The directors are responsible for preparing the Annual Report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and regulations.
Company law requires the directors to prepare financial statements for each financial year. Under that law, the directors are required to prepare our financial statements in accordance with UK adopted international accounting standards in line with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006. We have elected to prepare the company’s financial statements in accordance with UK Generally Accepted Accounting Practice (GAAP), including the FRS 101 reduced disclosure framework. Under company law, the directors must not approve the accounts unless satisfied that they give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of our company and of our profit or loss for that period.
In preparing our company’s financial statements, the directors are required to:
- Select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently
- Make judgments and accounting estimates that are reasonable and prudent
- State whether applicable UK accounting standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements
- Prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that Airtel Africa will continue in business
In preparing the Group financial statements, International Accounting Standard 1 requires that directors:
- Properly select and apply accounting policies
- Present information, including accounting policies, in a way that provides relevant, reliable, comparable and understandable information
- Provide additional disclosures when the specific IFRSs requirements don’t enable readers to understand the impact of particular transactions, or events and conditions around our financial position and performance
- Make an assessment of our ability to continue as a going concern
The directors are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that show and explain the company’s transactions and disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time our financial position. These records must also enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006. Directors are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the company and for taking reasonable steps to prevent and detect fraud and other irregularities.
The directors are also responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the corporate and financial information included on our website. UK legislation governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions.
Controls over financial reporting
Our Executive Committee and the Board are responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting, emerging risks and principal risks for the Group.
Our internal control over financial reporting includes policies and procedures that:
- Relate to the maintenance of records that accurately and fairly reflect transactions and depositions of assets in reasonable detail
- Are designed to provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit the preparation of financial statements in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 and IFRSs as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and approved for use in the United Kingdom (UK) by the UK Accounting Standards Endorsement Board (UKEB)
- Provide reasonable assurance around prevention and timely detection of unauthorised acquisition, use or disposition of our assets that could materially affect the financial statements.
Any internal control framework, no matter how well designed, has inherent limitations including the possibility of human error and the circumvention or overriding of controls and procedures – and my not prevent or detect misstatements. Also, projections of any evaluation of future effectiveness are subject to the risk that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions or because of reduced compliance with the polices or procedures.
Through the outcome of a self-review programme, the Group assessed the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting on 31 March 2025. Our controls were also subjected to other assurance activities: Group Internal Audit tested key controls on a regular basis and reported their findings, independent evaluation by a big 4 audit firm in Nigeria and Deloitte was also engaged to perform a separate limited assurance engagement on our internal controls. No significant or material control weaknesses were identified.
The Group regularly discusses anticipated new regulatory requirements in relation to internal controls over financial reporting. Regulatory developments will continue to be monitored and the Group will adopt requirements as the landscape develops to ensure full compliance.
During the period covered by this document, there were no changes in the Group's internal control over financial reporting that have materially affected or are reasonable likely to materially affect the effectiveness of our internal controls over financial reporting.
On behalf of the Board
Simon O'Hara
Group Company Secretary
7 May 2025
Responsibility statement
We confirm that to the best of our knowledge:
- The financial statements, prepared in accordance with the relevant financial reporting framework, give a true and fair view of the assets, liabilities, financial position and profit or loss of the company and the undertakings included in the consolidation taken as a whole.
- The strategic report includes a fair review of the development and performance of the business and the position of the company and the undertakings included in the consolidation taken as a whole, together with a description of the principal risks and uncertainties that they face.
- The Annual Report and financial statements, taken as a whole, are fair, balanced and understandable and provide the information necessary for shareholders to assess the company’s position and performance, business model and strategy.
This responsibility statement was approved by the Board on 7 May 2025 and is signed on its behalf by:
Sunil Taldar
Chief executive officer
7 May 2025
Statement on internal control over financial reporting
In compliance with the provisions of Section 1.3 of SEC Guidance on Implementation of Sections 60-63 of Investments and Securities Act 2007, Nigeria, the directors, whose names are stated below, hereby make the following statements regarding the internal controls of Airtel Africa plc for the year ended 31 March 2025.
We certify that:
(a)
We have reviewed the audited consolidated and separate financial statements of Airtel Africa plc for the year ended 31 March 2025.
(b)
Based on our knowledge, this report contains no untrue statements of material facts or omissions of any material fact necessary to its contents, in light of the circumstances under which the report was prepared and the timeframe covered.
(c)
Based on our knowledge, the financial statements and other financial information in this report are fair representations of the financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows of the company over the time periods covered.
(d)
We also certify that we:
- Are responsible for establishing and maintaining internal controls
- Have designed or supervised the design of internal controls and procedures to ensure that material information relating to Airtel Africa and its subsidiaries is made known to us, particularly while this report is being prepared
- Have designed or supervised the design of an internal control system to provide reasonable assurance around the reliability of our financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles
- Evaluated the effectiveness of the company’s internal controls and procedures in the 90-day period before the report was published and presented in this report our conclusions about the effectiveness of the internal controls and procedures during the timeframe covered by the report
Based on our most recent evaluation of the internal control system, we’ve shared with the company’s auditors and the Audit and Risk Committee:
- That there are no significant deficiencies or material weaknesses in the design or operation of the internal control system which are reasonably likely to adversely affect the company’s ability to record, process, summarise and report financial information; and
- That there is no fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or other employees who have a significant role in the company's internal control system
We identified whether there were any changes that could significantly affect internal controls after the date of their evaluation, including any corrective actions related to significant deficiencies and material weaknesses.
Sunil Taldar
Chief executive officer
Jaideep Paul
Chief financial officer
Airtel Africa's annual assessment of internal control over financial reporting
These statements on internal control for the year ended 31 March 2025 are in line with the provisions of Section 1.3 of SEC Guidance on the implementation of Sections 60-63 of Investments and Securities Act 2007, Nigeria.
- The Airtel Africa plc Board is responsible for establishing and maintaining a system of internal control over financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 and IFRSs as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and approved for use in the United Kingdom (UK) by the UK Accounting Standards Endorsement Board (UKEB).
- Airtel Africa used the Committee of Sponsoring Organization of the Treadway Commission (COSO) Internal Control-Integrated Framework to evaluate the effectiveness of the company’s ICFR as required.
- Based upon this assessment, the company determined that there were no material weaknesses in its internal control over financial reporting as of 31 March 2025. Therefore, the company concluded that Airtel Africa's internal control over financial reporting as at 31 March 2025 is effective.
- Airtel Africa’s external auditor Deloitte has issued a Limited assurance report on Airtel Africa's assessment of the company’s internal control over financial reporting.
The Deloitte attestation report will be filed as part of this annual report.
Sunil Bharti Mittal
Chair of the Board of directors
Sunil Taldar
Chief executive officer