Airtel Africa Q2 net profit slumps 9% amid coronavirus woes

Airtel Africa on Friday reported a fall of 8.8 per cent in its net profit on a year on year (YoY) basis at $88 million for the quarter ended September.

The company's revenue for the period under review was $965 million compared with $844 million earned during the July-September quarter of the last financial year.

In a statement, the company said that its customer base grew by 12.0 per cent to $116.4 million during the quarter.

Raghunath Mandava, CEO of Airtel Africa, said: "The first half of our fiscal year included the peak impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the countries where we operate in, as lockdown measures were swiftly implemented to stem the initial spread of the contagion."

He noted that in these unprecedented times, the telecom industry has emerged as a key and essential service for these economies, allowing customers to work remotely, reduce their travels, keep them connected, and allow access to affordable entertainment.

"In these exceptional circumstances, in the first half, we delivered a strong set of results and as lockdown restrictions eased during Q2 our performance continued to improve with constant currency revenue growth of 19.6 per cent, up 6.6 per cent from the prior quarter," the CEO said.

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