M-Pesa is what holds Safaricom together, the perceived notion among Kenyans goes.
The mobile money transfer service however is the second largest contributor to Safaricom’s revenue, according to the firm’s financial results for the year ended March 19, 2019.
Released on May 3, the FY results show that M-Pesa still trails voice calls on the giant telco’s revenue stream.
At Ksh74.99 billion, M-Pesa contributed 31.2% to the Ksh240.3 billion that Safaricom recorded last year.
M-Pesa’s revenue contribution to Safaricom represented a 19.2% year on year growth.
While still behind voice calls which contributed Ksh95.94 billion (39.9% of Safaricom’s 2018 revenue), the firm’s chief executive Bob Collymore told an investor briefing that M-Pesa could make valuable gains within a few years.
“We anticipate the growth of M-Pesa. We expect that it will pass the 50% mark in probably around three to four years,” said the Safaricom CEO.
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Collymore also talked of expansion plans for the mobile money transfer service, saying the share swap deal between Vodacom and Vodafone allows Safaricom to now venture into the African market.
“We haven’t publicly announced it yet, but we are looking at taking ownership of the M-Pesa brand in Africa as a joint ownership between us and Vodacom.”
Safaricom’s CEO was also upbeat about the increase of revenue from other revenue streams that are non-telco so as for the firm to have a more balanced outlook .
While describing the firm as merely a company that simply deals in selling sim cards and scratch-cards, the Guyana born businessman said Safaricom relies on partnerships with other sectors so as to remain profitable.
“Looking ahead, the business will sustain its momentum of investing in the quality of our service and diversification of our revenue portfolio to ensure sustained returns to shareholders,” said Collymore.
The company reported a 14.7% rise in profit for the full year 2018, registering at Ksh63.4 billion up from Ksh55.4 billion.
Safaricom also placed its customer base at the end of the financial year as 31.8 million.
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