Safaricom PLC announced its half-year results for the 2026/27 financial year, showing net income up 35.9 per cent to KSh58.2 billion for the six months ended September 30, 2026. A separate report listed a 13.8 per cent increase to KSh66.3 billion for the same period.

Kenya service revenue grew 11.3 per cent to KSh216 billion and earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) rose 13.7 per cent to KSh101.8 billion, crossing the KSh100 billion threshold for the first time in a half-year. Group service revenue increased 13.1 per cent to KSh226.1 billion and group EBIT grew 40 per cent to KSh91.1 billion.

EBITDA for the group climbed 27.5 per cent to KSh129.2 billion. M-Pesa revenue rose 13.6 per cent to KSh100.1 billion, also passing the KSh100 billion mark, and 53 per cent of all M-Pesa transactions were free, rising to 81 per cent for merchant payments.

Safaricom’s Ethiopia operation posted service revenue growth of 71.6 per cent to KSh10.6 billion and its EBITDA loss narrowed 96.5 per cent to between KSh400 million and KSh434.4 million, moving the business toward its target of EBITDA breakeven by the end of the financial year. The Ethiopian unit served 15.4 million active customers, a 38.4 per cent increase, and contributed about 17 per cent of the group’s service-revenue growth.

The company said it will retire the My Safaricom app and shift customers to a new One App, which already has 7.3 million downloads and 4.5 million monthly active users that generated 800 million transactions worth KSh2 trillion. Around 80 per cent of transactions across its 4.5 million merchants now carry no charge.

Safaricom serves roughly 17.5 million active credit customers each month and reaches 70.7 million customers monthly with personalised offers, representing about half of its active base, while more than 34 million 4G-enabled devices are on its network.

CEO Peter Ndegwa cautioned that the figures represent “half time” and urged humility ahead of the second half, while Chairman Adil Khawaja described the results as evidence of the business’s resilience and strategy strength.

The firm highlighted rising household pressure from higher food, fuel and transport costs and said it is engaging regulators on satellite connectivity, financial-services rules and cost-based minimum pricing in Ethiopia. It also noted that the Middle East conflict disrupted fuel supply and raised transport costs in Ethiopia, temporarily slowing network rollout.

In its 15th sustainability report covering the year to March 2026, Safaricom estimated it created KSh1.24 trillion of net value for Kenyan society and sustained more than 1.4 million jobs, and it reaffirmed its aim to become Africa’s leading purpose-led technology company by 2030.

Safaricom said the upcoming second-half results will reveal whether the Ethiopia business achieves EBITDA breakeven as planned.