Safaricom Announces Sh80 Billion Dividend After Profit Jumps to Sh100 Billion
Telecom giant rewards shareholders after strong earnings growth
Safaricom PLC says it’s handing over an Sh80 billion dividend to its shareholders for the year that was 2025/26. This comes off the back of some seriously impressive earnings growth – and it shows the company is looking stronger than ever.
The telecom giant has announced a dividend of Sh2 per share – and that’s a pretty big jump from where it was just last year. I mean, investors are clearly more confident in Safaricom’s performance now.
The dividend payout itself is made up of an interim dividend of 85c per share and a final dividend of Sh1.15 per share. The company’s declaring that today – and it couldn’t have come at a better time.
Profit Climbs Past Sh100 Billion
Safaricom’s just released its full year results – and it’s clear the company’s on a roll. Their net profits surged by 67.3 percent – all the way up to Sh100 billion. This is a strong signal the company’s turned a corner and is now on the up and up.
The telco also reported a 10% rise in service revenue – which now sits at Sh400 billion. And more and more people are turning to mobile money and internet services – which is great news for Safaricom.
But what’s really driving the numbers is the progress Safaricom’s making in the mobile money space – as well as its internet based services. Their earnings before interest and taxes shot up 15.3% to Sh182 billion – while total earnings climbed 24.7% to Sh119 billion.
All this paints the picture of a company that’s not only the dominant player in Kenya’s telecom market – but one that’s also expanding its reach in the region.
Ethiopia Investment Begins Paying Off
Safaricom CEO Peter Ndegwa says this dividend payout is a major milestone for the company – especially when you consider how much they’ve invested in Ethiopia.
“We’ve done this without breaking a sweat – and we’ve even managed to pay out our shareholders a dividend, despite putting nearly $1.2 billion into our Ethiopia operations. This is a real achievement for us.”
Ndegwa also notes that Safaricom was able to drive growth without piling up any extra debt. And that must be reassuring for the investors who’d been watching with bated breath as the company expanded into new markets.
M-Pesa and Data Continue Driving Growth
A big part of Safaricom’s success story is the continuing growth in M-Pesa transactions and the increasing demand for mobile internet services.
The company’s really leaning into digital financial services and data consumption at the moment – as its traditional voice revenue starts to mellow out.
Analysts reckon the latest results will only strengthen Safaricom’s position as one of East Africa’s most profitable companies – and will give investors even more confidence in its plans to expand over the long term.
Investors Eye Bigger Returns
This dividend payout is likely to get the shareholders very excited – especially after years of being a bit cautious about how much to invest, due to the pandemic and all the costs of setting up in Ethiopia.
And all this could make Safaricom even more attractive to investors on the stock market – as people look for companies with a solid track record of generating cash and paying out dividends.
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Safaricom Announces Sh80 Billion Dividend After Profit Jumps to Sh100 Billion
