Africa’s biggest telecommunications company, MTN Group, announced a half-year loss that is more significant owing to the devaluation of the Nigerian naira and operational challenges in Sudan. For the six-month period ending on June 30, the company reported a headline loss of 256 cents per share, as compared to restated headline earnings of 260 cents per share in the same period last year.
The devaluation of the Nigerian naira against US dollars, together with the translation impact on reporting currency (rand), and ongoing conflicts in Sudan, considerably affected MTN’s operating results. Group service revenue decreased by 20.8%, down to 85.3 billion rand from 107.7 billion rand within the same period last year. However, in constant currency, group service revenue grew by 12.1%.
MTN South Africa’s service revenues were higher than those from MTN Nigeria, its largest revenue market, with a slight increase of 3.3% reaching 21.1 billion rand. On the other hand, Nigeria’s service revenues plummeted by 52.9% down to 20.5 billion rand, though it was up by 32.4% on a constant currency basis.
Ralph Mupita, MTN’s Chief Executive Officer, said that despite these challenges, the underlying commercial momentum and strategy execution of the business were solid as ever. Additionally, the board has projected that they will pay not less than an ordinary final dividend of 330 cents per share during the 2024 financial year.
MTN Group is experiencing difficulties in Nigeria, its biggest market in Africa where it has 288 million people as customers. Nevertheless, it is still dedicated to providing value to its shareholders as well as their customers.
