NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov 10 – Safaricom Wednesday reported a 12.1 percent growth in its half-year financial year results ending 30 September 2021 from 33.07 billion to 37.1 billion.
The group’s profit before tax for the period grew by 22.2 percent from 44.8 billion to Sh 54.7 billion.
Safaricom Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Peter Ndegwa, who spoke during the investor briefing, said that the growth was attributed to the strategy employed by the firm during the COVID-19 pandemic period that strived to put customers’ needs first.
“Despite the past year being one with far-reaching changes and extraordinary circumstances given the pandemic, we are encouraged by the business resilience and recovery trajectory marked by a return to near normalcy. We are well-positioned to support our customers and provide technology solutions as we turn the business into a purpose-led technology organization,” said Ndegwa.
Over the same period, the value of M-Pesa transactions grew from Sh 9 trillion to Sh 13.7 trillion, and total revenue grew 45.8 percent now accounting for 37.8 percent of service revenue, due to return to charging of previously zero-rated transactions.
Service revenue rose by 16.9 percent to Shs 138.4 billion in the results covering six months from April to September 2021.
“The growth in free cash flow is because we continue to grow our customer base through great value propositions, and this has further led to the growth in our one-month active customers from 30.21 million to 31.75 million,” Dilip Pal, the firm Chief Finance Officer said.
On the other hand, chargeable transactions per customer grew 91.9 percent YoY to 18.1 transactions from 9.4 transactions in a similar period last year.
The group further revealed that the M-Pesa app launched in July this year had so far recorded 3.9million downloads and two million active customers since launch.
“The high numbers signify the effort we are putting towards ensuring individuals and Small and Micro Enterprises in the country are able to live the lives they want. The recovery of M-Pesa is going to emphasize that there has been significant growth in the renovation,” said Ndegwa.
The firm reported a 22.6 percent rise in international money transfers which was attributed to growth in diaspora remittances.
