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Airtel Africa Plc has announced that it will pay the interim dividend for the half-year period ended September 2023 to its shareholders who will receive the payment in Naira at the exchange rate of N858.24 per dollar.
This was revealed in a corporate notice titled ‘Announcement of Interim Dividend Currency Exchange Rates’ filed with the Nigerian Exchange Limited on Tuesday.
Airtel Africa which is listed on both the NGX and the London Stock Exchange, said that it will pay the interim dividend of 2.38 US cents per ordinary share on December 15 2023 to qualified shareholders.
The dividend will be paid in US dollars, GB pounds, or Nigerian naira depending on the preference of the shareholders.
The adopted exchange rates were 1 USD = 858.24 Nigerian naira and 1 USD = 0.8190 GB pounds. The telco said that the exchange rate for the Nigerian naira or GB pounds amounts payable was determined by the exchange rates applicable to the US dollar as of Friday.
Meanwhile, in its half-year report for the period ended September 30, the group had recorded a loss after tax of $13m driven largely by a foreign exchange loss of $471m in finance costs. In its Q1, 2023 report, the telecom company suffered a loss after tax of $151m, driven largely by a foreign exchange loss of $471m recorded in finance cost before tax and $317m after tax, because of the devaluation of the Nigerian naira in June 2023. This impact has been classified as a non-operating exceptional item.
At the end of the period under review, Airtel Africa’s revenue currency grew by 19.7 per cent to $2.62bn whilst reported currency revenue growth was impacted by Nigeria’s currency devaluation, all segments delivered double-digit revenue growth.
The Group’s mobile services revenue grew by 18.3 per cent driven by voice revenue growth of 11.5 per cent and data revenue growth of 28.1 per cent. Mobile money revenue grew by 30.9 per cent. EBITDA increased by 21.2 per cent and 3.7 per cent in reported currency to $1.30bn, with an EBITDA margin of 49.6 per cent, reflecting a 70bps margin improvement over the prior period despite inflationary cost pressures and foreign exchange headwinds.
Loss after tax was $13m driven largely by a foreign exchange loss of $471m recorded in finance cost before tax and $317m after tax because of the devaluation of the Nigerian naira in June 2023. Again, this impact has been classified as an exceptional item.
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