TIDMAAF
RNS Number : 0768B
Airtel Africa PLC
07 June 2021
Airtel Africa plc
("Airtel Africa", or the "Group")
The 2021 Annual Report and Notice of Annual General Meeting
London and Lagos, 7 June 2021: Airtel Africa, a leading provider
of telecommunications and mobile money services, with a presence in
14 countries across Africa, today announces that its Annual Report
and financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2021 (the
"Annual Report"), Notice of Annual General Meeting (the "AGM"), and
Form of Proxy for the AGM have each been sent to shareholders,
under the cover of a letter from our Chairman, Mr Sunil Bharti
Mittal.
The Annual Report, Notice of AGM and Chairman's Letter are
available to view or download from the Company's website at
https://airtel.africa/investors
The Company's AGM will be held at 11.00am (UK time) on 15 July
2021 at First Floor, 53/54 Grosvenor Street, London, W1K 3HU.
PLEASE NOTE THAT DUE TO INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS THERE
WILL BE LIMITED IN-PERSON BOARD ATTANCE AT THE VENUE. SUBJECT TO UK
COVID-19 REGULATIONS AND GOVERNMENT GUIDANCE, SHAREHOLDERS MAY ATT
IN-PERSON BUT NOTWITHSTANDING THIS ARE ENCOURAGED TO ATT AND VOTE
AT THE AGM ELECTRONICALLY THROUGH THE LUMI PLATFORM. FURTHER
INFORMATION ON HOW TO JOIN THE MEETING ELECTRONICALLY CAN BE FOUND
ON PAGE 8 OF THE NOTICE OF MEETING.
The Company's full year results announcement on 12 May 2021
highlighted continued strong revenue growth, increased
profitability and cash flow, and continued deleveraging.
The appendix to this announcement sets out the required
disclosures with regard to the principal risks as contained in the
Annual Report. This information is provided in accordance with
Disclosure & Transparency Rule 6.3.5(2). This information is
not a substitute for reading the full Annual Report for the year
ended 31 March 2021.
The Company confirms that, in compliance with Listing Rule
9.6.1, an electronic copy of each of the Company's Annual Report
for the year ended 31 March 2021, Notice of AGM and Form of Proxy
for the AGM have been submitted to the National Storage Mechanism,
appointed by the Financial Conduct Authority, and will be available
shortly for inspection at
https://www.fca.org.uk/markets/primary-markets/regulatory-disclosures/national-storage-mechanism
.
-S-
Enquiries
Airtel Africa
Simon O'Hara
Investor.relations@africa.airtel.com +44 207 493 9315
Hudson Sandler
Nick Lyon
Bertie Berger
airtelafrica@hudsonsandler.com +44 207 796 4133
APPIX
How we classify our risks
We classify our risks using the below categorisation
methodology. The risk classification allows for a consistent
approach for risk identification across the Group.
Strategic risks
External risks such as changes in market dynamics or risks to
strategic partnerships.
Operational risks
Risks affecting our ability to effectively operate our business
model across a variety of functional areas.
Financial risks
Risks impacting our liquidity or solvency, financial reporting
or capital structure.
Governance and compliance risks
Risks affecting our ability to comply with our legal, regulatory
and governance obligations.
strategic RISKS
Adverse competition and market disruption
Link to strategy
Win with customers -- Win with data -- Win with mobile money
Risk owner
Chief sales and marketing officer
Description
We operate in an increasingly competitive environment across our
markets and segments, particularly with respect to pricing and
market share. Aggressive competition by existing players or the
entry of a new player could put a downward pressure on prices,
adversely affecting our revenue and margins, as well as our
profitability and long-term survival. The nature and level of the
competition we face varies for each of our markets, products and
services.
Mitigation
1. Ongoing monitoring of competitive landscape and competitor
activities
2. Driving penetration of bundle offerings to lock in customers,
increase affordability and reduce churn
3. The continued growth of our Airtel Money business and the
increased penetration of our GSM customers using Airtel Money
services helps to increase customer stickiness on our network
4. Simplifying customer experience through self-care and other
customer touchpoints
Digitisation and innovation
Link to strategy
Win with customers -- Win with data -- Win with mobile money
Risk owner
Chief information officer
Description
Failure to innovate through simplifying the customer experience,
developing adequate digital touchpoints in line with changing
customer needs and competitive landscape could lead to loss of
customers and market share. We need to continually innovate to
simplify our user experience, make our business processes more
agile, and develop more digital touchpoints to reach our customers
and meet their changing needs.
Mitigation
1. Roll out of digital apps and self-care channels to simplify
customer experience
2. Set up of Airtel Africa Digital Labs focused on developing
cutting edge digital solutions to address customer needs and solve
complex problems using the latest technologies
3. Simplifying our core IT systems and integration capabilities
to allow for faster deployment of new products and services and
integration with third-party applications
COVID-19
Risk owner
Chief executive officer
Description
Covid-19 continues to be both a healthcare crisis and a major
disruptor in the lives of people and the economic activities of
businesses and governments across the world. The pandemic has
underlined how critical telecoms are to the countries in which we
operate, and throughout the crisis we have maintained our services
as well as supporting communities, including by coordinating
medical relief with respective governments. While the pandemic has
shown the continued resilience of our operating model, we continue
to monitor the evolution of the pandemic to prevent any negative
adverse impact on the Group's ability to operate its business
effectively.
Mitigation
1. The Group's business continuity plans continue to be in place
ensuring minimal disruption in our abilities to provide critical
telecom services
2. Ongoing crisis monitoring by the crisis management team at
the Group office through regular engagement with the OpCo crisis
management teams with overall oversight by the Executive
Committee
3. To protect the health and safety of our employees, the
Group's operations continue to adopt a work from home policy with a
predominant number of the Group's employees working remotely
4. Availability of digital self-care channels through which
customers can access the company's products and services and
resolve basic customer queries
operational RISKs
Technology obsolescence
Link to strategy
Win with data -- Win with mobile money -- Win with network --
Win with customers -- Win with cost
Risk owners
Chief technology officer
Chief information officer
Description
An inability to effectively and efficiently invest and upgrade
our network and IT infrastructure would affect our ability to
compete effectively in the market. While we continually invest in
improving and maintaining our networks and IT systems to address
current levels of volume and capacity growth, we need to continue
to commit substantial capital to keep pace with rapid changes in
technology and the competitive landscape.
Mitigation
1. Refreshing our IT infrastructure with focus on cloud
technology
2. Network modernisation project involving upgrades to our core
(mobile switching) and packet (mobile data) networks
3. Reducing the cost of network operations by adopting radio
agnostic technology, 'single RAN', which allows easy switching of
network resources and spectrum between 2G, 3G and 4G networks at
minimal marginal costs
Cyber and information security threats
Link to strategy
Win with customers -- Win with data -- Win with network
Risk owner
Chief information officer
Description
Cybersecurity threats through internal or external sabotage or
system vulnerabilities could potentially result in customer data
breaches and/or service downtimes. Like any other business, we are
increasingly exposed to the risk that third parties or malicious
insiders may attempt to use cyber-crime techniques, including
distributed denial of service attacks, to disrupt the availability,
confidentiality and integrity of our IT systems. This could disrupt
our key operations, make it difficult to recover critical services
and damage our assets.
Mitigation
1. Ongoing review and implementation of security controls to
mitigate possible system vulnerabilities
2. Awareness campaign and training of employees on IT and
cybersecurity risks and control measures
3. Continuing to identify risk and assess vulnerability
Increase in cost structure
Link to strategy
Win with cost
Risk owner
Chief supply chain officer
Description
Adverse changes in our external business environment and/or
supply chain processes could lead to a significant increase in our
operating cost structure and negatively impacting profitability.
Our operating costs are subject to supply chain risks including
fluctuations in global commodity prices, market uncertainty, energy
costs (such as diesel and electricity), and the cost of obtaining
and maintaining licences, spectrum and other regulatory
requirements. Prevailing macroeconomic conditions and a variety of
other factors beyond our control also contribute to this risk. We
need to continually re-evaluate our operating model and cost
structure to identify innovative ways to optimise our costs.
Mitigation
1. Continuous review of our operating model and supply chain
processes to identify cost optimisation opportunities
2. Rolling out various initiatives to optimise our operating
structure to improve business performance
Leadership succession planning
Link to strategy
Win with customers
Risk owner
Chief human resources officer
Description
We need to continually identify and develop successors for key
leadership positions across our organisation to ensure minimal
disruption to the execution of our corporate strategy. Our ability
to execute our business strategies depends in large part on the
efforts of our key people. In some of the countries in which we
operate, there's a shortage of skilled telecommunications
professionals. Any failure to successfully recruit, train,
integrate, retain and motivate key skilled employees could have a
material adverse effect on our business, the results of our
operations, financial condition and prospects.
Mitigation
1. Defined functional and leadership development plans for the
leadership and critical roles within Airtel Africa
2. Ongoing identification of high potential employees for talent
development
3. Long term incentive arrangements to encourage employee
retention and alignment to long term company objectives
Internal controls and compliance
Risk owner
Chief financial officer
Description
Gaps in our internal control and compliance environment could
affect our reputation and lead to financial losses. Our financial
reporting is subject to the risk that controls may become
inadequate due to changes in internal or external conditions, new
accounting requirements, or delays or inaccuracies in reporting. We
continue to implement internal risk management and reporting
procedures at Group and OpCo levels to protect against risks of
internal control weaknesses and inadequate control over financial
reporting.
Mitigation
1. Ongoing review and strengthening of the Group's internal
controls over financial reporting and compliance processes
2. Review process for addressing and mitigating findings from
internal audit, with oversight from the Audit and Risk
Committee
3. Continually identifying and mitigating risks
Network resilience and business continuity
Link to strategy
Win with data -- Win with network
Risk owners
Chief technology officer
Chief information officer
Description
Our ability to provide unparalleled quality of service to our
customers and meet quality of service (QoS) requirements depends on
the robustness and resilience of our network and IT infrastructure
and our ability to respond appropriately to any disruptions. Our
telecommunications networks are subject to risks of technical
failures, aging infrastructure, human error, wilful acts of
destruction or natural disasters. This can include equipment
failures, energy or fuel shortages, software errors, damage to
fibres, lack of redundancy plans and inadequate disaster recovery
plans.
Mitigation
1. Implementing geographically redundant disaster recovery sites
for our networks and IT infrastructure across our OpCos
2. Regular testing of fallback plans for network and IT systems
to ensure reliability of switch over from active to redundant nodes
in the event of a disaster
FINANCIAL RISK
Exchange rate fluctuation
Link to strategy
Win with data
Risk owner
Chief financial officer
Description
Our multinational footprint means we're constantly exposed to
the risk of adverse currency fluctuations and the macroeconomic
conditions in the markets where we operate. We derive revenue and
incur costs in local currencies where we operate, but we also incur
costs in foreign currencies, mainly from buying equipment and
services from manufacturers and technology service providers. That
means adverse movements in exchange rates between the currencies in
our OpCos and the US dollar could have a negative effect on our
liquidity and financial condition. Furthermore, in some of our
markets, triggered by broader macroeconomic conditions, we are
faced with instances of limited supply of foreign currency within
the local monetary system. This constrains the ability to fully
benefit at the Group level from the strong cash generation of those
few OpCos.
Mitigation
1. Renegotiating Forex denominated contracts to local currency
contracts
2. Hedging foreign currency denominated payables and loans, and
matching assets and liabilities, where possible
3. Availability of adequate funding arrangements to mitigate any
short-term liquidity constraints caused by fluctuations in Forex
supply within our OpCos
4. Geographical diversification allows us to continue to access
liquidity broadly across our footprint
GOVERNANCE AND COMPLIANCE RISKS
Compliance to legal requirements
Risk owner
Chief legal officer
Chief regulatory officer
Description
We operate in diverse legal and regulatory environments both in
terms of the countries, where we operate, and the regulators for
the services we provide. Establishing and maintaining adequate
procedures, systems and controls enables us to comply with our
obligations in all the jurisdictions where we operate and for the
services we provide to our customers. We are required to comply
with Know Your Customer, anti-money laundering, anti-bribery and
corruption, sanctions, data privacy, quality of service and other
laws and regulations. A failure to comply could lead to
unanticipated regulatory penalties and sanctions or tax levies, as
well as damage to our reputation.
Mitigation
1. Instituting various policies across the Group to comply with
the legal requirements in the jurisdictions where we operate
2. Continuing engagement with regulators and industry bodies on
key policy matters across our operating footprint
3. Implementing a regular compliance tracking process,
identifying root causes for cases of non-compliance and taking
corrective actions
4. Implementing an escalation process for reporting significant
matters to the Group office
5. Communicating with and training employees on relevant company
policies
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END
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