Airtel Money, the mobile money business of pan-African telecoms group Airtel Africa, said its profit after tax climbed to $228 million in the six months ended September 30, 2026, up from $188 million a year earlier, as the company expanded its customer base and recorded growth in payments, transfers and other financial services.

Revenue for the half-year came in at $830 million, a 34% increase in reported currency from $620 million in the corresponding period last year. In constant-currency terms, which adjust for exchange-rate movements, revenue grew by 25.1%. The results, released today in the company's official press release, are Airtel Money's first since its listing on the London Stock Exchange on October 9, a step that places the mobile money unit's standalone performance directly before public-market investors.

Payments and transfers revenue rose 32.8%, while financial services revenue increased 49.7% in reported currency. Both outpaced the traditional mobile wallet business, which recorded 25% growth. The figures underscore the growing contribution of services that allow customers to move money, pay merchants and access financial products through their phones.

Airtel Money operates across 13 markets in East and Francophone Africa, offering services that include money transfers, merchant payments, remittances, savings, lending and insurance, according to its official website. The business has traditionally relied heavily on mobile wallets, which allow customers to deposit and withdraw money, but the latest results show payments, transfers and other financial services becoming increasingly important sources of revenue. Mobile money has become a primary financial services channel in many African markets, where large parts of the population have limited access to traditional banking.

Chief Executive Ian Basil Ferrao said payments and transfers, together with financial services, were the company's fastest-growing revenue streams during the period.

The growth coincided with increased customer activity. Average revenue per user rose 5.1% in constant-currency terms, while the average transaction value per customer increased by 14.9% to $397 per month. The company's app customer base expanded 64.3% to 4.1 million, suggesting more customers are using its digital channels.

Annualised total processed value reached $270 billion in the second quarter of the 2027 financial year, representing 36.4% growth in constant-currency terms. Total processed value measures the value of transactions moving through a payment platform. It indicates the scale of activity on the network, although it is not the same as the revenue earned by the company.

The customer base grew by 18.7% to 56.7 million, lifting penetration of Airtel Africa's telecommunications customer base to 42.9%, up 3.2 percentage points year-on-year. Ferrao said the company recorded particularly strong growth in its less-penetrated Francophone markets.

The company also retains a substantial potential customer pool within Airtel's existing telecommunications network. Ferrao said around 75 million Airtel subscribers are not yet using Airtel Money, providing an opportunity to expand adoption.

Stronger revenue, however, did not translate into an improved underlying EBITDA margin. The margin fell to 48% from 50.8% a year earlier, largely because of changes to agreements between Airtel Money and other parts of the Airtel group, alongside additional levies in one market. EBITDA, or earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation, is a commonly used measure of operating profitability. Because the margin reflects how much revenue is left after operating costs, the decline points to costs rising faster than revenue even as the top line expanded by more than a third.

Ferrao said the company expects the impact of these changes to moderate in the second half, allowing margins to strengthen. Airtel Money reiterated its full-year guidance, including expectations for revenue growth in the mid-20% range in constant-currency terms, and its board declared an interim dividend of 6.4 US cents per share, payout made ahead of the full-year results.

Airtel Money's first results as a listed company show a business growing beyond basic wallet transactions. The next test will be whether it can sustain that growth, attract more users and improve profitability as its payments and financial services operations expand — with the expected second-half margin recovery and uptake among the roughly 75 million Airtel subscribers yet to adopt the service serving as near-term markers.

Source: TechNext24