Company Participants
- Chairman Michael Joseph
- Chief Executive Officer Peter Ndegwa
- Chief Finance Officer Dilip Pal
- Chief Corporate Affairs officer Stephen Chege
Video:
Show Notes:
- [00:01:03] – Introduction by Chief Corporate Affairs Officer
- [00:02:24] – Business resilience, and re-opening of the economy in the face of the Pandemic
- [00:04:06] – Regulatory space
- [00:04:42] – Headwinds
- [00:05:18] – Safaricom & M-Pesa Foundations’ Initiatives in support of the communities
- [00:06:29] – Board’s commitment to work with management to deliver value to shareholders, transform the lives of customers, employees, business partners, and the community.
- [00:08:23] – Sustainability
- [00:09:43] – Strategic focus
- [00:11:24] – Strategy execution
- [00:13:48] – Update on the investment in Ethiopia, risks, and opportunities
- [00:19:19] – HY22 Key Highlights
- [00:20:40 – Service Revenue
- [00:22:09]- M-Pesa & Fintech Solutions Growth
- [00:22:54] – International Money Transfer, and Lendings & savings
- [00:23:10] – M-Pesa Values and customers
- [00:24:09] – Innovation in digital financial services
- [00:24:21] – Customer Supper App & Business Super App
- [00:25:04] – Mobile data
- [00:26:29] – Fixed service revenue
- [00:27:19] – Net Income
- [00:27:54] – Borrowings & Capex
- [00:28:43] – Revised FY22 Guidance & outlook
Introduction
Stephen [00:01:03]: Good morning ladies, and gentlemen. Welcome to Safaricom’s half-year 2021-2022 financial results announcement. On behalf of the Board of Directors, the management team, and staff of Safaricom PLC. We thank you very much for making time to join us virtually for this event. I’m glad that thanks to technology which is the foundation of our business, we can virtually connect and engage this morning. We hope that you’re all keeping safe, masking up, washing your hands, and observing the required precautions to help manage the Covid-19 pandemic. Most importantly, we hope that you have been vaccinated or are planning to get vaccinated in the coming days.
We’ll start off with remarks by Safaricom PLC Chairman of the Board of Directors, Michael Joseph. Safaricom PLC CEO Peter Ndegwa and Chief Finance Officer Dilip Pal will then take us through the financial performance and results for the period under review. Should you like to keep your social media followers updated on our proceedings this morning, our hashtag today is #SafaricomHYResults. In staying committed to our promise on diversity and inclusion our sign language interpreters this morning are Leonida Kaula and Victor Mwania. It is now my pleasure to invite Safaricom PLC Board Chairman, Michael Joseph to make his remarks.
Chairman’s Remarks
Michael [00:02:24]: Thank you for joining us for the half-year 2022 results announcement. The past 18 months have been as we all know a difficult period for everyone with far-reaching changes and extraordinary circumstances. However, despite the difficult circumstances, the country has found a way through adversity. Kenyans are resilient people who have found a way to cope in difficult economic times despite the challenges of these times. The management and staff have shown similar resilience in adjusting to these challenges as will be seen later in this announcement.
The Board is encouraged by this resilience especially from a business point of view and the recovery trajectory which we are witnessing by a return to near normalcy. As Peter will share shortly, we’ve noted improved business sentiment with strong service remedy recovery, a strong balance sheet, a diversified portfolio, and improved consumer confidence. Following the President’s recent announcement lifting the nationwide curfew that has been in place since March 2020, it is a noted gradual reopening of the country and hopefully the economy.
As Peter will share shortly, we’ve noted improved business sentiment with strong service remedy recovery, a strong balance sheet, a diversified portfolio, and improved consumer confidence.
However, the vaccination process is slower than expected despite the availability of vaccines throughout the country. For a population of over 40 million Kenya has administered just over four million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine so far. Ladies and gentlemen, a well-vaccinated country is a prerequisite for a fully open economy as we adjust to the new normal. We welcome the government’s efforts to procure more vaccines and we call about Kenyans to get vaccine vaccinated no matter where they may be. Let me now turn to the regulatory space.
Ladies and gentlemen, our regulators have been very supportive of our efforts in supporting our customers navigate through the tough unprecedented period, and for this we are grateful. Through the allocation of extra frequency by the Communications Authority, we were able to meet the increased demand for data by our customers working and learning from home. A conducive regulatory environment is important for the growth of our business and the sector at large especially considering the rapidly evolving technologies and needs of our customers and society.
Through the allocation of extra frequency by the Communications Authority, we were able to meet the increased demand for data by our customers working and learning from home.
However, there were some headwinds on the other hand. We saw an increase in excise duty on telco products from 15 to 20% that took effect from July 1, 2021, which contributed towards an increased pressure on the consumer wallet in a period witnessed by reduced income and rising inflation. The Board is aware of the upcoming general election period which is usually characterized by depressed economic activity and reduced investments as businesses and investors adopt a more cautious approach due to the associated political risk.
Ladies and gentlemen, I will now speak about Safaricom’s efforts and the Board’s commitment to supporting Kenyans through various initiatives. I am proud of the work that the CEO and his team have done in ensuring the well-being of our staff customers, and other stakeholders. Through Safaricom and M-Pesa Foundations we stood with our communities investing over Kshs 810 Million through different programs in the first six months of this financial year.
Through Safaricom and M-Pesa Foundations we stood with our communities investing over Kshs 810 Million through different programs in the first six months of this financial year.
These projects include amongst others a staff program dubbed Pamoja initiative, Ndoto Zetu, Maternal & Healthcare program called Uzazi Salama and these have benefited over 2 Million Kenyans. During this period, we also sponsored various sports events across the country which included the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, The World Rally Championship, The World Athletics under 20 Championships as well as the Magical Kenya Open Golf Tournament. Beyond sports, through the Lewa Marathon, we raised significant funding for wildlife conservation and community development. And we also continue to support the Safaricom Youth Orchestra amongst other projects.
In conclusion, ladies and gentlemen, The Board will continue to work with management to deliver value to our shareholders. Most importantly, we’ll work to ensure that Safaricom continues to transform the lives of our customers, employees, business partners, and communities in Kenya and beyond. We fully support Peter and his team as he executes the business strategy to become a digital-first and insights-led organization unlocking our next phase of growth whilst delivering a sound return to our investors including our new investment in Ethiopia.
The Board would like to extend its deep appreciation to the CEO, the management, and all members of staff for the efforts and commitments during a very challenging year. Looking into the future we firmly believe that our business is well cushioned to support our customers to rebound stronger and to build back better. With those remarks, I now take this opportunity to invite our Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Peter Ndegwa to share the highlights of our business for the period under review. Thank you very much.
CEO’s Remarks
Peter [00:07:31]: Fellow shareholders, representatives of the investor community, The Board, management and staff of Safaricom PLC, members of the media and the online community, good morning. Thank you for joining us for the half-year financial results announcement. As Michael has mentioned, Covid-19 Pandemic altered the environment for all businesses and ours was no exception. In responding to the Pandemic we’ve remained true to our purpose of transforming lives, a guiding light in our effort towards supporting and helping the country.
These efforts are paying off in building resilient individuals, resilient communities, and businesses especially now as we gradually begin to experience near-normalcy. To start us off, let me take you through how we have built a sustainable business, standing together to grow value across the ecosystem, what we call “Standing Together and Going Beyond”. During this period, we reiterated our commitment to continue connecting people to people, connecting people to knowledge, and people to opportunities.
During this reporting period, we also celebrated 10 years of the sustainability journey. Our 10th Sustainable Business Report showcases how we leverage technology to build sustainable products and services in line with the sustainable development goal. The Pandemic has made a strong case for ensuring a resilient sustainable and more responsible business model. We remain committed to supporting our stakeholders navigate through this period, sustaining over a million jobs in the last financial year.
The Pandemic has made a strong case for ensuring a resilient sustainable and more responsible business model.
In our sustainability agenda, we remain focused on our impact on climate agenda and building an inclusive business that meets the needs of our customers but also reflects the diverse nature of our society. Let me now recap on our strategic focus as showcased by strategy house. As you can see at the top of the house we have Transforming Lives, which is our purpose and the guiding light of everything we do. We are now one year into a five-year strategy, which spells out our vision of becoming a purpose-led technology company by 2025.
In order to bring this vision to life, our mission is to establish a customer-obsessed, digital-first organization by the year-ending financial year 2022. Customer obsession is our main effort towards adding value and delighting our customers with superior experiences more so now as we venture into Ethiopia and expand customer obsession to new geographies. Our enablers in our strategy are aiding the business in deepening customer engagement and experience. For instance, we’ve used our customer value management tools to transform the way we interact with our customers, creating a personalized relationship with our voice data and M-Pesa services.
Our mission is to establish a customer-obsessed, digital-first organization by the year-ending financial year 2022.
We will continue to use these analytics to gain more valuable insights that will advise our initiatives’ products and services in order to serve our customers better. Our agile transformation journey is also delivering early wins fostering collaboration among staff leading to quicker decision making, increased efficiencies, and faster resolution bringing us closer to our customers. Allow me now to call out our progress so far in our strategy execution as you can see on the screen as we pivot towards a technology company.
Ladies and gentlemen, our strategy is working. We are happy with the performance of the four transform transformative pillars which are crucial in our strategy execution. We continue to double our efforts to democratize data-driven by access to network with 4G coverage now at 96% smartphone penetration and content aggregation. We are focused on driving access to affordable smartphones to harness the power of technology. This will in turn help build stronger digitally connected and inclusive societies.
We aim to become a digital-first, insights-led organization that enables platforms and ecosystem partnerships. Our digital channels have helped us to improve our consumer digital experiences and empower our micro and SMEs who are the backbone of the economy. M-Pesa super app had close to four million downloads within the first three months of launch. We’ve also integrated 17 mini-apps and 65 are currently under development with the aim of providing a one-stop solution for our digital consumers.
We aim to become a digital-first, insights-led organization that enables platforms and ecosystem partnerships. Our digital channels have helped us to improve our consumer digital experiences and empower our micro and SMEs who are the backbone of the economy. M-Pesa super app had close to four million downloads within the first three months of launch. We’ve also integrated 17 mini-apps and 65 are currently under development with the aim of providing a one-stop solution for our digital consumers.
Beyond payments we are enabling micro and small businesses with products such as bill manager that provides end-to-end solutions like digital invoicing easing their business operations. A strategic pillar to winning in digital ecosystems focuses on digitizing verticals, scaling Digi-farm into a commercially sustainable manner, partnering with Circle Gas Limited to provide clean energy, using IoT, which is the internet of things, and our financial services tools, and driving health care inclusion through partnerships. During this period we managed a Kshs 2.3 Billion OPEC savings, thanks to initiatives such as smart procurement and planning helping the business to be more efficient while delivering more value to our customers.
Ladies and gentlemen, I will now give an update on our investment in Ethiopia. As you are all aware Safaricom Telecommunication Ethiopia PLC is now a subsidiary of Safaricom PLC. We are currently in the process of setting up our operations, preparing detailed plans for operational readiness amongst other requirements ahead of our commercial launch in 2022. We are in contact with the relevant authorities in Ethiopia, updating them as per our license obligations. We are confident and looking forward to launching commercial operations as projected whilst cognizant of the current evolving situation in Ethiopia, and as we proceed with our plans adapting and assessing the situation as it evolves.
For now, our priority is the safety and security of the small number of employees that had already joined the organization. We hope for a fast and peaceful resolution to the current situation. We remain committed to taking telecommunication and digital services to the people of Ethiopia. The opportunities are immense as shown in the Simcard penetration rates as well as projected GDP growth rates, as such the task ahead is ambitious and speaks to the country’s focus and determination to nurture innovation and bolster the economy.
Looking at our Ethiopia investment in a bit more detail now. The global partnership for Ethiopia was awarded a unified technology-neutral telecommunication services license. This includes an appropriate spectrum and rights to deploy a world-class network and services that will support our ambition of contributing to Ethiopia’s digital transformation objectives. We are forecasting a CAPEX investment of between USD 1.5B- 2B over the next five years to meet the licensed coverage obligations. Together with our partners, we have availed funding to support this new venture which we anticipate breaking even by year four of operations.
The global partnership for Ethiopia was awarded a unified technology-neutral telecommunication services license. This includes an appropriate spectrum and rights to deploy a world-class network and services that will support our ambition of contributing to Ethiopia’s digital transformation objectives. We are forecasting a CAPEX investment of between USD 1.5B- 2B over the next five years to meet the licensed coverage obligations.
Ladies and gentlemen, our break-even targets may be significantly impacted by the impact of the current conflict on the launch of operations which we target by mid-2022. Sources of funding for this venture include a mix of debt and partners equity. The projected growth will be enabled by network development through own-build and infrastructure, sharing world-class digital services, and availability of affordable devices in the market.
Ladies and gentlemen, within the investment there are risks and uncertainties. We are aware of and have mapped out possible risk areas and scenarios ranging from implementation of market liberalization and the new regulatory frameworks, the ongoing political conflict, forex availability amongst others. However, the opportunities outweigh the risks in our view and the uncertainties, largely because the telecom market liberalization has been unquestionably positive and of value for countries across the world. From our experience in Kenya and across the region, we know that the liberalization of Ethiopia’s telecommunication market will be of value in increasing connectivity, creating new digital services and businesses, and generating new jobs for citizens across the country.
So how are we prepared to launch operations in Ethiopia? In readiness to launch operations, we’ve appointed Anwar Soussa as the Safaricom Ethiopia Telecommunication Managing Director. We’ve also appointed the senior leadership team to lead the establishment of the business and preparation for launch. We’ve launched a recruitment drive to hire a significant number of Ethiopians including a Graduate Management Program where we are committing to hire 150 graduates every year which aims to recruit and train future leaders within the organization.
We are following closely the development in Ethiopia as we gear up for launch as per our license obligations. The team is now preparing for the deployment of network and IT equipment to provide world-class digital services across all regions in Ethiopia. To reiterate, we are committed to taking digital and telecommunication services to Ethiopia, to improve the lives of millions, and are continuing our preparation for commercial launch whilst working remotely. I’ll now welcome our CFO to take us through the results before I come back and conclude and give our revised guidance.
CFO’s Remarks
Dilip [00:18:54]: Thank you, Peter. Hamjambo,mabibi na mabwana. I wish to welcome you all to our FY22 half-year results announcement. I hope you are all keeping safe and thank you for taking the time to join us this morning. Before I start I would like to remind you that the presentation materials will be available shortly on Safaricom’s website. I will now take you through the numbers in a bit more detail. We have seen solid performance in H1 with service revenue posting 16.9% year-over-year growth. This was supported by strong execution, improved consumer confidence, and business activity in the economy coupled with a return to charging of zero-rated transactions from Q4 of the last financial year.
We have seen solid performance in H1 with service revenue posting 16.9% year-over-year growth. This was supported by strong execution, improved consumer confidence, and business activity in the economy coupled with a return to charging of zero-rated transactions from Q4 of the last financial year.
In the same breadth, EBIT has grown 28.8% year-over-year supported by the recovery of the top line. We’ll unpack this in a little bit more detail in the subsequent slides. I’m happy to note that due to our continued effort to optimize our CAPEX expenditure through our cost leadership pillar, we were able to invest in a capacity upgrade, customer experience while maintaining our CAPEX investment at Kshs. 22.8 Billion in the first half of the year. I’m delighted to also report that our free cash flow has grown 45.8% year-over-year driven by strong performance in operating profit.
We continue to grow our customer base through great value propositions. Our one-month active customers have grown 4.7% year-over-year to 32Million. Now looking at service revenue in a bit more detail, the chart on the left demonstrates that growth in service revenue was mainly attributed to M-Pesa revenue. We have also seen growth in mobile data, voice, and fixed business. M-Pesa revenue grew 45.8% year-over-year in the period, supported by a return to charging, improved business activity as mentioned earlier.
Fixed enterprise and FTTH revenue grew 20.1% and 23% year-over-year respectively driven by growth in customers. The graph on the bottom left of the slide illustrates voice performance over the last three halves. In H1 of last financial year, voice was under significant pressure. Through our strong CVM offerings, we were able to yield a much stronger performance enabling us to grow 3.2% year-over-year. Moving across to the right of the slide, you can see our service revenue profile.
M-Pesa now accounts for 37.8% of our service revenue up from 30.3% last year after return to charging of previously zero-rated transactions and also economic recovery. The chart on the bottom right shows the continued recovery in service revenue and we are encouraged by the growth as we move into the second half of the financial year. Now to look at the M-Pesa in a bit more detail, growth in revenue was driven by transfers which grew 89.5% year-over-year driven by a return to charging.
Our fintech solutions continue to be a growth pillar of the M-Pesa ecosystem growing year 43.7% year-over-year. Fintech solutions now account for 32.2% of M-Pesa revenue. Withdrawals have grown 18.8% year-over-year supported by the improved business environment. Now moving over to the graph to the right, you will note that our strategic priority to be a financial services provider is bearing fruit. Growth in fintech solutions is driven by payments contributing to more than 50% of the growth.
International money transfer continues to perform strongly growing 22.6% year-over-year enabled by the growth in remittances. Lending and savings have grown 17.2% year-over-year driven by Fuliza. Looking at M-Pesa this time from the perspective of values and customers, we are delighted to report that customers have grown 7.1% year-over-year to close at 28.7Million as demonstrated by the graph on the left. Customers transacting behaviors influenced by free fees introduced last year have sustained post return to charging.
Chargeable transactions per customer grew 91.9% year-over-year to 18.1 transactions per customer per month from 9.4 transactions in a similar period last year. Value of M-Pesa transactions continued to grow closing at Kshs 13.7 Trillion up from Kshs. 9 Trillion in a similar period last year. Bank to wallet transactions remain zero-rated and account for 18.1% of HY22 total value of M-Pesa transactions. Innovation in digital financial services has been a key growth driver for M-Pesa. We continue to leverage technological innovation to enhance access to financial services for consumers and enterprise customers.
I’m happy to report that we launched a Consumer Super App in July 2021 and now have 3.9Million downloads and 2Million active customers since launch. We also rolled out the Business Super App and now have 322k organizations currently using the app. In the middle of the slide, you can see the growth opportunities within the M-Pesa fintech ecosystem. We remain committed to meeting the evolving needs of our customers and merchants through innovation to enhance digital financial services. Just to note more details on M-Pesa performance can be found in the results booklet which will be on our website shortly.
Let me now move on to mobile data. Mobile data revenue grew 6.3% year-over-year weighed down by price rationalization and absorbed tax from increased excise duty from August 2021. There was also a lapping effect of accelerated growth recorded in H1 of last financial year that was largely driven by a shift of working and schooling from home. Looking at the bottom left of the slide usage per customer grew 47.8% year over year to close at 2Gigabytes in the period. This was attributed to CVM initiatives that were aimed at unlocking latent potential in data usage.
Rate per MB declined 27% year-over-year impacted by price rationalization. Looking at the box on the top right, you can see that whereas overall one-month active customers have grown 4.7% year over year, the one-month active bundle customers grew faster at 8.1% year over year. Similarly, you will also note that active 4G devices and data customers consuming over 1GB grew at a much faster pace of 37.3% year-over-year and 26.67% year over year respectively thus highlighting the opportunity to drive usage.
Ladies and gentlemen, moving on to fixed service, we are delighted with the strong acceleration of our fixed business as a result of growth in customers. FTTH customers grew 17.2% year-over-year while enterprise customers grew 38.3% year-over-year. Looking at the top right side of the slide, you can see that the FTTH closing customers have grown to close at 153,000 up from 119,000 in a similar period last year. And the conversion rate closed at 63.9% up from 53.5 last year. On the bottom right side of the slide are the key fixed enterprise highlights the closing customers have grown to close at 45,000 up from 32,000 last year.
As I had called out earlier EBIT or earnings before interest and taxes recorded a 28.8% year-over-year growth. I’m happy to also report that the EBIT margin grew 3.3 percentage points compared to H1 last year. The business continues to focus on cost leadership as part of our company strategy in the period we are able to achieve Kshs 2.3 Billion of OPEX saving which helped us to mitigate the impact of adverse cost movement in energy and IT-related cost in the period.
Our borrowings closed the period at Kshs. 77 Billion with Kshs. 43 Billion relating to the expansion to Ethiopia and the rest of the borrowing used to fund working capital. Lastly looking at CAPEX we continued with our sustained investment in our network and systems with our capital additions for the period at Kshs. 22.8 Billion. Close to 80% of this CAPEX was spent in growth areas with the aim of sustaining growth in revenue. We continue to enhance our network in support of capacity upgrade and experience as well as investing in our IT capability.
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your time. Let me now hand you back to Peter for revised FY 22 guidance and concluding remarks.
Revised FY22 Guidance & Outlook
Peter [00:28:40]: Thank you, Dilip. Ladies and gentlemen, we are pleased with the solid performance delivered in H1 of FY2022. We remain committed to protecting shareholder wealth and putting our customers first. During the FY2021 announcement, we gave guidance based on the projections that guided the outlook for the year. At the time, we hadn’t won the telecommunication license in Ethiopia. The outlook of the economy has improved with Kenya staging partial recovery from a depressed performance last year.
In view of this and expansion to Ethiopia, we expect earnings before interest and tax as you can see on the screen in the financial year 2022 to be in the range of Kshs. 97-100 Billion and CAPEX which is capital expenditure to be in the range of Kshs 70-73 Billion inclusive of Ethiopia. On an underlying basis excluding Ethiopia, we revise our earnings before interest and tax guidance given back in May 2021 from Kshs. 105-108 Billion to the range of Kshs. 107-110 Billion, and maintain the CAPEX guidance given before at Kshs. 40-43 Billion for the financial year 2022.
In conclusion, ladies and gentlemen, looking into the future we firmly believe that our business is well-positioned to support our customers and provide technology solutions as we turn the business into a purpose-led technology organization. Our future is based on our brand promise “To Go Beyond”. To go beyond for our customers, to go beyond for our products and services.
I would like to thank our Board for the support accorded to me and my leadership team. To Safaricom staff, thank you for all the hard work you put in during a tough and uncertain period which together we’ve managed to accomplish the big milestone of winning the telecommunication license in Ethiopia. To all our stakeholders, I thank you for your confidence in Safaricom. We are excited about the possibilities and the opportunities that lie ahead. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining us virtually this morning. I thank you for your time and keep safe.
Vote of Thanks
Stephen [00:31:21]: Thank you, Michael, Peter, and Dilip. Ladies and gentlemen, we have now come to the end of our half-year results announcement. The members of the media and bloggers present today will have an opportunity to ask your questions at a separate virtual press conference which will take place shortly. Invites for this event have already been sent out to you.
On a personal note, I would like to mention that this will be my last investor briefing engagement as Safaricom’s Chief Corporate Affairs Officer as I transition to take up my new role at Vodacom Group. As a shareholder, I look forward to future presentations and I wish Safaricom every success as it continues to implement its vision of transforming lives. Once again, we appreciate you all for making time to join us today on behalf of the entire Safaricom family I say, Asante sana. Have a good day and stay safe.
Mwango Capital 