Safaricom's half-year net profit jumped 52.1% to KSh 42.8 billion for the six months to 30 September 2025, the company said. It attributed the rise to stronger Kenyan operations, higher M-PESA volumes and growing mobile data, which together support households using mobile money and businesses that rely on its connectivity. The group's FY2025 annual report also shows broader full-year growth, with total revenue of KSh 388.7 billion and profit measures up across the board, and management says the results back its Vision 2030 priorities of protecting the Kenyan core, accelerating a TechCo transition and scaling Ethiopia.

Safaricom's most recent accounts show the company regaining momentum as digital services take a larger share of the business. The half-year disclosure to September 30, 2025, recorded net profit of KSh 42.8 billion, a 52.1% increase on the prior comparable period. The company attributed that rise to better operating leverage in M-PESA and data, which lift margins when volumes grow and costs are controlled.

Full-year picture from the annual report

Safaricom PLC's published annual report for the year ending 2025 paints a consistent longer-term advance. The FY2025 figures show total revenue of KSh 388.7 billion, up 11.2% year-on-year, and service revenue of KSh 371.4 billion, up 10.8%. Operating profit measures were stronger too, with EBIT of KSh 104.1 billion, up 29.5% versus the prior year.

The annual report records net income excluding minority interest of KSh 69.8 billion, a 10.8% increase for the full year. It also highlights network investment, noting gains in 4G and 5G coverage and a Kenyan active customer base of 37.1 million. Those points are central to the group's Vision 2030 strategy, which sets out three strategic priorities: protect the Kenyan core, accelerate a TechCo transition, and scale Ethiopia.

Interim accounts underline digital leverage

Separate interim statements provide more granular evidence of how digital services are powering the profit recovery. One interim account covering the first half of the 2026 financial year reported a profit after tax that rose 191.5% to KSh 29.2 billion from KSh 10.0 billion a year earlier, citing higher revenues and sharply improved cost efficiency. That same interim disclosure shows total revenue of KSh 204.7 billion and service revenue of KSh 199.9 billion for that half-year period.

Mastheads

Cost control also featured in the interim filings. One interim disclosure highlighted a 9.6% decline in operating expenses to KSh 103.4 billion, an EBITDA increase of 34.9% to KSh 101.3 billion, and an EBITDA margin that rose to 49.5%.

The company said those efficiency gains helped the recovery in profitability.

M-PESA and mobile data are the principal engines across the reports. Two interim statements reported M-PESA revenue of KSh 88.1 billion and rising active monthly users, with one interim report putting active monthly users at 37.9 million and noting M-PESA's contribution to merchant payments and wider digital financial services. Mobile data revenue is also expanding. One interim statement records mobile data revenue up 18.2% to KSh 44.4 billion and notes that mobile data revenue exceeded voice revenue in the latest half-year.

Those trends matter because scale in payments and data drives higher-margin income while fixed network costs are already in place. In practical terms, more M-PESA transactions and heavier data use lift service revenues without a proportionate increase in operating costs, helping margins recover as the group shifts toward higher-value digital services.

But the picture isn't entirely uniform across markets. Safaricom's Ethiopian venture features throughout the documents, yet the metrics vary depending on which report is cited. The FY2025 annual report records 8.8 million active customers in Ethiopia. One half-year statement to September 30, 2025, reported 11.1 million Ethiopian subscribers and a 136% rise in Ethiopian revenue to KSh 6.2 billion for that half-year. A separate interim account shows Ethiopian total revenue of KSh 6.4 billion against operating costs of KSh 18.9 billion, signalling that Ethiopia is still loss-making while it scales.

The divergent Ethiopia figures reflect differences in reporting period and line items across the documents. They also illustrate the practical challenge of reconciling fast-moving market rollouts with periodic statutory disclosures. Safaricom's annual report stresses accelerated growth in Safaricom Ethiopia, while interim statements give a mix of subscriber, revenue and cost readings as the business develops.

Management frames the overall set of results as evidence that the group can protect its Kenyan cash cow while moving toward a technology-led future. The FY2025 annual report explicitly sets out confidence in delivering sustainable growth under Vision 2030, while interim accounts point to near-term efficiency gains that helped lift margins in the most recent halves.

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For the full year 2025 Safaricom reported net income excluding minority interest of KSh 69.8 billion, up 10.8% year-on-year.

This article was created with AI assistance.