Kenya's Safaricom half-year net income up 35.9% to KSh 58.2bn; M-Pesa revenue tops KSh 100bn

Safaricom Group reported net income of KSh 58.2 billion for the six months to 30 September 2026, up 35.9%, in results released on 5 November 2026, according to The Star and Nairobi News. M-Pesa, its mobile money service, earned KSh 100.1 billion in revenue, up 13.6% from KSh 88.1 billion a year earlier.

Group EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) rose 27.5% to KSh 129.2 billion, and operating profit rose 39.8% to KSh 91.1 billion. Group service revenue was KSh 226.1 billion.

At the Central Bank of Kenya's mean rate of KSh 129.91 per US$1 on 6 November 2026, as cited by The Rio Times, a Brazil-based English-language news site, the net income is about US$448 million. At the yuan central parity of 671.46 per US$100 on 2 November 2026, as carried by Xinhua, that is about 3 billion yuan. Neither rate comes from the company.

M-Pesa handled 27.4 billion transactions in the period, up 25.2%, an average of about 150 million a day. Their value rose 16.6% to KSh 23.6 trillion.

Chargeable transactions rose 48.2% to 12.9 billion, or 47% of all M-Pesa transactions, up from 39.7% a year earlier. The other 53% were free or zero-rated, down from 60.3%. About 81% of merchant transactions on Lipa na M-Pesa and Pochi la Biashara and about 63% of consumer transactions carried no charge.

By line, consumer payments earned KSh 40.8 billion, up 14%, and business payments KSh 31 billion, up 14.7%. Financial services earned KSh 7.1 billion, up 55.3%, and global payments KSh 2.8 billion, up 26.6%.

In Kenya, service revenue was KSh 216 billion and net income was KSh 66.3 billion, up 13.8%.

In Ethiopia, service revenue rose 71.6% to KSh 10.6 billion and three-month active customers rose 38.4% to 15.4 million. The EBITDA loss narrowed 96.5% to KSh 434.4 million. Management is targeting EBITDA break-even in Ethiopia by the end of the current financial year.