Safaricom announces audited results for the year ended 31 march 2017
Safaricom has announced an 18.3 per cent net profit rise to Sh45.1 billion for the year to March 2017. The telecommunications company’s revenue rose by 8.8% to cross the Sh200 billion mark for the first time at Sh212.9 billion.
This growth in revenue can be attributed to a strong performance in mobile money, M-Pesa, and data while traditional services like voice remained resilient.
Data revenues grew by 38.6 per cent to Sh29.29 billion as M-Pesa’s grew from Sh41.5 billion to Sh55.08 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 percent from the previous year.
Mobile penetration in Kenya stood at 88.2% as at 31 December 2016 with the telecom leading with a subscriber share of 71.2%. The customer base grew by 11.8% to 28.1m as at 31 March
Fixed data revenue increased by 37.4% to Kshs 5.2bn. This was attributed to 21.2% growth in fixed service customers.
“We continue to focus on building a resilient business that can weather the regulatory and
economic forces that are currently shaping the commercial environment. We believe in the
vast, untapped potential of the Kenyan economy, and we will leverage increasingly intimate
customer insights alongside deep investments in critical technologies to drive a long-term
strategy for growth.” Said Bob Collymore, CEO, Safaricom limited.
The key highlights of the report are:
Service revenue growth of 14.8% to Kshs 204.1bn.
- Total customer base increased by 11.8% to 28.1m.
- Voice service (incoming and outgoing) revenue grew by 2.9% to Kshs 93.5bn.
- Messaging (SMS) revenue declined by 3.7% to Kshs 16.7bn.
- M-PESA revenue increased by 32.7% to Kshs 55.1bn.
- 30 day active M-PESA customers increased by 14.6% to 19.0m.
- Mobile data revenue grew by 38.5% to Kshs 29.3bn.
- 30-day active mobile data customers increased by 18.1% increase to 16.6m.
- Fixed service revenue growth of 37.4% to Kshs 5.2bn.
Safaricom invested Ksh 35.3bn on capital expenditure in the year under review in an effort to increase network coverage, capacity, and quality to ensure better performance and improve customer experience.