Safaricom has registered a 12.1% growth in net earnings in the first half of 2021. The company hits a net profit of Ksh. 37.1 billion between April and September this year, compared to Ksh. 33 billion recorded in a similar period last year.
The company’s CEO Peter Ndegwa has attributed the growth to increased revenue from MPESA, accelerated by the high uptake of overdraft solution, Fuliza.
Other factors contributing to the growth include internet revenue which grew 16%, and a rebound in voice services and text services.
“Gross profit rose 22.2% to Ksh. 54.68 billion compared to Ksh. 44.74 billion similar period last year,” added Mr. Ndegwa.
Similarly, the total value of MPESA transactions grew 51.5% to Ksh. 13.71 trillion while the total volume of transactions grew 42% to Ksh. 7.27 billion. This growth has been attributed to a reverse on free fees on people to people, like the Lipa na MPESA feature that was declared free of charge below Ksh. 1,000 in March last year to cushion households from the economic effects of COVID-19. Chargeable transactions per one month active grew 91.9% to 18.06 transactions per month in the period under review up from 9.4 transactions same period last year.
Revenue grew to Ksh. 146 billion from Ksh. 126 billion in the previous financial period. Capital expenditure during the period stood at Ksh. 22.81 billion with 4G, 3G, & 2G growing to 95.9%, 96.3% and 96.9% respectively.
Borrowings by the company were Ksh. 77 billion and cash stood at Ksh. 22 billion leaving a net debt position at Ksh. 50.54 billion. The company paid taxes valued at Ksh. 62.38 billion bringing total taxes & levies paid tothe government to Ksh. 978.25 billion since the company was founded.
MPESA wallet to bank and bank to M-PESA wallet transactions are still zero-rated and make up 18.1 per cent of the total transactions.