Safaricom - 2021 Sustainable Business Report

87 SAFARICOM SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS REPORT 2021 / STANDING TOGETHER: GOING BEYOND / OUR MATERIAL TOPICS //// OUR STAKEHOLDERS / KPI SUMMARY SHAREHOLDERS KEEPING OUR SHAREHOLDERS INFORMED Our channels of communication with our investors include regular investor roadshows, management meetings and conferences. In addition to personal engagements, we respond to their queries via the investor relations mailbox. Under our internal Services Level Agreement (SLA), these must be responded to within 24-48 hours. Unfortunately, due to COVID-19, the Building African Financial Markets (BAFM) seminar which we previously sponsored, did not take place in this period. Our aim is to increase the frequency of our engagement with investors to inform them of our progress in generating solid returns based on our strategy of becoming a purpose-led technology company that transforms lives in alignment with the SDG goals. There has been growing interest in our key material issues of focus including M-PESA Africa, regional expansion and financial digital services and partnerships. There has also been more interest from impact funds through virtual meetings and ESG questionnaires. COMMUNICATING OUR STRATEGY In March 2021 the Board approved a first interim dividend payment of KSh 0.45 based on the need to support our shareholders because of the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, we paid a final dividend of 0.92 per ordinary share at the end of the year. Recognising that shareholders want to know more about how we plan to deliver on our strategy, we were able to respond in the following manner: • Strengthen the core: Management initiatives to defend voice, mobile data and fixed service as the core business and new areas of potential growth. • To be a financial services provider: With M-PESA as the key driver, investors are able to see management initiatives to continue driving growth. • Win in select digital ecosystems: This pillar relates to our successes in agriculture (DigiFarm) and healthcare which have enabled us to show investors other targeted avenues of growth in line with our purpose of transforming lives. OUR SHAREHOLDERS While all our shareholders are important, we view our local individual ‘free float’ shareholders as particularly important, given our commitment to the Kenyan people and our aim of transforming lives. Unfortunately, the proportion of local individuals in the free float declined from previous years, which we attribute to the economic constraints associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. % BREAKDOWN OF SHAREHOLDERS FY18 FY19 FY20 FY21 Vodacom 35% 35% 35% 35% Vodafone 5% 5% 5% 5% Government of Kenya 35% 35% 35% 35% Free float 25% 25% 25% 25% PROPORTION OF ‘FREE FLOAT’ SHAREHOLDERS (%) BY CATEGORY FY18 FY19 FY20 FY21 Foreign corporate 48.4 45.1 44.7 45.6 Local corporate 35.6 39.0 39.7 39.4 Local individual 15.5 15.5 15.3 14.6 Foreign individual 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4 OUR HIGHLIGHTS • Our first virtual annual general meeting saw approximately 80 000 shareholders register and participate from the standard 5 000 - 6 000 shareholders pre-COVID. • Virtual investor engagements grew approximately 4% year-on-year. • A total of KSh 54.89 billion to be paid out in dividends with respect of the year ended 31 March 2021. ISSUES FOR INVESTORS • Our investors are concerned about the regulatory risk in the country, while retail investors are mainly concerned about dividend payouts. FUTURE FOCUS • Establish an ESG rating for Safaricom which will help our investors assess our performance more holistically. • Develop a USSD investor self-service solution to enable shareholders to manage their dividend / share-related requests. For further information about our financial performance in FY21, please refer to https://www.safaricom.co.ke/investor- relations.