MTN Group Limited has increased its dividend to shareholders by 10% to 3.30 rand per share, following the growth of revenue and profits.
Nairametrics gathered from Bloomberg that the payout matched the guidance the company gave a year ago, but missed the Bloomberg analyst consensus of 3.50 rand per share.
The board again anticipates paying a minimum ordinary dividend of at least 3.30 rand per share for this year, MTN said.
No cause for alarm: The Johannesburg-based company flagged concerns about its home market, South Africa, where it generates a quarter of its revenue, and where the state-owned power utility implemented rolling blackouts on more than 200 days during 2022.
Operating conditions were significantly affected by national grid power availability, which worsened in the second half of the year, the company said in its results statement on Monday. Investment in mitigating the impact of power cuts on the group’s network, which included dealing with vandalism and additional security on sites, put additional pressure on operating costs, MTN said.
Effect of blackouts: The overall effect of rolling blackouts on topline and costs was a negative impact on Ebitda at its South African operations of 695 million rand ($38 million), equivalent to 3.4%. MTN aims to complete its South African network resilience plan by the end of May.
MTN said it has received offers for minority investments in its fintech structure from potential strategic partners and the review of these offers and engagement with potential partners is expected to conclude by mid-May 2023.
MTN’s 2024 plans: The firm also plans to separate its fiber business by 2024, according to its statement. Telecommunication operators on the continent have been working on unlocking value from the different parts of their businesses, such as towers, fiber and their fast-growing fintech operations.
In case you missed it: MTN Nigeria Communications Plc’s audited results for the financial year ended December 31, 2022 showed service revenue up by 21.5 per cent to N2 trillion from N1.654 trillion in 2021.
The telco signed up 7.2 million new subscribers in the review year translating to an expansion of 10.5 per cent and increasing its subscriber base to 75.6 million.
- “We continued to manage and invest in the resilience of our business and networks, expanding coverage and capacity with a focus on expense efficiencies and disciplined capital allocation.
- “We became the first mobile network operator to launch a 5G network in Nigeria, providing coverage in key cities in the six geopolitical regions. Since its commercial launch in September 2022, we have rolled out 588 sites and brought the 5G network to 5G-enabled smartphones, starting with iPhone users,” CEO Karl Toriola said.”
