The largest and most successful telecommunication company in East and Central Africa, Safaricom Ltd (SCOM) has announced its full year 2017 results reporting an increase of 27.1 percent in net income to a record Sh 48.4 Billion.
The growth was mainly driven by M-Pesa revenues which increased by 32.7 percent to Sh 55.1 Billion as 30 day users of the platform grew by 14.6 percent to 19.02 Million.
The company’s total revenue increased 8.8 percent to a record Sh 212.89 Billion compared to the previous period’s Sh 195.68 Billion as of March 2016. Service revenue contributed a huge margin of the overall revenue growth as it posted a growth of 14.8% to Sh 204.1 Billion.
Voice service (incoming and outgoing) revenue grew by 2.9% to Sh 93.5 Billion while SMS revenue declined by 3.7% to Sh 16.7Billion. Mobile data revenue on the other hand grew by 38.5% to Sh 29.3Billion. The company also announced that it had installed fibre cables to more than 50,000 homes across the country.
The total number of Safaricom mobile customers base increased by 11.8 percent to 28.13 Million from 25.16 Million.
Extension of Bob Collymore Contract
Safaricom Chairman Mr Nicholas Ng’ang’a also announced that the board had decided to extend Bob Collymore’s contract as Chief Executive Officer for another two years. Collymore’s contract was to expire in August this year following another two year extension in 2015.
“The board has decided to extend the contract of our CEO Bob Collymore for another two years. Bob has succefully navigated our company through very difficult times even as management explored new ares of growth and expansion. ” Noted the chairman.
Dividend
Safaricom Board recommended the payment of Sh 0.97 dividend per share; representing a total dividend payment of Sh 38.86 Billion from Sh 30.48 Billion in the the previous year. This represented an increase of 27.5%. The dividend will be paid on or before 1 December 2017, subject to the shareholders’ approval at the Annual General Meeting.
M-Pesa 1 Tap Launch
The Telco also announced the launch of a payment card that will be linked to customers’ M-Pesa accounts as it eyes a slice of the Sh more than Sh 1.5 Trillion Payments card industry in Kenya. Bob Collymore added that the card will compliment its Lipa na M-Pesa service.
READ; Safaricom Officially Unveils M-Pesa Payments Card To Rival Visa & Mastercard