Safaricom reported group net income of 58.2 billion Kenyan shillings for the six months ended September 30, 2026, up 35.9 percent from 42.8 billion shillings a year earlier. Group service revenue rose 13.1 percent to 226.1 billion shillings, EBITDA rose 27.5 percent to 129.2 billion shillings, and group EBIT crossed 100 billion shillings in a half-year period for the first time.
The Kenyan home business supplied most of the revenue: service revenue there rose 11.3 percent to 216 billion shillings and net income rose about 14 percent to 66.3 billion shillings. M-PESA revenue grew 13.6 percent to 100.1 billion shillings, passing 100 billion shillings in a half-year period for the first time.
The swing factor was Ethiopia. Service revenue at Safaricom Ethiopia rose 71.6 percent to 10.6 billion shillings, the operation reached 15.4 million three-month active customers, up 38.4 percent, and its EBITDA loss narrowed 96.5 percent to 434.4 million shillings. Ethiopia contributed 17 percent of the group’s service revenue growth. Chief executive Peter Ndegwa said the company targets EBITDA breakeven in Ethiopia by the end of the financial year, in March 2027, as network spending falls now that the build-out is largely complete.
The Ethiopian unit still loses money below the EBITDA line: its net loss narrowed to 8.8 billion shillings on Safaricom’s share, helped by a much smaller foreign exchange hit as the birr’s depreciation slowed. Safaricom maintained its full-year group EBIT guidance of 180 billion to 187 billion shillings.