Safaricom 2021 Half Year Results: Telecommunications firm Safaricom has posted a next profit of Sh. 37.1 billion in the first six months of its current financial year. The profit was a 12 per cent growth from the Sh. 33.1 billion net profit the firm posted in the same period the previous financial year.
The profit was attributed to the recovery in M-Pesa revenues following the resumption of charges to transactions valued at Sh. 1,000 or less.
“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,” said Safaricom chief executive officer Peter Ndegwa.
In the period under review, M-Pesa revenue grew by 45.8 per cent to Sh. 52.3 billion anchoring a 16.9 per cent growth in service revenues to Sh. 138.4 billion. Voice revenues grew by 3.2 per cent to Sh. 41.5 billion while mobile data revenue has grown by 6.3 per cent to Sh. 23.6 billion. However, messaging revenue has declined by 18.3 per cent to Sh. 5.9 billion.
“Growth in service revenue was mainly attributed to M-Pesa revenues as well as mobile data, voice and fixed business,” said Safaricom chief financial officer Dilip Pal.
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Safaricom’s earnings per share grew by 12 per cent to reach 92 cents per share from 83 cents last September. Year on year revenue increased to Sh. 146.4 billion. This was a growth of 17.5 per cent. In the same period, gross profit stood at Sh. 100.8 billion equal to a growth of 19.2 per cent.
Safaricom’s board Chairman Michael Joseph said that he expects the company’s performance to strengthen further with the adaption of 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.
