The Point for CEEMEA

Research evidence excerpt

The Point for CEEMEA

Point |

Thursday, 16 July 2026

Top Call | MENA | South Africa | Emerging Europe | Sector | Strategy & Economics | Commodities | Key

Rating and Target Price Changes

Top Call Must Read

Airtel Africa PLC (AAF.L) - Resuming Coverage with a Neutral/High Risk rating Emerging Markets Economic Outlook

We have renewed our rating after a period of Rating Suspended with a & Strategy - One Shock to the Next –

Neutral/High Risk rating and a target price of GBp380. We believe Airtel Africa Macro Impact of El Niño on EM

remains structurally well positioned to benefit from the continued adoption of

telecoms services and rising data consumption across its markets. As the

company accelerates investment with increased capex envelope, we expect the

benefits to become increasingly visible in both revenue growth and earnings

performance. However, following the sharp rise in fuel costs in fiscal 1Q, we do

expect FY27 margins to moderate slightly from strong margins reported in fiscal

4Q26. While the long-term 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 Modi

MENA IT Services - 2Q26 previews

While 1Q26 results surprised positively, particularly given expectations set

relatively low on the back of the recent conflict, we expect 2Q to be more in line

with annual guidance and see +18% sales/+5% EPS YoY growth for Elm, and

+6.7% sales/+3% EPS growth for Solutions. We would expect both Elm and

Solutions to maintain their guidance so far. Our TPs unchanged, we see ~10-12%

TSR for Elm/Solutions. We previously published 2Q26 preview for Presight, which

remains our top pick.

Maxim Nekrasov

MENA