.

Table D: Underlying profit / (loss) after tax

Description	Unit of measure	Half year ended
Description	Unit of measure	September 2024	September 2023
Profit/(loss) after tax	$m	79	(13)
Finance cost - exceptional items	$m	231	471
Tax exceptional items	$m	(80)	(154)
Underlying profit after tax	$m	230	304

Table E: Earnings per share before exceptional items

Description	Unit of measure	Half year ended
Description	Unit of measure	September 2024	September 2023
Profit/(loss) for the period attributable to owners of the company	$m	31	(55)
Finance cost - exceptional items	$m	231	471
Tax exceptional items	$m	(80)	(154)
Non-controlling interest exceptional items	$m	(0)	(0)
Profit for the period attributable to owners of the company- before exceptional items	$m	182	262
Weighted average number of ordinary shares in issue during the financial period.	Million	3,727	3,751
Earnings per share before exceptional items	Cents	4.9	7.0

Table F: Earnings per share before exceptional items and derivative and foreign exchange losses

Description	UoM	Half year ended
Description	UoM	September 2024	September 2023
Profit/(loss) for the period attributable to owners of the company	$m	31	(55)
Finance cost - exceptional items	$m	231	471
Tax exceptional items	$m	(80)	(154)
Non-controlling interest exceptional items	$m	(0)	(0)
Profit for the period attributable to owners of the company- before exceptional items	$m	182	262
Derivative and foreign exchange losses (excluding exceptional items)	$m	29	183
Tax on derivative and foreign exchange losses (excluding exceptional items)	$m	(5)	(45)
Non-controlling interest on derivative and foreign exchange losses (excluding exceptional items) - net of tax	$m	(6)	(8)
Profit for the period attributable to owners of the company- before exceptional items and derivative and foreign exchange losses	$m	200	392
Weighted average number of ordinary shares in issue during the financial period	Million	3,727	3,751
Earnings per share before exceptional items and derivative and foreign exchange losses	Cents	5.4	10.5

Table G: Operating free cash flow

Description	Unit of measure	Half year ended
Description	Unit of measure	September 2024	September 2023
Net cash generated from operating activities	$m	979	1,121
Add: Income tax paid	$m	200	227
Net cash generation from operation before tax	$m	1,179	1,348
Less: Changes in working capital
Increase in trade receivables	$m	16	38
Increase in inventories	$m	6	7
Increase in trade payables	$m	(17)	(8)
Increase in mobile money wallet balance	$m	(89)	(139)
Decrease in provisions	$m	6	18
Increase in deferred revenue	$m	(4)	(10)
Increase in other financial and non-financial liabilities	$m	(3)	(24)
Increase in other financial and non-financial assets	$m	0	71
Operating cash flow before changes in working capital	$m	1,094	1,301
Other non-cash adjustments	$m	(7)	1
EBITDA	$m	1,087	1,302
Less: Capital expenditure	$m	(316)	(312)
Operating free cash flow	$m	771	990

Table H: Net debt and leverage

Description	Unit of measure	As at	As at	As at
Description	Unit of measure	September 2024	March 2024	September 2023
Long term borrowing, net of current portion	$m	1,123	947	933
Short-term borrowings and current portion of long-term borrowing	$m	1,096	1,426	1,371
Add: Processing costs related to borrowings	$m	10	8	7
Less: Fair value hedge adjustment	$m	-	(1)	(3)
Less: Cash and cash equivalents	$m	(406)	(620)	(429)
Less: Term deposits with banks	$m	(31)	(344)	(357)
Add: Lease liabilities	$m	3,363	2,089	1,805
Net debt	$m	5,155	3,505	3,327
EBITDA (LTM)	$m	2,213	2,428	2,621
Leverage (LTM)	times	2.3	1.4	1.3

Table I: Return on capital employed

Description	Unit of measure	Year ended
Description	Unit of measure	September 2024	September 2023
Operating profit (LTM)	$m	1,461	1,770
Equity attributable to owners of the Company	$m	2,028	2,809
Add: Put option given to minority shareholders ¹	$m	539	562
Gross equity attributable to owners of the Company ¹	$m	2,567	3,371
Non-controlling interests (NCI)	$m	142	168
Net debt (refer Table H)	$m	5,155	3,327
Capital employed	$m	7,864	6,867
Average capital employed ¹	$m	7,365	7,155
Return on capital employed	%	19.8%	24.7%

⁽¹⁾ Average capital employed is calculated as average of capital employed at closing and opening of relevant period.

Independent review report to Airtel Africa plc

Conclusion

We have been engaged by the company to review the condensed set of financial statements in the half-yearly financial report for the six months ended 30 September 2024 which comprises the interim condensed consolidated statement of comprehensive income, the interim condensed consolidated statement of financial position, the interim condensed consolidated statement of changes in equity, the interim condensed consolidated statement of cash flows and related notes 1 to 17.

Based on our review, nothing has come to our attention that causes us to believe that the condensed set of financial statements in the half-yearly financial report for the six months ended 30 September 2024 is not prepared, in all material respects, in accordance with United Kingdom adopted International Accounting Standard 34 and the Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules of the United Kingdom's Financial Conduct Authority.

Basis for Conclusion

We conducted our review in accordance with International Standard on Review Engagements (UK) 2410 "Review of Interim Financial Information Performed by the Independent Auditor of the Entity" issued by the Financial Reporting Council for use in the United Kingdom (ISRE (UK) 2410). A review of interim financial information consists of making inquiries, primarily of persons responsible for financial and accounting matters, and applying analytical and other review procedures. A review is substantially less in scope than an audit conducted in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) and consequently does not enable us to obtain assurance that we would become aware of all significant matters that might be identified in an audit. Accordingly, we do not express an audit opinion.

As disclosed in note 2, the annual financial statements of the group are prepared in accordance with United Kingdom adopted international accounting standards. The condensed set of financial statements included in this half-yearly financial report has been prepared in accordance with United Kingdom adopted International Accounting Standard 34, "Interim Financial Reporting".

Conclusion Relating to Going Concern

Based on our review procedures, which are less extensive than those performed in an audit as described in the Basis for Conclusion section of this report, nothing has come to our attention to suggest that the directors have inappropriately adopted the going concern basis of accounting or that the directors have identified material uncertainties relating to going concern that are not appropriately disclosed.

This Conclusion is based on the review procedures performed in accordance with ISRE (UK) 2410; however future events or conditions may cause the entity to cease to continue as a going concern.

Responsibilities of the directors

The directors are responsible for preparing the half-yearly financial report in accordance with the Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules of the United Kingdom's Financial Conduct Authority.

In preparing the half-yearly financial report, the directors are responsible for assessing the group's ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless the directors either intend to liquidate the company or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.

Auditor's Responsibilities for the review of the financial information

In reviewing the half-yearly financial report, we are responsible for expressing to the company a conclusion on the condensed set of financial statements in the half-yearly financial report. Our Conclusion, including our Conclusion Relating to Going Concern, are based on procedures that are less extensive than audit procedures, as described in the Basis for Conclusion paragraph of this report.

Use of our report

This report is made solely to the company in accordance with ISRE (UK) 2410. Our work has been undertaken so that we might state to the company those matters we are required to state to it in an independent review report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the company, for our review work, for this report, or for the conclusions we have formed.

Deloitte LLP

Statutory Auditor

Birmingham, United Kingdom

24 October 2024

Statement of Director's Responsibilities

We confirm that to the best of our knowledge:

a) The condensed set of financial statements has been prepared in accordance with UK-adopted IAS 34 'Interim Financial Reporting';

b) The interim management report includes a fair review of the information required by DTR 4.2.7R (indication of important events and their impact during the first six months and description of principal risks and uncertainties for the remaining six months of the year); and

c) The interim management report includes a fair review of the information required by DTR 4.2.8R (disclosure of related parties' transactions and changes therein).

This responsibility statement was approved by the board of directors on 24 October 2024 and is signed on its behalf by:

Sunil Taldar

Chief Executive Officer

24 October 2024

Glossary

Technical and Industry Terms

4G data customer	A customer having a 4G handset and who has used at least 1 MB on any of the Group's GPRS, 3G and 4G network in the last 30 days.
Airtel Money (mobile money)	Airtel Money is the brand name for Airtel Africa's mobile money products and services. The term is used interchangeably with 'mobile money' when referring to our mobile money business, finance, operations and activities.
Airtel Money ARPU	Mobile money average revenue per user per month. This is derived by dividing total mobile money revenue during the relevant period by the average number of active mobile money customers and dividing the result by the number of months in the relevant period.
Airtel Money customer base	Total number of active subscribers who have enacted any mobile money usage event in last 30 days.
Airtel Money customer penetration	The proportion of total Airtel Africa active mobile customers who use mobile money services. Calculated by dividing the mobile money customer base by the Group's total customer base.
Airtel Money transaction value	Any financial transaction performed on Airtel Africa's mobile money platform.
Airtel Money transaction value per customer per month	Calculated by dividing the total mobile money transaction value on the Group's mobile money platform during the relevant period by the average number of active mobile money customers and dividing the result by the number of months in the relevant period.
Airtime credit service	A value-added service where the customer can take an airtime credit and continue to use our voice and data services, with the credit recovered through subsequent customer recharge. This is classified as a Mobile Services product (not a Mobile Money product).
ARPU	Average revenue per user per month. This is derived by dividing total revenue during the relevant period by the average number of customers during the period and dividing the result by the number of months in the relevant period.
Average customers	The average number of active customers for a period. Derived from the monthly averages during the relevant period. Monthly averages are calculated using the number of active customers at the beginning and the end of each month.
Capital expenditure	An alternative performance measure (non-GAAP). Defined as investment in gross fixed assets (both tangible and intangible but excluding spectrum and licences) plus capital work in progress (CWIP), excluding provisions on CWIP for the period.
Constant currency	The Group has presented certain financial information that is calculated by translating the results at a fixed 'constant currency' exchange rate, which is done to measure the organic performance of the Group and represents the performance of the business in a better way. Constant currency amounts and growth rates are calculated using closing exchange rates as of 31 March 2024 for all reporting regions and service segments.
Customer	Defined as a unique active subscriber with a unique mobile telephone number who has used any of Airtel's services in the last 30 days.
Customer base	The total number of active subscribers that have used any of our services (voice calls, SMS, data usage or mobile money transaction) in the last 30 days.
Data ARPU	Data average revenue per user per month. Data ARPU is derived by dividing total data revenue during the relevant period by the average number of data customers and dividing the result by the number of months in the relevant period.
Data customer base	The total number of subscribers who have consumed at least 1 MB on the Group's GPRS, 3G or 4G network in the last 30 days.
Data customer penetration	The proportion of customers using data services. Calculated by dividing the data customer base by the total customer base.
Data usage per customer per month	Calculated by dividing the total MBs consumed on the Group's network during the relevant period by the average data customer base over the same period and dividing the result by the number of months in the relevant period.
Digitalisation	We use the term digitalisation in its broadest sense to encompass both digitisation actions and processes that convert analogue information into a digital form and thereby bring customers into the digital environment, and the broader digitalisation processes of controlling, connecting and planning processes digitally; the processes that effect digital transformation of our business, and of industry, economics and society as a whole through bringing about new business models, socio-economic structures and organisational patterns.
Diluted earnings per share	Diluted EPS is calculated by adjusting the profit for the year attributable to the shareholders and the weighted average number of shares considered for deriving basic EPS, for the effects of all the shares that could have been issued upon conversion of all dilutive potential shares. The dilutive potential shares are adjusted for the proceeds receivable had the shares actually been issued at fair value. Further, the dilutive potential shares are deemed converted as at beginning of the period, unless issued at a later date during the period.
Earnings per share (EPS)	EPS is calculated by dividing the profit for the period attributable to the owners of the company by the weighted average number of ordinary shares outstanding during the period.
Foreign exchange rate movements for non-DTA operating companies and holding companies	Foreign exchange rate movements are specific items that are non-tax deductible in a few of our operating entities, hence these hinder a like-for-like comparison of the Group's effective tax rate on a period-to-period basis and are therefore excluded when calculating the effective tax rate.
Indefeasible Rights of Use (IRU)	A standard long-term leasehold contractual agreement that confers upon the holder the exclusive right to use a portion of the capacity of a fibre route for a stated period.
Information and communication technologies (ICT)	ICT refers to all communication technologies, including the internet, wireless networks, cell phones, computers, software, middleware, videoconferencing, social networking, and other media applications and services.
Interconnect usage charges (IUC)	Interconnect usage charges are the charges paid to the telecom operator on whose network a call is terminated.
Lease liability	Lease liability represents the present value of future lease payment obligations.
Leverage	An alternative performance measure (non-GAAP). Leverage (or leverage ratio) is calculated by dividing net debt at the end of the relevant period by the EBITDA for the preceding 12 months.
Market Debt	Market debt is defined as Borrowings from Banks or Financial Institutions and debt capital market issuances in the form of Bonds.
Minutes of usage	Minutes of usage refer to the duration in minutes for which customers use the Group's network for making and receiving voice calls. It includes all incoming and outgoing call minutes, including roaming calls.
Mobile services	Mobile services are our core telecom services, mainly voice and data services, but also including revenue from tower operation services provided by the Group and excluding mobile money services.
Net debt	An alternative performance measure (non-GAAP). The Group defines net debt as borrowings including lease liabilities less cash and cash equivalents, term deposits with banks, processing costs related to borrowings and fair value hedge adjustments.
Net debt to EBITDA (LTM)	An alternative performance measure (non-GAAP) Calculated by dividing net debt as at the end of the relevant period by EBITDA for the preceding 12 months (from the end of the relevant period). This is also referred to as the leverage ratio.
Network towers or 'sites'	Physical network infrastructure comprising a base transmission system (BTS) which holds the radio transceivers (TRXs) that define a cell and coordinates the radio link protocols with the mobile device. It includes all ground-based, roof top and in-building solutions.
Operating company (OpCo)	Operating company (or OpCo) is a defined corporate business unit, providing telecoms services and mobile money services in the Group's footprint.
Operating free cash flow	An alternative performance measure (non-GAAP). Calculated by subtracting capital expenditure from EBITDA.
Operating leverage	An alternative performance measure (non-GAAP). Operating leverage is a measure of the operating efficiency of the business. It is calculated by dividing operating expenditure (excluding regulatory charges) by total revenue.
Operating profit	Operating profit is a GAAP measure of profitability. Calculated as revenue less operating expenditure (including depreciation and amortisation and operating exceptional items).
Other revenue	Other revenue includes revenues from messaging, value added services (VAS), enterprise, site sharing and handset sale revenue.
Reported currency	Our reported currency is US dollars. Accordingly, actual periodic exchange rates are used to translate the local currency financial statements of OpCos into US dollars. Under reported currency the assets and liabilities are translated into US dollars at the exchange rates prevailing at the reporting date whereas the statements of profit and loss are translated into US dollars at monthly average exchange rates.
Smartphone	A smartphone is defined as a mobile phone with an interactive touch screen that allows the user to access the internet and additional data applications, providing additional functionality to that of a basic feature phone which is used only for making voice calls and sending and receiving text messages.
Smartphone penetration	Calculated by dividing the number of smartphone devices in use by the total number of customers.
Total MBs on network	Includes total MBs consumed (uploaded and downloaded) on the network during the relevant period.
EBIT	Defined as operating profit/(loss) for the period adjusted for exceptional items.
EBITDA	An alternative performance measure (non-GAAP). Defined as operating profit before depreciation, amortisation and exceptional items.
EBITDA margin	An alternative performance measure (non-GAAP). Calculated by dividing EBITDA for the relevant period by revenue for the relevant period.
Unstructured Supplementary Service Data	Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD), also known as "quick codes" or "feature codes", is a communications protocol for GSM mobile operators, similar to SMS messaging. It has a variety of uses such as WAP browsing, prepaid callback services, mobile-money services, location-based content services, menu-based information services, and for configuring phones on the network.
Voice minutes of usage per customer per month	Calculated by dividing the total number of voice minutes of usage on the Group's network during the relevant period by the average number of customers and dividing the result by the number of months in the relevant period.
Weighted average number of shares	The weighted average number of shares is calculated by multiplying the number of outstanding shares by the portion of the reporting period those shares covered, doing this for each portion and then summing the total.

Abbreviations

2G	Second-generation mobile technology
3G	Third-generation mobile technology
4G	Fourth-generation mobile technology
5G	Fifth-generation mobile technology
ARPU	Average revenue per user
bn	Billion
bps	Basis points
CAGR	Compound annual growth rate
Capex	Capital expenditure
CBN	Central Bank of Nigeria
CSR	Corporate social responsibility
DTA	Deferred Tax Asset
EBIT	Earnings before interest and tax
EBITDA	Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation
EPS	Earnings per share
FPPP	Financial position and prospects procedures
GAAP	Generally accepted accounting principles
GB	Gigabyte
HoldCo	Holding company
IAS	International accounting standards
ICT	Information and communication technologies
ICT (Hub)	Information communication technology (Hub) IFRS
IFRS	International financial reporting standards
IMF	International monetary fund
IPO	Initial public offering
KPIs	Key performance indicators
KYC	Know your customer
LTE	Long-term evolution (4G technology)
LTM	Last 12 months
m	Million
MB	Megabyte
MI	Minority interest (non-controlling interest)
NGO	Non-governmental organisation
OpCo	Operating company
P2P	Person to person
PAYG	Pay-as-you-go
QoS	Quality of service
RAN	Radio access network
SIM	Subscriber identification module
Single RAN	Single radio access network
SMS	Short messaging service
TB	Terabyte
Telecoms	Telecommunications
Unit of measure	Unit of measure
USSD	Unstructured supplementary service data

[1] For future sensitivity on currency devaluation, refer to the Risk section on page 20

[2] Alternative performance measures (APM) are described on page 46

This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution of this information may apply. For further information, please contact rns@lseg.com or visit www.rns.com.

RNS may use your IP address to confirm compliance with the terms and conditions, to analyse how you engage with the information contained in this communication, and to share such analysis on an anonymised basis with others as part of our commercial services. For further information about how RNS and the London Stock Exchange use the personal data you provide us, please see our Privacy Policy.

END

Companies

Airtel Africa (AAF)

Full Archive

UK 100

Latest directors dealings

18 hours ago IntegraFin Holding
18 hours ago Spirent Communications
18 hours ago CRH (CDI)
18 hours ago Bezant Resources
20 hours ago EJF Investments Ltd NPV

All directors dealings today