Safaricom profit jumps almost 20% on strong Mpesa, data sales

Safaricom (SCOM) on Wednesday reported 19.5% increase in net profit to Ksh74.7 billion for financial year ended March 2020. Revenue jumped 4.9% to Ksh262.6 billion, driven by strong growth in Mpesa and mobile data divisions.

Mpesa revenue increased 12.6% to Ksh84.4 billion. Mobile data revenue rose over 12% to Ksh40.7 billion. Voice calls service revenue dipped 1.4% to Ksh94.5 billion.

Voice service remains Safaricom’s largest business, contributing 36% of total revenue. Mpesa business contributed 32% of total revenue while mobile data business accounted for 15% of revenue. Notably, though, Mpesa and mobile data businesses combined now contribute more than two-thirds of Safaricom’s revenue.

Text messaging service generated over Ksh17 billion in revenue for Safaricom. The company also sells a range of devices, including smartphones and internet dongles, a business that generated more than Ksh10.5 billion in revenue.

Customer base continues to expand
Safaricom finished its fiscal 2020 with a total of more than 35.6 million customers across its various services. Monthly active voice customers jumped 6.6% to 25.6 million.

Mpesa monthly active customers increased 10% to 24.9 million. Monthly active mobile data customers increased 14% to 22 million.

Dividends payment
Safaricom plans to pay dividend of Ksh1.40 per share, which will cost the company Ksh56 billion or 75% of fiscal 2020 profit. The company paid dividend of Ksh1.25 per share last year, totaling to Ksh50 billion. Notably, Safaricom also paid out Ksh24.8 billion or 60 cents in special dividend last year.

Safaricom shares jumped 4.69% on Wednesday to close at Ksh29.