(Bloomberg) -- Safaricom Plc, Kenya’s biggest company by market value, reported a drop in full-year profit as the costs of rolling out operations in neighboring Ethiopia weighed on earnings. Profit dropped as the company’s capital spending jumped 93% to 96.1 billion shillings, excluding the impact of hyperinflation in Ethiopia, driven by expenditure on rolling out operations in that country. Ethiopian authorities granted Safaricom’s subsidiary a license to introduce its M-Pesa mobile money service in the country, Chief Executive Officer Peter Ndegwa said in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. Safaricom’s revenue increased 4.3% to 310.9 billion shillings, while its earnings before interest and taxes was 91.7 billion shillings excluding the impact of hyperinflation — both measures missed estimates. For the 2024 financial year, the company targets Ebit of 75 billion shillings to 81 billion shillings.

Source: Ethiopian News May 11, 2023 10:49 UTC