Kenyan operator Safaricom's net profit decreased by 6.0 percent to KES 33.07 billion in the first six months to 30 September from KES 35.19 billion in the same period of 2019. Total revenue decreased by 4.1 percent to KES 124.53 billion from KES 129.92 billion in 2019 with service revenue dropping 4.8 percent to KES 118.41 billion from KES 124.32 billion. The company attributed the decline to Covid-19 pandemic, blaming the decline in service revenue performance on lower M-Pesa and voice revenues.
Safaricom increased capital expenditure by 25.5 percent to KES 22.75 billion from KES 118.13 billion in 2019 as it built network infrastructure. Voice service revenue dropped by 6.5 percent to KES 40.19 billion and M-Pesa revenue dropped by 14.5 percent to KES 35.89 billion.
Mobile data revenue increased by 14.1 percent to KES 22.23 billion. Messaging revenue declined by 6.9 percent to KES 7.19 billion. EBITDA dropped by 7.3 percent to KES 63.38 billion compared to KES 68.37 billion in 2019. EBIT declined by 10.5 percent decline in EBIT to KES 44.97 billion from KES 50.25 billion in 2019 with an EBIT margin of 36.3 percent, down 2.5 percentage points year-on-year. Free cash flow was 36.8 percent lower at KES 23.60 billion.
The continued focus on customers led to a 10.2 percent increase in one-month active subscribers for the period, with customer numbers rising in every revenue stream. Safaricom ended the H1 with 30.31 million customers.
One month active M-Pesa customers increased 13.5 percent to 26.79 million while one month active mobile data customers increased 11.6 percent to 22.91 million. Meanwhile, Safaricom has also announced plans to provide 100 percent 4G network coverage across the country by end of 2020 as part of its growth strategy focused on being the technology partner of choice.
