Safaricom full-year profit rises 18.3 per cent to Sh48bn

A summary of Safaricom income statement since 2012. BD GRAPHIC | NMG 

By BRIAN NGUGI

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Summary

• Total revenue crossed the Sh200 billion mark for the first time to stand at Sh212.9 billion, an 8.8 per cent rise.
• The Safaricom board has announced extension of the chief executive Bob Collymore’s contract for another two years.
• Safaricom chairman Nicholas Ng’ang’a said the Safaricom Board “is happy that Mr Collymore has successfully navigated the company through difficult times.”

Telecommunications firm Safaricom

has announced an 27 .1 per cent net profit rise to Sh48.4 billion in the year to March 2017.

The net income includes a one-off adjustment of Sh3.3 billion -- which Safaricom said was a write-back of a legal cost provision that had not materialised.

Total revenue crossed the Sh200 billion mark for the first time to stand at Sh212.9 billion, an 8.8 per cent rise.

The revenue growth is backed by a strong performance in mobile money M-Pesa and data while traditional services like voice remained resilient.

M-Pesa revenues grew from Sh41.5 billion to Sh55.08 billion while data revenues grew by 38.6 per cent to Sh29.29 billion.

Voice service (incoming and outgoing) revenue rose by 2.9 per cent to Sh93.5 billion while SMS revenue declined by 3.7 per cent to Sh16.7 billion.

The Safaricom board has recommended a dividend of Sh0.97 per share – an increase of 27.5 per cent from the previous year.

The proposed dividend payout amounts to Sh38.86 billion, which represents 80 per cent of Safaricom's net profit for the year.

CEO's tenure

The board also announced extension of the chief executive Bob Collymore’s contract for another two years.

His contract was set to expire in August.

Safaricom chairman Nicholas Ng’ang’a said the board “is happy that Mr Collymore has successfully navigated the company through difficult times.”

Key results highlights

• Service revenue up 14.8 per cent to Sh204.1 billion.
• Total customer base increased by 11.8 per cent to 28.1 million.
• Voice service (incoming and outgoing) revenue rose by 2.9 per cent to Sh93.5 billion.
• SMS revenue declined by 3.7 per cent to Sh16.7 billion.
• M-Pesa revenue increased by 32.7 per cent to Sh55.1 billion.
• 30-day active M-Pesa customers increased by 14.6 per cent to 19.0 million.
• Mobile data revenue grew by 38.5 per cent to Sh29.3 billion.
• 30-day active mobile data customers increased by 18.1 per cent increase to 16.6 million.
• Fixed service revenue growth of 37.4 per cent to Sh5.2 billion.

Editor's note: This story has been edited to adjust the Safaricom net profit to include a Sh3.3 billion "write-back of a legal cost provision" that was omitted in an earlier version.