Telecommunications giant Airtel Africa announced that its subsidiary, Bharti Airtel International (Netherlands) B.V., has successfully repaid its $550 million bond in full.

This achievement marks a pivotal moment for the company, as it now stands in a zero-debt position at the holding company level.

The news came through a corporate filing with the Nigerian Exchange Limited, signed by Airtel Africa’s Group Company Secretary, Simon O’Hara, on Monday.

The $550 million bond, known as the 5.35% Guaranteed Senior Notes, matured on Monday, and the repayment was made entirely from cash reserves at the holding company.

Airtel Africa highlighted that this repayment is part of its strategic initiative to reduce external foreign currency debt. Back in June 2019, during its IPO, the group had a substantial $2.719 billion of external debt at the holding company level.

This indebtedness exposed the company to currency fluctuations and necessitated the upstreaming of funds to cover interest costs and principal repayments.

Through consistent execution of its strategy focused on strong free cash flow generation and successful upstreaming efforts, Airtel Africa has been steadily reducing its holding company debt over the past few years.

The culmination of these efforts is the achievement of a zero-debt position at the holding company level.

The company’s current leverage and capital structure underscore the success of its capital allocation strategy since its IPO.

Airtel Africa intends to continue reducing foreign currency debt obligations across its operating companies (OpCos) in line with this strategy.

Despite this significant financial feat, Airtel Africa faced challenges in its financial performance, primarily due to foreign exchange headwinds.

The company reported a $89 million loss after tax, translating to a $549 million loss net of tax.

This loss was mainly attributed to the devaluation of the naira in June 2023 and the devaluation of the Malawian kwacha in November 2023.

The devaluation of the naira had a profound impact on Airtel Africa’s financial results, resulting in derivative and foreign exchange losses amounting to $1.07 million during the year.

However, despite these challenges, the company’s board proposed a final dividend of $3.27 per share for the year ending March 2024.

Airtel Africa’s successful repayment of its $550 million bond and attainment of a zero-debt position underscore its commitment to financial prudence and strategic debt management.

The company’s resilience in navigating foreign exchange fluctuations reflects its robust operational framework and sets a positive trajectory for its future financial performance.

In another blow to the financial technology sector, Flutterwave, a prominent player in Nigeria’s digital payment landscape, has been rocked by yet another security breach, resulting in the diversion of billions of naira to multiple undisclosed bank accounts.

This incident is the latest in a series of setbacks for the fintech company, raising concerns about the integrity of its systems and the safety of customer funds.

According to insider sources familiar with the matter, unauthorized transactions amounting to approximately ₦11 billion ($7 million) were illicitly transferred to several accounts during April 2024.

However, other sources suggest the figure could be as high as ₦20 billion ($13.5 million), underscoring the magnitude of the breach.

Flutterwave, responding to inquiries regarding the breach, acknowledged the unauthorized activities but stopped short of confirming the exact amount involved.

In a statement to TechCabal, the company assured the public that no customer funds were lost or compromised, and the confidentiality of customer data remained intact.

The modus operandi of the perpetrators involved transferring the stolen funds to various accounts across five financial institutions over a span of four days.

To evade detection, the transactions were carefully orchestrated to stay below thresholds that trigger fraud checks, highlighting the sophistication of the operation.

Law enforcement agencies have been notified of the breach, and investigations are underway to apprehend those responsible.

Flutterwave has also initiated measures to mitigate the impact of the incident, including temporarily restricting the accounts implicated in the unauthorized transfers.

Industry analysts note that this is not the first time Flutterwave has fallen victim to such security breaches. Over the past fourteen months, the company has grappled with multiple incidents of unauthorized transfers, raising serious concerns about the adequacy of its cybersecurity measures.

In October 2023, Flutterwave reported unauthorized transactions totaling ₦19 billion ($24 million), affecting thousands of account holders across 35 banks and financial institutions.

Subsequent breaches in March and February 2023 saw millions of naira diverted to numerous bank accounts, further exposing vulnerabilities in the company’s systems.

Moniepoint Inc, parent company of Nigeria’s leading financial institutions, Moniepoint MFB and TeamApt Ltd has been ranked by the Financial Times, one of the world’s leading business news organizations, recognized internationally for its authority, integrity, and accuracy as Africa’s fastest-growing financial institution.

The world’s leading financial publication confirmed Moniepoint Inc’s accolade in its annual “Africa’s Fastest Growing Companies” survey, released today. It is the second consecutive year Moniepoint has achieved both the fastest-growing fintech milestone, and, ranked in Africa’s top four fastest-growing companies overall.

The survey was compiled by Statista, a leading research company renowned for its insight into African companies’ actual performance, in a rigorous screening process. In this survey, companies are ranked based on 2019-2022 data by their absolute growth rate of revenues and their compound annual growth rate (CAGR). Moniepoint’s growth rates of 7,979% (absolute) and 332% (CAGR) ranked it ahead of hundreds of leading companies from diverse industries such as technology, telecoms, financial services, and healthcare.

Moniepoint Inc has long been one of Africa’s largest business payments platforms, processing over $182 billion for customers in 2023. It will be recalled that in August 2023, Moniepoint MFB entered the personal banking market offering reliable banking services to millions of individuals across Nigeria.  The holding group also doubled its global headcount, growing to over 1,800 employees by the end of 2023.

This recognition highlights Moniepoint’s success as Africa’s leading fintech, driving financial inclusion by empowering underserved businesses and individuals to access the formal financial system, contributing to a key goal of the Nigerian government.

Tosin Eniolorunda, Group CEO of Moniepoint Inc., said: “We are thrilled to be recognised by the Financial Times as Africa’s fastest growing fintech for the second consecutive year. Achieving rapid growth and scale is a fantastic achievement; maintaining that year-on-year is even better. The ranking is a testament to the dedication and hard work of the entire Moniepoint team, and the trust of millions of customers across Africa in the Company.

“2023 was a pivotal year for Moniepoint. Moniepoint has moved from being an agency-dominated institution to becoming merchant-dominated as we have seen a lot more people embrace more digital payment solutions. It is humbling to see that we have become a household name that people have come to know and trust, the bellwether for reliable transactions every time.

With our foray into the personal banking market, we have been able to deliver seamless and reliable payment solutions for Nigerians especially those in underserved communities as we continue to supercharge access to financial services and contribute to economic growth and wealth creation.  2024 is set to be even more exciting with continued growth, driving compliance and innovation, as we maintain our leading role within the African fintech sector, driving financial inclusion across Africa.”

According to David Pilling, FT Africa Editor, “The third year of our now expanded ranking of Africa’s Fastest Growing Companies comes against a background in which many economies are struggling to recover from the Covid pandemic. The FT-Statista list reveals the type of companies that, even in hard times, have managed to grow, often by disrupting markets…This year, our ranking has a wider geographical spread of companies than before. The big newcomer is Morocco, with 12 companies in the top 125 against just three last time. Mauritian-domiciled companies also did well with nine winners, against four in 2022. South Africa had 42 companies in the list, followed by Nigeria’s 25, while Kenya tied third at 12.”

Moniepoint Inc.’s technology powers over five million businesses and their customers, offering all the payment, banking, credit and business management tools they need to succeed.  Establishing itself as a market leader in Nigeria across various segments from commerce to health and hospitality amongst many others, Moniepoint’s transformational and positive strides has earned it local and international plaudits.

In 2023, for the second year running, Moniepoint Inc was named amongst the 100 most promising private fintech companies by CB Insights. Moniepoint MFB received the Rising Star Family Business Award at the Pwc/Businessday Family Business Summit; while bagging the Fintech Company of the Year award at the 16th edition of Leadership Newspapers Conference and Awards.

Industry analysts have averred that as a strongly embedded and systemic institution in the digital payment services segment, with an eye on the future, Moniepoint Inc is poised to continue to deliver innovative solutions that promote inclusivity, drive sustainability and create new vistas in the markets where they operate.