Safaricom shareholders have approved a Ksh. 74.92 billion dividend payout for the financial year ending March 31, 2019.
The shareholders approved the dividend payout at the company’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) that was held at the Bomas of Kenya on Friday 30th August 2019. The shareholders approved a special dividend of Ksh. 0.62 per share, amounting to KES 24.84 billion and a final ordinary dividend of KES 1.25 per share that totals to KES 50.08 billion. This brings the total divided to be paid out to KES 1.87 a share.
The dividend comes after the company announced a net profit profits of Ksh. 63.4 Billion for the year ending 31st March 2019. This represented a 14.7% rise from last year’s net which was Ksh. 55.29 Billion.
This rise in profitability was on the back of a 7% revenue to KSh. 240.30bn, Voice service revenue which grew by 0.3% to KSh. 95.94bn, M-PESA revenue which grew by 19.2% to KSh. 74.99bn, Mobile data revenue which increased by 6.4% to KShs 38.69bn and Fixed service revenue which increased by 22.7% to KShs 8.19bn. However, in the same period, Messaging revenue declined by 1.3% to KShs 17.50bn most probably due to the increased adoption of whatsapp. At the same time, the telco’s customer base increased by 7.7% to 31.8 million while their 30-day active M-PESA customers increased 10.2% to 22.6m and 30-day active mobile data customers increased 6.6% to 18.8m.
Acting CEO Michael Joseph noted that the company has consistently paid out an increased dividend to shareholders since going public in 2008. The company has since then paid out more than the KES 5 that the investors spent buying the shares.
The company has announced that it intends to invest over Ksh. 36 billion this financial yearin its business. It intends to roll out an additional 2,030 4G and 4G+ base stations to reach more than 80 per cent of the population. Safaricom became the first to roll out a 4G network in Kenya in 2014, and in June 2017, became the first in East Africa to upgrade its 4G network to 4G+. 4G provides customers with speeds of up to 100 Megabits per second with Safaricom’s 4G+ network supporting double the 4G speeds.
On CSR, through the Safaricom Foundation, the company spent Ksh. 434 million on 157 projects that impacted the lives of more than 185,513 individuals in the following areas: maternal and child health, non-communicable diseases, technical and vocational training, improving learning outcomes and youth economic empowerment.