Airtel Africa PLC (AAF.L): Resuming Coverage with a Neutral/High Risk rating

Research evidence excerpt

Airtel Africa PLC (AAF.L): Resuming Coverage with a Neutral/High Risk rating

Action |

15 Jul 2026 11:31:00 ET │ 15 pages

Airtel Africa PLC (AAF.L)

Resuming Coverage with a Neutral/High Risk rating

CITI'S TAKE

Neutral / High Risk from Rating Suspended We have renewed our rating after a period of Rating Suspended with a

Neutral/High Risk rating and a target price of GBp380. We believe Airtel Price (14 Jul 26 16:30) £3.49

Africa remains structurally well positioned to benefit from the continued Target price £3.80

adoption of telecoms services and rising data consumption across its from -

markets. As the company accelerates investment with increased capex Expected share price return 8.9%

envelope, we expect the benefits to become increasingly visible in both Expected dividend yield 1.6%

revenue growth and earnings performance. However, following the sharp Expected total return 10.5%

rise in fuel costs in fiscal 1Q, we do expect FY27 margins to moderate

Market Cap £12,689M slightly from strong margins reported in fiscal 4Q26. While the long-term

US$16,792M growth outlook remains attractive, we believe much of the potential

upside is already reflected in the current valuation. At 5.8x FY27

EV/EBITDA, shares trade at small premium to other African telcos.

Rohit ModiAC

Nigeria: lapping of tariff increase and fuel cost inflation partly offset by stronger +44-20-7508-1081

Naira — We expect underlying revenue growth to remain robust across most of rohit1.modi@citi.com

Airtel Africa's markets. However, Nigeria is likely to face a few near-term headwinds.

Notably, this will be the first full quarter with no benefit from the January/February

2025 tariff increase, as the pricing uplift was fully annualised during the previous

quarter.