Kenya’s largest mobile operator Safaricom has reported strong growth in earnings, revenues and subscriber numbers for the six month period ended 30 September 2013.
In its unaudited financial statements for the period that have been released on Tuesday, the telecoms operator, which is listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE), says its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (Ebitda) increased by 29.4% for the period to hit Kshs 28.85 billion compared to Kshs 22.29 billion for the same period in 2012.
The firm’s net income also rose by 44% to Kshs 11.26 billion to September 2013 compared to Kshs 7.77 billion in the same period for 2012.
Meanwhile, the company’s total revenues grew 17.1% from Kshs 59.12 billion in 2012 to Kshs 69.2 billion to the period ending September 2013.
In terms of its other highlights for the period, its customer numbers have increased by 8.3% to reach 20.82 million subscribers.
Safaricom’s mobile data customer numbers grew by 51.7% over the last 30 days to reach 8.48 million, while the number of mobile money M-Pesa customers has grown to 11.55 million in the same period.
Voice revenue for the firm increased by 12% to reach Kshs 41.92 billion, SMS revenue grew by 48.7% to hit Kshs 6.35 billion and data revenue surged 37.4% to Kshs 5.47 billion.
Combined, M-Pesa, SMS and data revenues for the firm amount to 35.1% of total revenues from 31.6% for the same six month period ending September 2012.
“The company continued to invest heavily in both the expansion and modernisation of 2G and 3G networks,” says chairman of Safaricom, Nicholas Nganga, in commentary regarding the results.
“The group continues to the major contributor to the revenues of the government and remitted Kshs 23.06 billion in duties, taxes and license fees for the six month period ended 30 September 2013,” adds Nganga.
Nganga further says in the commentary that “as in previous years the directors do not propose the payment of an interim dividend.”
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