Airtel Africa said Thursday that it swung to a pretax loss in the first quarter of fiscal 2024 after booking higher costs, and that their results had been affected by foreign exchange headwinds stemming from the devaluation of the Nigerian naira in June. The London-listed, Africa-focused telecom and mobile money-services provider said it expected the foreign exchange reforms to improve liquidity over time, and that continuing to reduce its foreign exchange exposure will remain a focus area for the group. AdvertisementFor the quarter ended June 30 pretax loss was $221 million compared with a pretax profit of $276 million for the first quarter of fiscal 2023, the company said. Airtel also reported a swing to a loss after tax of $151 million, from a profit after tax figure of $175 million. Airtel said this was driven by a foreign exchange loss of $471 million recorded in finance cost before tax, and $371 million after tax due to the devaluation of Nigeria’s currency.

Source: Punch July 27, 2023 12:07 UTC