Safaricom has reported a strong 54.5% increase in group earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) to 65.2 billion Kenyan shillings ($505.6 million) for the first half of its 2025 financial year, driven by solid domestic performance and reduced losses in its Ethiopian operations.
The company said on Thursday that group service revenue rose to 199.9 billion shillings in the six months to the end of September 2025, compared with 179.9 billion shillings in the same period a year earlier.
Safaricom’s core business remained its main profit engine, supported by robust growth in mobile data, voice, and M-Pesa mobile money services.
The firm’s expansion into Ethiopia, launched in 2022 after the country opened its telecommunications sector to foreign investors, also showed improving performance as losses in the market narrowed significantly.
“We are seeing encouraging signs from Ethiopia, where customer growth and usage continue to improve,” said a company executive during the results briefing.
Safaricom, Kenya’s largest telecoms operator, is partly owned by South Africa’s Vodacom and Britain’s Vodafone. The company has invested heavily in Ethiopia to tap into one of Africa’s largest untapped mobile markets, with a population exceeding 120 million.
Analysts say the results underline Safaricom’s ability to maintain strong profitability in its home market while gradually turning around its high-stakes regional expansion.
The company’s half-year report suggests it is well positioned to sustain earnings growth through the remainder of the financial year, supported by continued digital innovation, network expansion, and financial services integration across East Africa.
Source: Reuters
Written By Rodney Mbua
