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Tag: MTN

  • MTN Group gets 7.7m new subscribers

    MTN Group on Thursday, said it posted an encouraging set of results for the six months ended 30 June 2019 in the context of difficult trading conditions across its major markets.

    Its President and CEO, Rob Shuter, said commercially, the telco had strong subscriber growth of 7.7 million in the first six months of the year to reach a total of 240 million subscribers.

    The number of active data users, he said, grew by 3.5 million to 82 million and while 30-day active Mobile Money users grew by 2,4 million to 30 million.

    Shuter said: “We had a good first half, reporting solid financial results, good commercial momentum and encouraging strategic progress.

    Read Also: Our tax feud with FIRS at tribunal, says MTN

    “We saw growth of 12per cent in adjusted headline earnings per share, which is the first time that we have delivered growth in this measure in recent years. Our service revenue grew just below 10 per cent and earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) just above 10per cent, both on a constant currency basis. Our holding company leverage remains stable at 2.3x, well within our guidance range of 2 to 2.5x. And, as we grew revenue and carefully managed our investment programme, we saw capital expenditure (capex) intensity drop further, to 16.9per cent.

    “Our continued focus on the customer experience has seen us record brand NPSˆ leadership across more than 50 per cent of the portfolio, with 12 markets now leading. That contributed to MTN being named the most valuable South African brand in the Brand Finance South Africa 50 report and the most admired African brand by Brand Africa 100.”

    He said during the period, the telco had some landmark events. “We successfully completed the listing of MTN Nigeria on the Nigerian Stock Exchange and our e-commerce joint venture Jumia listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Within three months of announcing our asset realisation programme, which is targeting at least R15 billion over the next few years, we delivered R2,1 billion in proceeds.

    “Our advanced instant messaging platform, Ayoba, is now live in three of our West African markets and has more than 300 000 active monthly users. We are very pleased with the formal approval of our super-agent licence in Nigeria, which clears the way for the launch of Phase 1 of our Nigeria fintech business while we await a banking licence,” he added.

     

     

     

  • Our tax feud with FIRS at tribunal, says MTN

    Telecoms giant, MTN Nigeria Communications Plc, has said its tax dispute with the Federal Inland Revenue service (FIRS) is before the Tax Tribunal set up by FIRS Chairman, Tunde Fowler and Minister of Finance, and are awaiting a decision.

    In a statement, the telco said: “Our attention has been drawn to media reports regarding the status of taxes relating to the 2015 fine imposed on MTN Nigeria Communications Plc (MTN). We acknowledge that there is a technical disagreement between MTN and the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) as to how the fine should be treated for tax purposes. However, while the monies have been paid to FIRS, we have taken the disagreement to the Tax Tribunal set up by FIRS Chairman and Minister of Finance, and are awaiting a decision.”

    It said it remained fully compliant with Nigerian tax laws and will abide by the findings of the tribunal. “The company is committed to meeting its fiscal responsibilities and contributing to the social and economic development of Nigeria,” it affirmed.

    Since incorporation in 2001, MTN has invested more than N2 trillion into the economy and has paid more than N1.7 trillion in taxes, levies and other regulatory fees.

  • MTN Nigeria declares N60b interim dividend

    MTN Nigeria Communications Plc will be distributing N60 billion as interim cash dividend to shareholders.
    Shareholders will receive a dividend per share of N2.95 for the first half ended June 30, 2019.

    Key extracts of the six-month report showed that profit before tax rose by 30.86 per cent to N190.4 billion in first half 2019 as against N108.35 billion recorded in comparable period of 2018.

    Profit after tax grew by 34.79 per cent from N73.4 billion to N98.93 billion. Total turnover had grown by 12.12 per cent to N566.95 billion as against N505.67 billion.

    Operating profit had risen by 39.49 per cent from N136.50 billion to N190.4 billion. Earnings per share rose by 34.79 per cent to N4.86 compared with N3.61.

  • MTN retires Dozie, five others

    Telecoms giant, MTN has announced the retirement of its board chairman, Pascal Dozie and five other non-executive directors from the telco.

    In a note to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), it said the investing public and other stakeholders should note that the retirement follows the expiration of their tenure and in compliance with applicable codes of Corporate Governance. The retirement takes effect from September 2, 2019.

    Also retired are Col. Sani Bello (rtd) vice-chairman; Chief Victor Odili, non-executive director; Mallam Ahmed Dasuki-non-executive director; Mr. Babatunde Folawiyo-non-executive director; and Mr. Gbenga Oyebode, non-executive director.

    While the telco expressed its appreciation to the six directors for their commitment, leadership and extensive contributions to the success of the telco since their appointment in 2001,  it announced the appointment of former Executive Vice Chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Mr. Ernest Ndukwe as chairman designate.

    Other board members include the telcos Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Ferdinand Moolman; Mr. Michael Onochie Ajukwu-independent non-executive director;  Mr. Muhammad K. Ahmad-independent non-executive director; Mr. Andrew Alli-non-executive director; Mr. Rhidwaan Gasant-independent non-executive director; Mrs. Omobola Johnson-non-executive director; and Mr. A.B. Mahmoud-non-executive director.

    Others, according to a statement endorsed by the telco’s Company Secretary, Uto Ukpanah, include Mr. Ralph Mupita-non-executive director; Mr. Paul Norman-non-executive director; Mrs. Ifueko Okauru-non-executive director; Mr. Jens Schulte-Bockum-non-executive director; Group CEO, Mr. Rob Shuter-non-executive director and Mr. Karl Toriola-non-executive director.

    Mrs. Johnson served as pioneer ComTech Minister between 2011 and 2015 and pioneered the Federal Government’s involvement in a venture capital fund and a network of start-up incubators and participated in the launching and execution of the National Broadband Plan.

    REad also: MTN Group gets investor relations executive

    Prior to her appointment, she was country Managing Director for Accenture. She currently chairs the board of Custodian and Allied Insurance Limited and sits on the boards of Guinness Nigeria Plc as well as World Wide Web Foundation.

    Mrs. Johnson is the founding Chairperson of Women in Management and Business (WIMBIZ). She is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Africa; UNDP’s Broadband Commission Working Group on Gender and the International Telecommunication Union’s Powering Development Advisory Board. Since 2015, she has served as Honorary Chairperson of the Global Alliance for Affordable Internet.

    Mrs. Johnson attended the University of Manchester where she obtained BEng, Electrical and Electronic Engineering and King’s College London (MSc, Digital Electronics). She has a Doctorate in Business Administration (DBA) from Cranfield University and is a Fellow of the Aspen Global Leadership Network (AGLN).

  • MTN unveils AI service for mobile money

    MTN Group on Friday announced the unveiling of Africa’s first Mobile Money (MoMo) Artificial Intelligence (AI) service or “chatbot”.

    The MTN Group President and Chief Executive Officer, Rob Shuter, in a statement said that the chatbot went live in Cote d’Ivoire  in May and would be rolled out across MTN’s MoMo footprint in the next few months.

    According to him, the AI mobile money assistant enables customers to engage in MTN’s MoMo services, including payments, on various social media platforms such as WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger and via SMS.

    He said that the service would also be included over time in MTN’s own newly-released advanced instant messaging service “Ayoba’’.

    He noted that the chatbot is an Artificial Intelligence guide that assists users to navigate MTN’s MoMo services and provide other useful information.

    Read Also: MTN Nigeria posts N1.04trn revenue in 2018

    Shuter said that the innovation leveraged messaging and Artificial Intelligence to drive customer’s engagement and enhance their MTN MoMo experience.

    “We are passionate about bringing the power of our mobile money solutions to more than 60 million customers across Africa over the next few years,” Shuter said.

    “Harnessing modern technologies like Artificial Intelligence can improve in scale, how MTN interacts with customers, enabling the customers to reach us anytime and anywhere, through a variety of channels including social networks and messaging applications.

    “We can also harness the power of Artificial Intelligence to provide our customers with the right answers to their questions at the right time.

    “We are committed to improving financial inclusion with a range of solutions aimed at addressing the needs of various market segments,’’ he said.

    Shuter said that while MTN had made great strides in these areas, the management would continue working to deliver their vision for MTN to become one of the largest Fintech players.

     

  • MTN Nigeria loses N183b in first price dip

    MTN Nigeria Communications Plc suffered its first share price depreciation at the weekend, ending a six-day consecutive price rally since the listing of the largest telco on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).

    MTN Nigeria had on  May 16, 2019 listed its entire issued share capital on the NSE by way of introduction. MTN Nigeria listed 20.35 billion ordinary shares at N90 per share to emerge the second most capitalised company at the Nigerian stock market. The listing was greeted with spontaneous rally, with the telco rising by the market’s 10 per cent maximum daily allowable price change for five of its six positive trading sessions.

    After six consecutive trading sessions that saw the telco rallying N1.20 trillion in capital gains, MTN Nigeria at the weekend recorded its first price loss, dropping by N9 from its high of N149 to close weekend at N140 per share. MTN Nigeria’s market value dropped from its opening value of N3.03 trillion, its highest, to close weekend at N2.849 trillion, representing a loss of 6.04 per cent or N183 billion. MTN Nigeria had entered the stock market with entry listing value of N1.83 trillion.

    The price decline came on the heels of increased supply of MTN Nigeria’s shares as more and more minority retail shareholders and bargain-hunters acquired shares from pre-listing shareholders of the telco. MTN Nigeria was the most active stock at the Exchange last week and it accounted for about one-fifth of total turnover at the equities market. It traded 290.1 million shares within the five-day trading week.

    Market analysts said they expected a more efficient pricing equilibrium for the telco in the weeks ahead citing the steep decline in volume of bids and open market orders and increasing negotiating power on the buyers’ side. MTN Nigeria had rode on the crest of open market orders for five days, with most investors willing to buy with as much as the highest price. As such, the divesting investors automatically set their price at the top-end of the price limit.

    Many analysts believe MTN Nigeria might take advantage of its bullish start to launch an initial public offering (IPO), a campaign that will widen the shareholders’ base of the telco.

    Astonished by the daily jump in share price and the inability to get the shares of the company, many Nigerians had expressed concerns on the propriety and fairness of the telco’s pricing trend. The NSE subsequently allayed fears over the pricing trend, explaining the technicalities of price discovery under a listing by introduction as against a post-IPO listing, which most minority retail investors are familiar with.

    On the initial paucity of shares, the NSE explained that the seeming scarcity of the telco’s shares was due to the peculiarity of a listing by introduction, insisting that MTN Nigeria met all listing requirements, including minimum free float for its listing on the premium board.

    According to the Exchange, where a company lists following an IPO, shares are expected to be available for trading on the day of listing. However, in a listing by introduction, no shares have been offered for subscription by the company prior

  • Equities rebound on MTN listing

    After eight consecutive negative trading sessions, the listing of MTN Nigeria Communications Plc yesterday at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) lifted the market to a gain of 0.54 per cent. A total of 20.35 billion ordinary shares of MTN Nigeria were listed by way of introduction on the premium board of the Exchange at N90 per share.

    The scramble for the shares of the telco giant boosted the overall market position, although the general market performance remained bearish.  With initial listing value of N1.83 trillion and net capital gain of N183 billion, MTN Nigeria overwhelmed the bears to lift the aggregate market value of all quoted equities from its opening value of N10.627 trillion to close at N12.899 trillion. The All Share Index (ASI)- the main index that tracks share prices recovered from  its opening index of 28,286.08 points to close at 28,438.19 points. The negative average year-to-date return improved to -9.42 per cent.

    A total of 5.54 million ordinary shares of MTN Nigeria valued at N548.6 million were traded in 15 deals.

    Read also: Breaking: MTN Nigeria gains N184b in listing rally

    With 25 losers against 11 gainers, the market remained largely bearish. All sectoral indices closed negative. The NSE Banking Index dropped by 1.71 per cent. The NSE Industrial Goods Index declined by 0.97 per cent. The NSE Consumer Goods Index dipped by 0.83 per cent. The NSE Oil & Gas Index slipped by 0.56 per cent while the NSE Insurance Index dipped by 0.05 per cent.

    MTN Nigeria led the gainers with a gain of N9 to close at N99. Unilever Nigeria followed with a gain of N1 to close at N32. NPF Microfinance Bank placed third with a gain of 13 kobo to close at N1.47 while Union Bank of Nigeria added 10 kobo to close at N6.85 per share.

    Nigerian Breweries led the losers with a drop of N2.50 to close at N62.50. Dangote Cement followed with a loss of N2 to close at N176. Guinness Nigeria declined by 95 kobo to close at N49.05. Guaranty Trust Bank lost 60 kobo to close at N31 while Zenith Bank dropped by 45 kobo to close at N19.55 per share.

    “We reiterate our cautious trading pattern in the short term. Meanwhile, we believe stable macroeconomic fundamentals and compelling valuation remain supportive of recovery in the mid-to-long term,” Cordros Capital stated.

    Total turnover stood at 312.4 million shares valued at N2.81 billion in 3,933 deals. The most active stock was Transnational Corporation of Nigeria with a turnover of 105.5 million shares. Access Bank followed with 23.5 million shares while FCMB Group placed third with 23.2 million shares.

    Analysts at Afrinvest Securities said significant buying interest on the newly listed MTN Nigeria will help the market to maintain bullish performance as investors look to extend trade in MTN’s fundamentally sound stock.

     

     

  • MTN lists today at NSE

    MTN Nigeria Communications Plc said it has secured the requisite regulatory approval to list its shares on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) today.

    In a statement, the telco said it is “pleased to announce that it has received approval to list on the Premium Board of The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE). The listing is set to proceed on 16 May 2019 and will be done by way of an introductory listing.

    Read also: MTN Nigeria to add N1.84tr to Nigerian equities

    “The listing by introduction means that the shares of existing MTN Nigeria shareholders will be listed without an additional public sale of shares. From this point, all MTN Nigeria shareholders will be free to trade their shares on the NSE. ”

    Its CEO, Ferdi Moolman confirmed the approval and listing date.

    He said: “It gives me great pleasure to confirm that the official listing via introduction of MTN’s shares on the NSE will take place on Thursday May 16.

  • MTN to list tomorrow

    MTN’s Nigeria plans to list on the Nigerian Stock Exchange tomorrow, a spokesman for the South African company said.

    MTN decided to list its local unit in Nigeria in 2016 after agreeing to pay a $1.7 billion fine to settle a subscriber identity module  (SIM) card dispute with the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC). The company has previously said it planned to list in the first half of 2019.

    “We are aiming to list but we can’t give you a hard date,” the spokesman said, adding that tomorrow was MTN’s preferred date, though today and Friday this week and Wednesday and Thursday next week are also options.

    Read also: MTN Nigeria grows subscriber base by 2.1m in Q1

    Two sources had earlier told Reuters that MTN aimed to list its business in the country tomorrow, after holding a meeting with analysts about its plans last week Monday.

    Last week, Nigeria’s securities regulator approved MTN’s application to list Nigerian unit.

    A source said the stock exchange was processing MTN’s application for the listing tomorrow.

  • MTN may list on NSE next week

    MTN Nigeria may list shares in Nigeria Stock Exchnage (NSE) next week, two sources familiar with the matter said yesterday.

    Africa’s biggest carrier could go ahead with the placing on May 16, said the people, who craved anonymity.

    ”We don’t have a specific date, we are looking at some time before the end of this quarter,” Head, Corporate Relations at MTN Nigeria, Tobechukwu Okigbo, was quoted to have said by phone.

    Meanwhile, to further clear the coast for the telco, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)  confimed its approval of the telco’s application to register its existing securities.

    A statement by SEC Head of Corporate Communications, Mrs. Efe Ebelo, explained that the Acting Director General of SEC, Ms. Mary Uduk,  confirmed the approval.

    “MTN sought to come to the market by way of an introduction and they wrote to the SEC last week requesting for approval to register its existing shares. That approval has now been granted.

    “This is a further indication of the determination by the the SEC to work with companies that are interested in the capital market. We believe that this will also encourage other service providers to come to the market,” the statement read.

    SEC received the application from the company last week to register their existing securities.

    MTN Nigeria registered 20.35 billion ordinary shares with the country’s Securities and Exchange Commission this week. It plans to list around 20 percent of those on the bourse and they could trade at between N80 and N90, said one of the people. That would give the unit a market value of as much as N1.8 trillion ($5.1 billion), making it the second-biggest public firm in Africa’s main oil producer after Dangote Cement Plc. It will be the largest when measured by revenue.

    MTN agreed to an initial public offering of its Nigeria business as part of the settlement of a reduced $1 billion fine in the country in 2016. The listing planned for next week is the first of two stages, with a selldown of MTN’s majority stake to take place at a later date.

    The carrier appointed former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Lamido Sanusi, who’s now the Emir of Kano, to its board last week in preparation for the listing.

    MTN remains locked in a