By Standard Digital Reporter and Reuters
Nairobi, Kenya: Kenya’s mobile phone service provider Safaricom on Tuesday announced a Sh25.5 billion pretax profit for its full year ended in March.
Safaricom CEO Bob Collymore said the company’s revenue rose by 16 percent to Sh124 billion.
A strong performance in its money transfer service M-Pesa and non-voice revenues helped Safaricom post a 47 percent jump in full-year pretax profit on Tuesday.
"Most notable was our growth in non-voice service revenue with a 29 percent increase in the year, underpinning our strategy to diversify our revenue channels," said Collymore.
M-Pesa was a "major revenue driver", Collymore said, contributing Sh22 billion in revenue, about 18 percent of total earnings.
Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA), a key measure of performance for telecom companies, grew 31 percent to Sh49.2 billion.
The EBITDA margin improved 4.5 percent to 39.6 percent during the period, the company said.
Voice, which contributes two thirds of revenue, posted 13 percent growth during the period, recovering its growth trajectory after the previous year came under pressure from price cuts due to intense competition.
Safaricom recommended a dividend of Sh0.31 per share, a 41 percent increased on the previous year.
