On August 7, 2024, Airtel Africa announced the purchase of more of its shares from Citigroup Global Markets as part of its share buyback program.
In total, 406,000 ordinary shares were bought at 0.5 USD each on the London Stock Exchange, as authorized by shareholders of the company.
The lowest price paid for a share was at 107.70p, while the highest price paid for a share stood at 110.20p, at a reported volume-weighted average pay price of 108.82p.
Airtel Africa outlined plans for the buyback on March 1, 2024, stipulating that 34,896,112 aggregate numbers of ordinary shares will be purchased from Citigroup Global Markets at a volume-weighted average price of 110.35p, spanning across 12 months.
The reason for the buy-back:
A press release by the company on July 25, 2024, outlined that solid cash generation, current leverage, and cash reserves from the holding parent company influenced the decision of the board to undertake the buy-back program.
The buyback will reduce share capital, along with the debt obligations and operating cash expenses that excess share capital might incur.
Second quarter performance:
The company recently reported a Q2 pre-tax profit that surged by 133.6% year-over-year to $74 million in 2024.
However, Airtel Africa’s revenue fell by 16.1% year-over-year from $1.37 billion the previous year to $1.15 billion in Q2 of 2024.
Airtel’s CEO, Sunil Talder, stated in a conference call transcript released on July 25th, “The first cause of revenue decline is due to inflationary pressures across our markets, particularly in rising diesel prices across many of our markets, in particular Nigeria.’’
Furthermore, he stated: “And secondly, the mixing effect of Nigeria, given the lower contribution coming from our largest operating company.’’
Unfazed by the revenue decline, Airtel Africa is strongly on the buyside in the Nigerian stock market at a price of N2,200 per share.