Airtel Africa Plc has bought back another 798,919 of its own shares. This brings the total number of shares it has repurchased under its ongoing buyback programme to 19,907,874 since the exercise began in May 2026.
The telecoms giant disclosed the latest purchase in a transaction notification dated September 22, 2026, showing that the shares were bought at a volume-weighted average price (VWAP) of 322.59 pence per share. A VWAP is simply the average price paid for a batch of shares, weighted by how many shares changed hands at each price point.
According to the notification, the purchase was carried out on September 18, 2026, with the shares bought from Barclays Capital Securities Limited across five different trading venues in the United Kingdom and Europe. On the London Stock Exchange, Airtel Africa picked up 388,000 shares at a VWAP of 322.84 pence. It also bought 239,762 shares on BATS Europe at 321.74 pence, 106,022 shares on CHI-X Europe at 323.44 pence, 48,046 shares on Aquis Exchange at 322.64 pence, and the remaining 17,089 shares on Turquoise at 323.28 pence.
After this latest round of repurchases, the cumulative VWAP for all shares bought since the programme started now stands at 336.05 pence per share, meaning the September 18 purchase was actually done at a cheaper price than the average paid so far.
A share buyback is when a company purchases its own shares from the open market, usually to reduce the number of shares in circulation. Airtel Africa has said the shares it buys under this programme will eventually be cancelled, which will shrink its total issued share capital once that process is completed.
The company kicked off this buyback programme in May 2026 with a target of repurchasing up to 1% of its issued share capital, using Barclays Capital Securities Limited as the agent buying shares on the market before transferring them to Airtel Africa for cancellation. The move came not long after the company reported a $1.41 billion profit before tax for the financial year ended March 31, 2026, a 114.67% jump from the previous year, alongside revenue that climbed to $6.4 billion from $4.9 billion.
As at the end of June 2026, the programme had already accounted for about 10.2 million shares bought back for $46.6 million, a figure that has now nearly doubled to 19.91 million shares as of the latest transaction.
