Mobile services operator Safaricom posted a 19% increase in full-year profit that exceeded market expectations as new users helped drive income from all services such as mobile money, voice and data.
The company that’s 40 percent owned by Vodafone Group, said net income jumped to Ksh38 billion ($377.6 million) in the 12 months to March 31st 2016 from Ksh31.9 billion a year earlier.
Chief Financial Officer John Tombleson said today at an investor briefing in Nairobi that sales grew 14% to Ksh186 billion, helped by a 14% increase in service revenue, while the customer base expanded 8% to Ksh25.2 million. The value of mobile-money transactions grew by 29% to Ksh5.29 trillion, while M-Pesa revenue surged 27% to 41.5 billion.
The board proposed a dividend payout of 0.76 shillings per share, up 19% from a year earlier. “The amount we are paying for dividend is equivalent to the amount the government spent on education,” Chief Executive Officer Bob Collymore said at the briefing.
Mobile data revenue in the year to March 2016 climbed 43 percent to Kshh21.2 billion, but voice revenues grew marginally by just 4 percent to Kshbillion. Safaricom is Kenya’s biggest company in terms of market value and profitability.
Next Read: Bob Collymore caught up in web of fraud at Safaricom
