Airtel, a giant telecommunication company, is set to pay a $13bn dividend for a period under review despite a $549M fx loss. Its audited annual reports filed with the Nigerian Exchange Limited on Thursday, May 9, 2024, indicate an interim dividend of $2.38 per share, resulting in $5.95 per share of the total financial dividend for the year.
In March, the company bought back 7,389,855 shares, reducing its shareholding to 3,750,761,649 ordinary shares of $0.50 nominal value as planned in its share buyback program.
Airtel stated that the capital reduction had the effect of “creating additional distributable reserves, which will be available to the company going forward and may be used to facilitate returns to shareholders in the future, whether in the form of dividends, distributions or purchases of the company’s shares.”
Airtel was affected by a $89m tax loss due to the foreign exchange headwinds and a total of $549m net tax loss. The tax loss increased due to the naira devaluation in June 2023 and the fourth quarter of 2023/2024. Also, further damage was done during the Malawian kwacha devaluation in November 2023.
The company states, “The after-effects of the CBN announcement continued to impact the exchange rate materially during January 2024, when the Nigerian naira to the US dollar moved to 1,414 per USD, which was also above the threshold percentage as per the group’s exceptional item policy.”
In response, the outgoing Chief executive officer, Olusegun Ogunsanya, highlighted the company’s constant effort to ensure a steady flow of revenue and reduce the impact of currency headwinds faced in various sectors.
The company also mentioned Sunil Taldar taking over from Ogunsanya as the CEO on July 1, 2024. In addition, the telecom company announced Paul Arkwright as its newly appointed independent non-executive director.
