Safaricom's profit dropped slightly by 1.7% in FY 2021
Leading Kenyan telco, Safaricom Plc, has released its condensed audited financial statements for the year ended March 2022.
Leading Kenyan telco, Safaricom Plc, has released its condensed audited financial statements for the year ended March 2022.
A copy of the report, which was seen by Business Insider Africa, shows that total revenue increased 12.9% year-on-year to $2.6 billion (Ksh298 billion), up from $2.3 billion (Ksh264 billion) during the comparable period.
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It should be noted that the revenue growth was driven by active growth in Safaricom's voice, data and mobile money business lines. The company has a total of 42 million subscribers and controls 70.4% of Kenya's voice market, as well as 64.3% of the mobile data market.
READ: Safaricom refutes dominance claims by Airtel, says the market is big enough for healthy competition
Another key takeaway from the financial report is that Safaricom's earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation & amortisation (EBITDA) increased by 11.1% to $1.3 billion (KSh149 billion) during the period under review.
Also note that both direct costs and operating expenses rose by 14.3% and 19.9% respectively, even as the company incurred a total income tax of $293.3 million (KSh34.7 billion); marking a 39.1% increase compared to $214.3 million (KSh23.9 billion) during the preceding financial year.
Meanwhile, the telco's profit after tax declined slightly by 1.7% to $581 million (KSh67.49 billion), down from $591.3 million (KSh68.7 billion) during the comparable financial year.
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While commenting on the financial performance, Safaricom's Chief Executive Officer, Peter Ndegwa, said:
"I am proud that our growth and achievements this financial year are attributed to prioritizing the needs, aspirations and hopes of our customers alongside investments in our network infrastructure. Our focus this year was to embed customer obsession at the core of our culture delivering superior customer experiences. We adopted the Agile ways of working which fosters collaboration across the organisation and speeds up decisionmaking bringing us closer to our customers."
READ: Safaricom reaches agreement with Ethio Telecom to share towers and other telecom assets in Ethiopia
This is the first financial statement from the company since establishing its first operation in Ethiopia. Official launch in the Horn of Africa country is expected to commence sometime this year. And in the meantime, the company has made heavy investment in infrastructure as well as reached strategic partnership agreements with both Ethio Telecom and Ethiopian Electric Power.
READ: Safaricom signs 5-year infrastructure lease agreement with Ethiopian Electric Power
