Safaricom has reported a 14.7 percent jump in net profits for the year ended March 2019 to Sh63.4 billion.
In the results released on Friday in Nairobi, voice service revenue grew by 0.3 percent to Sh95.9 billion while M-Pesa revenue grew by 19.2 percent to Sh74.9 billion, making the two the largest contributors to revenue.
“We are pleased with the strong results we have delivered for the year, building on our long track record of delivering relevant products and putting the customer first. We foresee continued growth in the future,” Safaricom CEO Bob Collymore said at an investor briefing.
The telco declared a special dividend of Sh24.8 billion in addition to the normal dividend of Sh50 billion.
The company, which is partly owned by South Africa’s Vodacom and Britain’s Vodafone, said rapid growth in M-Pesa digital financial business had offset a sharp slowdown in the growth of its internet access provision business.
M-Pesa was launched more than a decade ago to offer Kenyans without bank accounts a network to transfer cash via mobile phones. It now offers a range of payment services, loans and savings to more than 21 million people in Kenya and has been copied abroad.
