Safaricom, on Thursday reported its strongest full-year ends in current reminiscence, posting a bunch web revenue of 100 billion Kenyan shillings for the yr ended March 31, 2026. The efficiency, fueled by relentless buyer development, digital-services enterprise and an accelerating turnaround in its loss-making Ethiopian unit, allowed the corporate at hand shareholders a sharply greater dividend, 2 shillings a share, or 80.1 billion shillings in whole, a 66.7 % leap from the earlier yr.
The payout, comprising an interim dividend of 85 cents a share and a proposed closing dividend of 1 shilling 15 cents, underscores the arrogance of an organization that has lengthy been the area’s most dependable money machine. At a time when many African telcos are wrestling with inflation, foreign money swings and regulatory friction, Safaricom’s has proven a sturdy development at house in Kenya, fast scaling in Ethiopia and an unshakeable dedication to its signature product, the mobile-money platform M-PESA.
Service income for the group climbed 11.5 % to 414.1 billion shillings. Kenya, nonetheless the engine room, delivered a ten % enhance to 400.8 billion shillings, whereas earnings earlier than curiosity and taxes rose a wholesome 15.3 % to 182.3 billion shillings. Cell-data income, the clearest proxy for digital adoption, jumped 18.3 % to 92.9 billion shillings. M-PESA, which has turned Safaricom right into a de-facto financial institution for tens of millions of unbanked Kenyans, grew income 13.4 % to 182.7 billion shillings, powered by 41 million lively clients. The numbers inform a narrative of two markets transferring in tandem but at totally different speeds. In Kenya, Safaricom’s house turf, the corporate now serves roughly 58 million clients out of a bunch whole of 71.6 million. Demand for knowledge and monetary companies stays insatiable; the community is mature, the model is entrenched, and the economics are enviable.
In Ethiopia, the newer and much riskier guess, service income exploded 86.6 % to 14.1 billion shillings and now accounts for 12.5 % of the group’s general income development. The subscriber base there reached 13.6 million, supported by a community that now blankets 60 % of the inhabitants via 3,504 websites.
But the Ethiopian operation stays a piece in progress. Peter Ndegwa, Safaricom’s group chief govt, was frank within the firm’s assertion: “We delivered robust efficiency, with acceleration within the second half, surpassing Group steerage with excellent Kenya efficiency offsetting the impression of foreign money reforms and the timing of market restore actions in Ethiopia.” Translation: regulatory turbulence, a unstable birr and the price of constructing out infrastructure nonetheless weigh on the underside line. Losses narrowed, nonetheless, and the corporate is starting to see “the advantages of scale,” as Chairman Adil Khawaja put it,a uncommon encouraging word for a market that has examined the persistence of traders since Safaricom’s contentious entry a number of years in the past.
The dividend enhance, the biggest share leap in years, is greater than a shareholder reward. It indicators that administration believes the heavy lifting in Ethiopia is beginning to repay and that the group’s steadiness sheet can take up continued capital expenditure with out sacrificing returns. Group Chief Finance Officer Dilip Pal famous that investments in community and IT techniques are already yielding higher person expertise and capability, whereas Ethiopia’s decreased losses “drastically boosting Group efficiency.”
For a corporation whose very identification is intertwined with Kenya’s financial life, the social ledger issues virtually as a lot because the monetary one. By means of the Safaricom and M-PESA Foundations, the group says it reworked the lives of greater than 4.4 million individuals final yr with packages in schooling, well being and financial empowerment , a reminder that in East Africa, connectivity and monetary inclusion aren’t summary corporate-responsibility slogans however tangible drivers of GDP.
Nonetheless, the outcomes arrive at a fragile second. Safaricom is within the first yr of a five-year technique that Mr. Ndegwa described as “an amazing setup for delivering our imaginative and prescient.” Imaginative and prescient 2030, the broader nationwide blueprint, looms within the background. The corporate’s skill to maintain Kenya’s double-digit momentum alive whereas taming Ethiopia’s startup prices will decide whether or not it cements its place as Africa’s premier digital-services powerhouse or merely a really massive and really worthwhile cell operator with one exceptionally costly aspect undertaking.
Buyers appeared to love what they noticed. The dividend alone represents roughly 80 % of reported web revenue, a payout ratio that will elevate eyebrows at many development corporations however is basic for a cash-generative infrastructure enterprise that has already constructed a lot of its community. The market will now watch whether or not the second yr of the technique brings the identical mix of Kenyan resilience and Ethiopian acceleration, or whether or not recent macroeconomic shocks in both capital reset the timetable.
For now, Safaricom has carried out what it does greatest: develop the highest line, shield the underside line and return capital to homeowners, all whereas reminding the area {that a} well-run African telco could be each a revenue engine and a quiet drive for growth.
