Safaricom posted a Ksh.37 billion net profit for the year ended September 30, 2021, representing a 12 percent growth from Ksh.33 billion that was recorded same period last year.
The telco’s profit before tax for the period grew by 22.2 percent from Ksh.44.8 billion to Ksh.54.7 billion.
The growth is attributable 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 Safaricom Chief Executive Officer Peter Ndegwa.
Over the same period, the value of M-Pesa transactions grew from Ksh.9 trillion to Ksh.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.
“Beyond the economy recovering and us getting back to charging, there has been a significant focus on innovation. We have for instance recently launched the M-Pesa application which has already seen four million downloads in three to four months,” added Ndegwa.
Its voice revenues surged 3.2 percent to Ksh.41.5 billion while mobile data revenue has grown by 6.3 percent to Ksh.23.6 billion.
Safariom’s messaging revenue has declined by 18.3 percent to Ksh.5.9 billion.
Other mobile service revenue has meanwhile jumped by 23.9 percent to Ksh.4.7 billion from last year.
The number of one-month active M-Pesa customers has grown by 7.1 percent to 28.7 million persons while Safaricom’s one-month active overall customers have grown by 4.7 percent to 31.8 million individuals.
During the last six months, Safaricom has raised its capital expenditure by a marginal 0.3 percent to Ksh.22.8 billion.
Safaricom board Chairman Michael Joseph expects the company’s performance to strengthen further with the firm adapting to the tough operating environment in the past 18 months.
“The board is encouraged by the trajectory of the recovery as we see our service revenues improving,” he said.
Safaricom’s earnings per share have grown by a similar margin to net profit to reach 92 cents per share from 83 cents last September.
