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Mobile network operator providing voice, data and mobile-money services across 14 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Mobile network operator providing voice, data and mobile-money services across 14 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Customers mostly prepay for airtime and data in small top-ups, so revenue is spread over very many low-spend users, and mobile money lets them also send money and pay bills, with fees on each transaction. Bharti Airtel of India controls it, and Nigeria is its largest market.
In one line: An African mobile-money/telecom operator, like a smaller MTN Group.
Moat: narrow (scale, network effects, brand). Mobile-money agent networks and subscriber scale create switching costs and network effects in underbanked markets.
Headquarters: London, UK · Founded: 2010 · Employees: 4,512
Size Airtel Africa (AAF.L) is a United Kingdom Communication Services company (Wireless Telecommunications) with a market value of $13.5B, the 43rd largest of 363 United Kingdom companies the cockpit tracks. Shares closed at £277.60 on 6 Nov 2026.
Performance Over six months the shares fell 32.9%, against -4.7% for the median peer and +3.6% for the United Kingdom market (cap-weighted) — 2nd lowest of 21 in its peer set.
Growth Revenue grew 27.1% over the last twelve months (peer median +6.5%); the operating margin is 33.9% (peer median 15.4%).
Valuation It trades at 14.6× forward earnings against a peer median of 13.3× (9th most expensive of 19).
Price implies For today's price to make sense, revenue must grow about -1% a year for seven years (Req g). Recent delivered growth is +10%, so the hurdle is -11 pp: the price already allows for a slowdown.
Capital Return on invested capital runs 11.3 points above its cost of capital (10.8% WACC).
Next results Next results expected around 29 Jan 2027 (exchange calendar; dates can move).
| TTM | FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | FY2022 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | £5.41B | £4.79B | £3.88B | £3.96B | £4.37B |
| Revenue growth | — | +23% | -2% | -9% | — |
| Gross profit | £2.79B | £2.44B | £1.84B | £1.92B | £2.05B |
| EBITDA | £2.71B | £2.37B | £1.73B | £1.29B | £2.15B |
| Net income | £557M | £507M | £172M | -£131M | £551M |
| Free cash flow | £1.25B | £1.21B | £695M | £783M | £881M |
| Capital expenditure | £918M | £653M | £673M | £819M | £1.06B |
| Total debt | £5.03B | £4.86B | £4.63B | £3.53B | £3.42B |
The default views of Competitor Analysis ▸ Charts, drawn from the same data. Open them in the cockpit to change the axes, pin companies and read every value.
| Company | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Airtel Africa AAF.L | $13.5B | -33% | +27% | 34% | 14.6× | -1.2% |
| Orange ORA.PA | $45.0B | -19% | +3% | 12% | 9.9× | 4.9% |
| Millicom International Cellular TIGO | $13.9B | +3% | +29% | 23% | 22.9× | 3.6% |
Peer set: Industry: the same industry and sector in any market, nearest in size. This is the same default set the interactive Competitor Analysis opens with.
| Measure | AAF.L | Peer median | Rank in peer set |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-month return | -10.3% | +1.0% | 4th lowest of 21 |
| 6-month return | -32.9% | -4.7% | 2nd lowest of 21 |
| Distance from 52-week high | -36.4% | -21.0% | 4th lowest of 21 |
| Revenue growth (TTM) | +27.1% | +6.5% | 2nd highest of 21 |
| Operating margin | 33.9% | 15.4% | highest of 21 |
| Forward P/E | 14.6× | 13.3× | 9th most expensive of 19 |
| Growth the price implies (Req g, 7 yrs) | -1.2% | 3.6% | 8th least demanding of 20 |
| Growth delivered (Del g) | +10.0% | +3.0% | 2nd highest of 20 |
| Hurdle (Req g minus delivered) | -11.2 pp | -3.0 pp | 4th least demanding of 20 |
| ROIC minus cost of capital | +11.3 pp | +1.3 pp | highest of 21 |
| EV / EBITDA | 5.0× | 7.1× | 7th cheapest of 19 |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 1.2× | 2.0× | 8th least indebted of 20 |
| Company | Market | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g | Delivered g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Airtel Africa AAF.L | United Kingdom | $13.5B | -33% | +27% | 34% | 14.6× | -1.2% | +10.0% |
| Telecom Italia TIT.MI | Italy | $13.6B | -20% | 0% | 11% | 31.8× | 5.3% | -2.8% |
| Millicom International Cellular TIGO | United States | $13.9B | +3% | +29% | 23% | 22.9× | 3.6% | +6.9% |
| TELUS T.TO | Canada | $14.5B | -27% | -1% | 15% | 17.5× | 2.6% | +5.8% |
| Vodafone Idea IDEA.NS | India | $14.6B | +14% | +3% | -6% | n/a | 29.6% | +1.3% |
| Far Eastone Telecommunications 4904.TW | Taiwan | $12.2B | +17% | +10% | 15% | 26.1× | 3.8% | +6.8% |
| SKTelecom 017670.KS | South Korea | $12.1B | -18% | +2% | 10% | 12.3× | -9.8% | +1.2% |
| Globalstar GSAT | United States | $10.9B | +3% | +8% | 5% | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| PT Telkom Indonesia (Persero) Tbk Sponsored ADR TLK | United States | $10.3B | -35% | -3% | 24% | 9.5× | -16.1% | -1.1% |
| Telefonica Brasil SA Sponsored ADR VIV | United States | $18.2B | -27% | +16% | 16% | 10.7× | -3.6% | +5.0% |
| Rogers Communications RCI-B.TO | Canada | $18.3B | -6% | +8% | 23% | 10.7× | 1.1% | +9.3% |
| Bharti Hexacom BHARTIHEXA.NS | India | $8.84B | +10% | +8% | 29% | 36.6× | 33.4% | +15.2% |
| TIM S.A. Sponsored ADR TIMB | United States | $8.61B | -24% | +14% | 25% | 9.4× | -12.4% | +7.3% |
| Elisa ELISA.HE | Finland | $6.11B | -17% | 0% | 20% | 14.3× | -2.7% | +3.6% |
| TPG Telecom TPG.AX | Australia | $5.58B | +1% | -5% | 8% | 34.8× | 8.1% | +3.0% |
| Orange Polska OPL.WA | Poland | $5.53B | +7% | +5% | 9% | 19.4× | 13.2% | +2.7% |
| Vodafone Group Public VOD.L | United Kingdom | $36.3B | +4% | +11% | 10% | 12.1× | 4.2% | -2.2% |
| VEON Ltd. Sponsored ADR VEON | United States | $4.95B | +57% | +15% | 23% | 11.2× | -4.8% | -9.1% |
| Telstra TLS.AX | Australia | $39.0B | -4% | -1% | 16% | 24.2× | 5.6% | +1.2% |
| Orange ORA.PA | France | $45.0B | -19% | +3% | 12% | 9.9× | 4.9% | -0.9% |
| Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri A.S. Sponsored ADR TKC | United States | $4.02B | -31% | +16% | 15% | 8.0× | -12.0% | +8.1% |