Airtel Africa has announced that it is commencing the second tranche of its share buyback program worth $50 million.
The telecommunications giant published this information on the NGX disclosure page on August 19, 2024.
It outlined plans for the buyback on February 1, 2024, and 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 second tranche of the share buyback, which is anticipated to end before December 19, 2024, will amount to a maximum of $50 million.
To enable the buyback, the Telcom giant stated that it is subsequently purchasing its ordinary shares from Citigroup Global Market Limited (Citi).
“Under this agreement, Citi will act as a riskless principal and will make decisions independently of the company.”
Airtel Africa stated that the purpose of the repurchase is to lower share capital, as well as the debt obligations and operating cash expenses that excess share capital may incur.
Guidelines for the buy-back:
According to the report, the company will carry out the second tranche of the buyback according to the pre-set conditions it has with Citi.
“Any purchases of ordinary shares under the buy-back program by Citi will be carried out in accordance with certain pre-set parameters set out in the agreement with Citi, and Company purchases will be in accordance with (and subject to the limits prescribed by) the Company’s general authority to repurchase ordinary shares on the London Stock Exchange.”
It also stated that all transactions would be done with the permission of the shareholders of the company and in line with the resolutions made in their annual general meeting, which took place on July 3, 2024. “Shareholders gave the company authority to purchase a maximum of 374,141,187 ordinary shares.”
Second quarter performance:
- Airtel Africa reported a pre-tax profit that grew by 133.6% YoY to $74 million in the second quarter of 2024.
- However, the revenue of the company fell by 16.1% from $1.37 billion reported in Q2 of 2023 to $1.15 billion in the second quarter of 2024.
- Operating profits fell by 27.4%, from $462 million in 2023 to $335 million in the second quarter of 2024.
- However, the company managed to record a 103% rise in earnings per share from common stocks.
In a press statement released after Q2 financial statements were published, the company’s CEO, Sunil Talder hinted, “Most importantly, our emphasis is on significantly improving customer experience by simplifying customer journeys and providing best-in-class network experience to our customers, whilst remaining focused on driving efficiencies across the business.’’
