Airtel Money half-year revenue rises 34% to US$830m; East Africa region, which includes Kenya, brings in US$615m

Airtel Mobile Commerce, the London-listed company that runs the Airtel Money mobile-money service in Kenya and other African countries, said its revenue rose 34.0% to US$830 million in the six months to 30 September, from US$620 million a year earlier. The results, published on 26 October 2026, are its first as a listed company. It is an indirect subsidiary of Airtel Africa plc.

Profit after tax rose 21.6% to US$228 million, from US$188 million. The board declared an interim dividend of 6.4 US cents a share, equal to 81% of profit attributable to owners of the company, payable on 4 December 2026 to shareholders on the register at the close of business on 20 November.

Kenya is part of the company's East Africa region, which it reports as one unit with Malawi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. Revenue there grew 31.7% to US$615 million, and the region had 44.1 million Airtel Money customers, 13.5% more than a year earlier.

In East Africa, 49.7% of Airtel's mobile phone customers also used Airtel Money, up 2.4 points from a year earlier; the company calls this penetration. Across the group the figure was 42.9%, up 3.2 points. The total value of transactions processed in East Africa rose 46.5% to US$98 billion in the half year.

Measured in constant currency, which translates both periods at the same exchange rates to strip out currency swings, group revenue grew 25.1% and East African revenue 20.5%. The company said reported growth was higher mainly because of the appreciation of the Zambian kwacha.

Airtel Money's take rate, the share of the value it processes that it keeps as revenue, fell to 0.63% in East Africa from 0.70%, and to 0.65% from 0.71% across the group. The company largely put the fall down to changed agreements with Airtel's mobile network companies, in force since July 2025, and a change in product mix.

Across the group, customers rose 18.7% to 56.7 million and processed value grew 46.1% to US$128 billion. In the July to September quarter alone, processed value was US$67 billion, which the company said equals US$270 billion a year at constant exchange rates. Active agents, who handle customers' cash deposits and withdrawals, increased 26.3% to 2.4 million, and active merchants rose 85.5% to more than 587,000. The Airtel Money app had 4.1 million customers, up 64.3%. Financial services such as lending, savings and insurance made up 4.7% of revenue, against 4.1% a year earlier.

Underlying EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation, a measure of operating profit) rose 26.4% to US$398 million. As a share of revenue, that margin fell to 48.0% from 50.8%. The company said the changed intra-group agreements cut the margin by 270 basis points (100 basis points make one percentage point) and an additional levy in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) by 60 basis points.

In East Africa, underlying EBITDA was US$303 million and the margin 49.2%, against 50.7% a year earlier. The agreements cost the region 240 basis points.

The main change in those agreements concerns retention revenue, which Airtel's telecom companies pay Airtel Money for helping keep customers on their networks. It is being phased out by March 2027, and the agreement ends on 31 March 2027 and will not be renewed.

"As this effect moderates, we expect the margin to strengthen in H2, leaving us on track to deliver our full-year guidance," Chief Executive Officer Ian Ferrao said in the results statement. He added: "With around 75 million Airtel telco subscribers not yet using Airtel Money, our runway for growth remains significant."

Airtel Mobile Commerce N.V. was admitted to the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange on 14 October 2026 under the ticker AMC, after conditional dealings began on 9 October. Existing shareholders sold 270 million shares, 10% of the issued share capital, at £1.96 each, valuing the company at about £5.3 billion (about US$7.0 billion, the company's conversion). The company did not raise any new capital. Ferrao called the oversubscribed listing "a landmark achievement for Airtel Money".

The company's other region, Francophone Africa, covers Chad, the DRC, Gabon, Madagascar, Niger, the Republic of the Congo and Seychelles. Its revenue grew 40.6% to US$215 million, or 40.2% in constant currency.

For the financial year ending 31 March 2027, the group has guided to revenue growth in the mid-20s per cent in constant currency, with the underlying EBITDA margin expected to fall by up to about 2 points from the previous year. It has set a target of a margin above 50% over the medium term.