Lagos, March 7, 2024: Airtel Africa says it has so far purchased 1,306,861 shares in aggregate, at a volume weighted average price of 96.99 pound sterling per ordinary share since the commencement of its share buy-back programme on March 1.
Mr Alastair Jones of Investors Relations, Airtel Africa, said this in a notification sent to the Nigerian Exchange Ltd (NGX) on Wednesday in Lagos.
Jones stated that the company also bought an additional aggregate of 315,000 ordinary shares of 0.50 dollar at a volume weighted average price of 96.73 pound sterling in the London Stock Exchange on Tuesday.
He said the shares was purchased from Citigroup Global Markets Ltd.
According to him, the purchase was in pursuant to the authority granted by the company’s shareholders as part of its share buy-back programme.
Airtel Africa announced plans for a 100 million dollars share buyback programme, as it released its nine-month results ended Dec.31, 2023.
The share buy-back programme is expected to be in two tranches, with the first tranche commencing on March 1 and anticipated to end on or before August.
Airtel Africa agreed with Citigroup Global Markets to conduct the first tranche of the buy-back and carry out on-market purchases of its ordinary shares with the company which subsequently purchases its ordinary shares from Citigroup.
Under the agreement, Citigroup acts as riskless principal and makes decisions independently of the company.
The first tranche will amount to a maximum of 50 million dollars
The company said that the sole purpose of the buy-back programme is to reduce the capital of the company.
As such, all shares purchased under the buy-back programme will be cancelled.
Meanwhile, Airtel Africa reported 99.6 per cent decline in its Profit After Tax(PAT) at the end of its nine -months financial years ended December 2023 from 523million dollars in 2022 to 2 million dollars in December 2023.
Airtel Africa is a leading provider of telecommunications and mobile money services, with presence in 14 countries in Africa, primarily in East Africa and Central and West Africa.
The company offers an integrated suite of telecommunications solutions to its subscribers, including mobile voice and data services as well as mobile money services both nationally and internationally.
