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Tag: Rob Shuter

  • 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.

     

     

     

  • 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 chief faults AGF on $2b tax demand

    MTN Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Rob Shuter yesterday faulted the demand for $2 billion cash by the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation (OAGF).

    It accused AGF Abubakar Malami, of “playing games” over the demand for the cash, which the government said was in tax arrears from the telecoms giant.

    Shuter spoke at a conference call where MTN’s 2018 annual results were presented to the country’s executives and stakeholders.

    Malami had last September written to MTN Nigeria, demanding the payment of $2 billion in tax arrears.

    He broke the cash down to a 10-year period for import duties, Value Added Tax (VAT) and withholding taxes on foreign imports/payments.

    MTN Nigeria had rejected the allegation, insisting that it had fully settled all outstanding taxes.

    The telco also sued the AGF.

    Reiterating the telco’s stance, Shuter described the legal process as “odd,” adding that the AGF had no right to collect tax on behalf of the Federal Government.

    He said MTN is a responsible firm which tax assessments are in line with the requirements of the relevant authorities.

    The transcript of the conference call reads: “I think if you look at our history for complicated tax disputes they can take years, because you end up going through this tribunal, that tribunal etc.

    “Now, of course what’s odd about the Nigeria situation is it’s not the Commissioner for Inland Revenue that we have the dispute with. It’s the attorney-general, who is really not mandated to collect tax.

    “So, the legal process is basically saying you’re playing a game that you’re not meant to be playing. And when we talk to the tax authorities they have no particular quarrel with where we are with our various assessments.

    “So, either we get the thing chucked out early on and the issue is finished, or it is just one of these lingering things that rolls around in the system for a while. And personally I don’t know which way it’s going to play out.

    “I’m just absolutely adamant that we’re a responsible company, we have paid the taxes we had to pay, and the tax authorities themselves aren’t saying that we owe them anything. So I think we’ve just got to stare this one down.”

    Also commenting on the issue, the telco’s Chief Financial Officer, Ralph Mupita, said the telco has thoroughly double-checked its books without finding any remote exposure.

    He said: “The audit committees of both Nigeria and (the) group, as you can well imagine, have gone through this very thoroughly in terms of all our tax exposures. And it’s the second time we’ve looked at this.

    “We looked at it at the half year when it was then a tax assessment before the letters came in August.

    “But we still believe there isn’t even a remote exposure that we would put in contingent liabilities. But I think it’s important to re-emphasise the point Rob raised.

    “In the course of having any tax disputes with the authorities these things can take years. So if this thing rolls on it’s no different from a transfer pricing matter you may have a dispute with an authority in country x, y, z.”

    The hearing of the suit against the AGF first scheduled for November 8 last year has been adjourned to March 26.

  • MTN returns to profit-making after turbulent 2016

    MTN returns to profit-making after turbulent 2016

    MTN Group, Africa’s biggest mobile phone operator, says it has moved away from a turbulent 2016 that highlighted the risks of the company’s emerging markets strategy to a profit-making firm.

    MTN said on Thursday in Johannesburg that it’s earnings for first-half of the year had rebounded.

    It said that its headline earnings came in at 3.9 billion rand ($294.40 million), or 212 cents per share, in the six months to end June compared with a loss of 4.9 billion rand, or 271 cents per share, a year earlier.

    “These numbers give us hope for the future. It is a very encouraging platform upon which to build our strategy,” said Rob Shuter, former Vodafone European head, who became chief executive in March.

    MTN’s shares were nearly 3 per cent higher at early trading due to the positive results.

    The results were bolstered by the absence of charges related to a $1.1 billion fine imposed by Nigerian authorities last year in a long-running dispute over unregistered SIM cards.

    Founded at the end of white rule in 1994, MTN’s clashes with regulators in the past few years had held back growth and threatened to tarnish its image as one of post-apartheid South Africa’s biggest commercial successes.

    Shuter’s appointment is expected to put the company back on a growth path with a shift away from basic telecoms services toward the ability of its users to pay bills or watch live football matches on their phones.

    MTN has more than 200 million users in more than 20 countries in Africa and the Middle East.

    MTN had said last week that the loss in the first half of last year was mainly due to “non-recurring costs”, including the Nigerian fine.

    Shuter, along with his new executive team that includes the new head of M&amp, A Stephen van Coller, and finance head, Ralph Mupita, may have other tricky issues to tackle in Nigeria and also Iran.

  • South Africa’s MTN records higher first quarter revenue

    MTN Group reported a 7.1 per cent rise in first-quarter group revenue helped by a strong performance in data services, the mobile phone operator said on Wednesday.

    MTN said in Johannesburg that data revenue, which contributed 20 per cent of total revenue, was up 29.4 per cent for the three months ended March 31.

    As result, shares in MTN were up 1.36 per cent to 128.52 rand at early trading.

    “In our key markets of South Africa, Nigeria and Iran, significant network investments made over the past few years are underpinning the improving revenue trends,” Group Chief Executive Rob Shuter said.

    “The network investment planned for 2017 is expected to support further market share gains across our markets.”

    Year-to-date capital expenditure stands at 4.6 billion rand, MTN said.

    Ratings agency Fitch downgraded MTN to junk status in April and gave it a negative outlook, citing weakness in the economic and operating environments of its main subsidiaries in South Africa and Nigeria.

    Founded with the help of Pretoria at the end of white rule in 1994, MTN is seen as one of post-apartheid South Africa’s biggest commercial successes.

    But clashes with regulators in recent years have raised questions about its governance and have hobbled its growth.

    The firm, which does the bulk of its business in emerging markets, said Nigeria’s subscriber base declined by 2.3 per cent in the quarter due to new regulations, while total revenue increased by 11.6 per cent.

     

  • MTN appoints Group CEO

    MTN appoints Group CEO

    The Board of MTN Group yesterday approved the appointment of Rob Shuter as the new Group President and CEO. It said the appointment is ‘following the successful resolution of the Nigerian dispute.’ The telco added that it has completed the review of its governance and management structures in accordance with its undertaking to do so.

    Rob may commence as soon as it is practically possible next year but not later than July 1 after the completion of his current contractual obligations, MTN Group said in a statement. Rob, a South African national, is the current CEO of the European Cluster at Vodafone Group and has extensive experience in telecoms and banking having held senior management roles at Vodacom Group, Standard Bank and Nedbank prior to joining Vodafone Group.

    Phuthuma Nhleko who assumed the position of Executive Chairman of the telco November 9 last year to resolve the very difficult challenges that the company experienced at the time will revert to his role as non-executive chairman as soon as Rob assumes his new position.

    Until then, to facilitate a smooth transition, MTN Group CFO, Brett Goschen, and the new VP M&A and Strategy, will assume clearly defined additional responsibilities under the guidance of the Executive Chairman.

    Phuthuma remains fully committed to the MTN Group and will continue to provide the necessary leadership as non-executive chairman for the next two and a half years when he plans to step down as Chairman, MTN added.

    “MTN is confident that Rob will bring experience and new insights to the CEO role having had many years in the telecoms sector both in Africa and Europe as well as in banking where his expertise will help as MTN continues to develop its new business strategy,” the board said.

    With a view to increasing the telco’s focus on new revenue streams, MTN also announced the appointment of a new VP M&A and Strategy effective October 1.

    The appointee has a wealth of banking experience. His substantial commercial experience will   assist in the formulation of a revised strategy for MTN, particularly in the area of convergence between mobile telephony and financial services. His name will be announced before June 30.

    To enhance further the governance and depth of experience of the business operations, Godfrey Motsa has been appointed by the countries in the SEA Region (excluding South Africa) to oversee the operations in those regions with effect from July 1.

    Godfrey joins from Vodacom where he was Chief Officer for Consumer Business. Godfrey was previously CEO of Vodacom DRC Congo and CEO of Vodacom Lesotho. He brings 10 years of experience of telecoms in the region to MTN. He has various other commercial experience.