Airtel Africa Accelerates Share Buyback Strategy With 40.9 Million Shares Repurchased

African telecommunications giant Airtel Africa has significantly accelerated its share repurchase program, announcing that it has now repurchased 40.93 million shares under the first tranche of its $100 million buyback initiative. The move underscores management’s confidence in the company’s robust cash-generating capacity and balance sheet strength, even as it continues substantial investments in network expansion and mobile money services across its 14 African markets.

The telecommunications group revealed in a corporate disclosure filed with the Nigerian Exchange on Friday, January 2, 2026, that it repurchased an additional 40,000 ordinary shares on December 31, 2025, in continuation of its strategic buyback program. The shares were acquired at prices ranging between 354.00 pence and 357.00 pence, with a volume-weighted average price of 355.95 pence per share.

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Strategic Structure and Financial Impact

Launched in December 2024, the buyback program is structured around open-market purchases of Airtel Africa stock, with all repurchased shares being cancelled to permanently reduce the number of shares in circulation. The transaction execution has been managed by Barclays Capital Securities Limited, operating under the authority granted by shareholders and in line with the revised buyback framework announced in September 2025.

Since the program’s inception, shares have been acquired at a cumulative average price of approximately 152.24 pence per share. Using the current exchange rate of about N1,970 per British Pound Sterling, Airtel Africa has bought back shares valued at approximately N122.7 billion, or roughly $84.6 million at prevailing exchange rates. This represents a significant capital return to shareholders while the company simultaneously invests heavily in infrastructure development.

The buyback initiative is being executed in two tranches. The first tranche targets a maximum of $50 million and was expected to conclude by April 24, 2025, while the second tranche, targeting the remaining funds, commenced in May 2025. As part of the company’s capital reduction strategy, all repurchased shares are cancelled, which incrementally supports per-share metrics such as earnings per share and gradually increases the relative ownership of remaining shareholders.

Following the latest cancellations, Airtel Africa’s issued ordinary share capital stands at approximately 3.66 billion shares, with total voting rights reduced to around 3.65 billion. While the numerical impact on the share count appears modest at first glance, the strategic message conveyed to the market is significant, reflecting management’s conviction in the company’s future prospects and financial health.

Financial Performance Underpinning Capital Returns

The aggressive buyback program is supported by Airtel Africa’s remarkable financial turnaround. For the fiscal year ended March 31, 2025, the company reported a profit after tax of $328 million, a dramatic 468.2% surge compared to the $89 million loss recorded in the previous fiscal year. This transformation was driven by increased data usage, strategic tariff adjustments across key markets, and rigorous cost control measures.

Revenue for the full year reached $4.955 billion, declining marginally by 0.5% in reported currency but growing by an impressive 21.1% in constant currency terms. The gap between constant currency and reported currency revenue growth was primarily due to currency devaluations, particularly affecting the Nigerian naira, Malawian kwacha, and Zambian kwacha.

The company’s performance has continued to strengthen throughout 2025. In the first quarter of the 2025/2026 fiscal year ending June 30, 2025, revenue climbed to $1.415 billion, up 24.9% in constant currency and 22.4% in reported terms, driven by tariff adjustments in Nigeria and robust growth in Francophone Africa. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) surged by 29.8% to $679 million, with margins expanding to an impressive 48%.

By the half-year point of fiscal 2025/2026, Airtel Africa had posted a net profit of $376 million, up 375% year-on-year, with revenue increasing by 25.8% to $2.98 billion. This stellar performance was driven by surging data usage and the continued expansion of its fintech arm, Airtel Money, demonstrating the company’s ability to capitalize on Africa’s growing digital economy.

Customer Base Expansion and Service Growth

Airtel Africa’s financial success is underpinned by robust customer base expansion across all its key services. The company’s total customer base grew by 8.7% to 166.1 million subscribers as of March 31, 2025, with smartphone penetration increasing by 4.3 percentage points to 44.8%. Data customers increased by 14.1% to 73.4 million, with data usage per customer surging by 30.4% to 7.0 gigabytes per month.

For the first time in the company’s history, data services surpassed voice as Airtel Africa’s main revenue source in the first half of fiscal 2025/2026. Internet service revenue rose 37% to $1.16 billion, boosted by an 18.4% increase in data users to 78.1 million. This shift reflects the rapidly changing consumption patterns across African markets, where data-intensive applications and services are becoming increasingly central to daily life and economic activity.

Mobile money services have emerged as another critical growth engine for Airtel Africa. The company’s mobile money customer base increased by 17.3% to 44.6 million users as of March 2025, with near-gender parity achieved at 44.2% female customers. Transaction values have been particularly impressive, with annual mobile money transaction volumes approaching $200 billion, up 35.9% year-on-year.

Sustained Infrastructure Investment

Despite the significant capital being returned to shareholders through the buyback program, Airtel Africa has maintained a relentless focus on network expansion and modernization. The company has invested over $670 million in network expansion and modernization to boost speed, coverage, and capacity across its footprint.

During fiscal year 2025, the company added 2,583 new network sites and approximately 3,300 kilometers of fiber infrastructure, significantly enhancing its ability to serve growing demand for high-speed data services. The company now provides 81.2% population coverage across its 14 markets, up from 80.4% in the previous fiscal year, bringing essential digital services to previously underserved communities.

The telecommunications giant has also been aggressively rolling out 4G and 5G infrastructure. As of the second quarter of fiscal 2025, 1,244 sites were 5G-enabled across four core markets, positioning the company to capitalize on the exponential growth in data consumption and the emerging requirements of next-generation technologies including artificial intelligence applications.

Airtel Africa has raised its capital expenditure guidance to between $875 million and $900 million for the current financial year, reflecting its commitment to maintaining network quality and expanding digital infrastructure. This level of investment demonstrates that the company’s capital allocation strategy successfully balances shareholder returns through buybacks with the substantial ongoing capital requirements of a rapidly growing telecommunications and mobile money business.

Mobile Money: A Strategic Growth Pillar

Airtel Money, the company’s mobile money division, has evolved into one of Africa’s most significant fintech success stories. According to the company’s latest results to September 2025, Airtel Money’s customer base climbed by 20% year-on-year to reach 49.8 million users across its 14-country footprint.

The platform has been gaining substantial momentum, with revenue in the first half of fiscal 2025/2026 climbing 30% to $623 million, accounting for 21% of total group revenue. With transaction volumes approaching $200 billion annually, Airtel Money is now ranked among Africa’s top three mobile money providers, alongside M-Pesa and MTN Mobile Money.

The fintech unit’s strong performance has been particularly notable in East African markets. In Kenya, Airtel Money’s market share has surged from 2.8% in 2023 to 9.1% in 2025, demonstrating the platform’s competitive strength even against the dominant M-Pesa service. The company has built an extensive agent network of more than 308,000 agents and 56,000 activating outlets to support financial inclusion across its markets.

Airtel Africa has confirmed that preparations for the planned initial public offering of its fintech unit in the first half of 2026 are “on track”. Analysts and internal projections suggest the IPO could value Airtel Money at more than $4 billion, potentially making it Africa’s largest-ever fintech listing. The company aims to raise $2-3 billion to fund expansion in digital banking, lending, and merchant services, with Citigroup engaged as lead adviser for the listing.

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Market Positioning and Competitive Dynamics

Airtel Africa operates in 14 countries across East, Central, and West Africa, serving markets with a combined population exceeding 600 million people. The company has positioned itself as one of the continent’s largest telecommunications and mobile money operators, competing with established players including MTN Group, Orange, and Vodacom, as well as regional challengers in specific markets.

On the Nigerian Exchange, Airtel Africa closed at N2,270.00 per share on January 2, 2026, making it the fourth most valuable listed company with a market capitalization of N8.53 trillion, or approximately 8.55% of total equity market value. The company is also dual-listed on the London Stock Exchange, providing international investors with direct access to African growth opportunities.

The telecommunications market across sub-Saharan Africa continues to demonstrate robust growth potential despite economic and political challenges. The GSMA forecasts that there will be more than 200 million additional unique mobile subscribers in sub-Saharan Africa by 2030, with mobile data traffic expected to quadruple by 2028. Airtel Africa’s strong market positions and expanding infrastructure base position it well to capture a significant portion of this growth.

In Kenya, Airtel’s managing director Ashish Malhotra has outlined aggressive expansion plans, targeting an increase in the company’s network of 4,300 mobile phone towers by around a third over the next three years, while aiming to double the company’s 120,000 mobile money agents within two years. These initiatives are designed to challenge Safaricom’s market dominance and expand Airtel’s reach into underserved rural areas.

Strategic Rationale Behind the Buyback

Airtel Africa’s decision to prioritize share repurchases alongside dividends reflects a sophisticated capital allocation strategy designed to optimize shareholder value while maintaining operational flexibility. The company’s fiscal year 2025 pre-tax profit of $661 million provides ample liquidity for such initiatives, while the ongoing reduction in debt—with 95% of subsidiary debt now denominated in local currencies—has significantly reduced foreign exchange risk exposure.

By cancelling repurchased shares, Airtel Africa creates incremental support for per-share metrics assuming operating performance remains stable. The company’s basic earnings per share for fiscal 2025 stood at 6.0 cents, compared to negative 4.4 cents in the prior year, and the buyback further amplifies this improvement by reducing the denominator in the EPS calculation.

The buyback also aligns with Airtel Africa’s broader capital return strategy. Over the past five years, the company has returned over $1.1 billion to shareholders through buybacks and dividends combined. For fiscal 2025, the Board recommended a final dividend of 3.9 cents per share, bringing the total dividend for the full year to 6.5 cents per share, representing a 9.2% increase from the previous year in line with the company’s dividend policy.

The buyback demonstrates financial discipline at a time when telecom operators across Africa face rising capital demands to support expanding digital ecosystems. It signals to the market that management believes the company’s shares offer compelling value while confirming that the business generates sufficient cash flow to fund both growth investments and capital returns simultaneously.

Regulatory Environment and Risk Factors

Airtel Africa operates within a complex regulatory environment across its 14 markets, each with distinct telecommunications policies, licensing requirements, and spectrum allocation frameworks. The company has successfully navigated several significant regulatory developments in 2025, including spectrum license renewals in Kenya covering the 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, and 2100 MHz bands.

In Nigeria, which contributes approximately 24% of group revenue, the company has benefited from tariff adjustments approved by regulators, supporting revenue growth despite challenging macroeconomic conditions including currency volatility and inflation. The Nigerian market remains strategically critical, with constant currency revenue growth of 48.9% in the first quarter of fiscal 2025/2026.

Currency devaluations across key markets, particularly in Nigeria, Malawi, and Zambia, continue to present challenges for reported financial performance even as underlying operational metrics remain strong. The company has proactively addressed this risk by localizing debt, with 95% of operating company debt now denominated in local currencies, up from 86% in the previous year. This strategic shift substantially reduces exposure to foreign exchange fluctuations that have historically created volatility in financial results.

The company also faces competitive pressures from both established telecommunications operators and emerging digital service providers. In markets like Kenya and Nigeria, intense competition drives continuous investment in network quality, pricing strategies, and value-added services. Airtel Africa’s response has been to differentiate through superior customer experience, leveraging digital platforms and artificial intelligence—including the recent launch of Airtel Spam Alert, an AI-powered solution designed to boost trust and safety on its network.

Sustainability and Social Impact

Beyond financial performance and shareholder returns, Airtel Africa has maintained a strong focus on sustainability and social impact across its operations. The company’s Sustainability Report 2025 highlights significant progress in bridging the digital divide, advancing financial inclusion, and supporting underserved communities through strategic investments in connectivity and sustainable practices.

Key achievements include connecting 2,176 schools to the internet free of charge through partnerships with UNICEF, up from 1,201 in the previous year. This initiative directly supports educational opportunities for millions of African children, providing access to digital learning resources and helping to prepare the next generation for participation in the digital economy.

The company has also made strides in environmental stewardship, converting 500 off-grid sites to on-grid power, significantly reducing reliance on diesel generators and lowering carbon emissions. The company’s workforce now includes 29.2% women, up from 28.3% in the previous year, reflecting ongoing efforts to promote gender diversity across the organization.

Through its mobile money platform, Airtel Africa is driving financial inclusion at scale, with 44.6 million customers—44.2% of whom are women—gaining access to essential financial services including digital wallet payment systems, microloans, merchant services, savings, insurance, and international money transfers. The company’s network of 1.7 million Airtel Money agents provides crucial employment and entrepreneurship opportunities across its footprint.

Looking Forward: Strategic Priorities and Market Outlook

As Airtel Africa continues executing its share buyback program while maintaining robust operational performance, several strategic priorities will shape the company’s trajectory in 2026 and beyond. The planned Airtel Money IPO represents a potential watershed moment, with the listing expected to unlock substantial value while providing capital for expansion of the fintech platform’s capabilities and geographic reach.

Network expansion and modernization will remain central to the company’s strategy, with particular emphasis on extending 4G and 5G coverage to support the explosive growth in data consumption. CEO Sunil Taldar has emphasized the company’s focus on preparing for “the AI wave and data consumption growth,” recognizing that next-generation applications will place unprecedented demands on network infrastructure.

The company’s refreshed strategy, which emphasizes great customer experience supported by sustained network investment and improvements in digital platforms and offerings, appears to be delivering results. Constant currency revenue growth peaked at 23.2% in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025, with part of this acceleration driven by the Nigerian tariff adjustments but also reflecting improved execution across all markets.

Airtel Africa’s ability to simultaneously fund aggressive network expansion, return capital to shareholders through buybacks and dividends, and maintain a strong balance sheet demonstrates the financial strength and operational efficiency that management has built over recent years. The company’s leverage ratio has been carefully managed, with lease-adjusted leverage at 1.0x as of March 31, 2025, providing financial flexibility for future growth initiatives.

The telecommunications and mobile money opportunity across sub-Saharan Africa remains substantial, with low smartphone penetration (currently around 45% across Airtel’s markets), relatively large unbanked populations, and unique mobile user penetration of approximately 50% across the group’s footprint. These indicators illustrate the significant runway still available for Airtel Africa to enhance both digital and financial inclusion while growing revenues profitably.

Conclusion: Balancing Growth and Returns

Airtel Africa’s share buyback program, which has now seen the repurchase and cancellation of 40.93 million shares valued at approximately N122.7 billion, represents a compelling case study in corporate capital allocation. The program demonstrates that African telecommunications companies can generate sufficient cash flow to simultaneously fund substantial infrastructure investment—essential for capturing market growth—while returning meaningful capital to shareholders through both buybacks and dividends.

The steady pace of buybacks underscores management’s confidence in the group’s cash-generating capacity and balance sheet strength. With the company operating in some of Africa’s most dynamic telecommunications markets, serving a combined population of over 600 million people, and benefiting from structural tailwinds including rising smartphone adoption, increasing data consumption, and growing demand for mobile financial services, the strategic logic behind capital returns appears sound.

For investors, attention now focuses on how the buyback execution will influence share price performance on both the Nigerian Exchange and London Stock Exchange. While mechanical effects on per-share metrics provide some support, the ultimate determinant of value creation will be Airtel Africa’s continued ability to execute operationally, navigate regulatory complexities, manage currency risks, and capitalize on the enormous growth opportunities that Africa’s digital transformation presents.

As the company approaches the anticipated Airtel Money IPO in the first half of 2026, completes the remaining phases of its $100 million buyback authorization, and continues investing in network infrastructure and digital platforms, shareholders and market observers will be watching closely to see whether this balanced approach to capital allocation can sustain the impressive momentum demonstrated throughout 2025.

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By: Montel Kamau

Serrari Financial Analyst

7th January, 2026