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MTN Group today announced a positive service revenue trajectory in the first quarter financial results for the year ended 31 March 2020

Speaking on the results MTN Group president and CEO, Rob Shuter said: “The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the global economy have brought about unprecedented uncertainty, volatility and challenges which are impacting our markets at both the socio-economic and macro-economic levels. The impact of the pandemic on our quarter one performance was not significant as lockdown restrictions for our consolidated subsidiaries were only implemented from the last week of March 2020.

We continued to build commercial momentum adding 6,6 million subscribers in the quarter, with active data users increasing by 2,9 million and MoMo subscribers by 0,4 million. We continued to scale our Ayoba platform recording 2,6 million monthly active users. We accelerated our MoMo agency network in Nigeria, under our super-agent licence, adding 70 000 agents in the first quarter, bringing the total number of registered agents to 178 000.

On strategic progress, the digital business returned to growth, booking 15.6% in the quarter. In MTN SA the enterprise business recorded its second quarter of growth and in May we commenced phase 2 of the national roaming agreement with Cell C and look forward to a continued partnership.

In these difficult times we continue to focus on our key priorities: looking after our people, our customers and our networks while we focus on efficiencies. For our people, the immediate priority is their health and safety, where the work-from-home programmes across our markets empower our staff to work remotely while ensuring continuity in our operations. For our customers, we have ramped up our digital channels as a service alternative, to enable them to continue purchasing airtime and accessing our products and services seamlessly as well as launching Y’ello Hope Packages in most of our markets.

Our various initiatives support governments across our markets with communication systems and connectivity as we do our part to help minimise the economic and social impact.

The COVID-19 situation is an evolving one and will undoubtedly impact the year ahead. Given the uncertainties associated with the duration and economic impact of the pandemic, it is difficult to reliably quantify the direct and indirect financial impacts on the business at this early stage. The group will continue to focus on business continuity and efficiency, and we have implemented strict measures to preserve resources and strengthen our resilience.”

Financial Performance

For the first quarter, MTN delivered a solid performance increasing constant currency service revenue by 11,1% and EBITDA by 15,6% with EBITDA margin improving by 2,1pp to 43,2%, in line with medium-term targets. The group recorded voice, data and fintech revenue growth of 6,3%, 26,4% and 26,0% respectively as we continued to execute on our strategic objectives and progress toward becoming a digital operator. Digital revenue has returned to growth, increasing by 15,6%.

MTN Group CFO, Ralph Mupita concluded, “We are encouraged by the service revenue growth of 11.1% which we achieved on a constant currency basis, this translated to 16.5% on a reported basis. Good cost control across the group supported the increase in group EBITDA margins, with a particular strong performance from MTN Ghana. Notwithstanding the impacts of COVID-19 in the first quarter, the balance sheet remained resilient and our cash and committed undrawn facilities was approximately R45 billion at the holding company level, providing us with sufficient liquidity during these uncertain and unprecedented times.

We have experienced a continued surge in data traffic during the month of April, but voice traffic and mobile money transactions were under pressure given various lockdown measures taken across markets. Where lockdown measures have been lifted or relaxed recently, voice recharges and mobile money transaction volumes have improved. For now, we are maintaining our 3 – 5 years medium-term guidance but will update the capital markets in August of any changes when we release our H1 2020 results.”

Looking ahead

The current environment is marked by significant uncertainties. It is still too early to assess the economic impact of the pandemic on our customers and reliably quantify the direct or indirect financial effects on our business. The remainder of the year will be shaped by the ramifications of the pandemic, and we will continue to update all stakeholders as the effects become clearer.

We are not only focused on managing the risks brought about by COVID-19, but also on the opportunities it creates in the accelerated digitalization it has brought about. We believe we are well positioned as a company to benefit from this evolution, especially given our focus on growth in our data, digital and financial services businesses. The Group remains focused on the execution of our BRIGHT strategy to deliver sustainable growth in our operations and value to our stakeholders.

MTN reports commercial momentum, strategic progress and strong financial results; CEO to step down next year, succession process underway

MTN Group today announced an encouraging set of results for the year ended 31 December 2019 and that group president and CEO Rob Shuter would be stepping down from his role at the end of his contract in March 2021.

Commenting on the results, Shuter said:

“In 2019, the 25th anniversary of MTN Group, we delivered commercial momentum across our operations as well as great progress in our strategy and strong financial results, despite challenging trading conditions.

We added 18 million customers to reach a total of 251 million and increased our data users by 17 million to 95 million and our fintech customers by 7 million to 35 million. This growth is central to our belief that everyone deserves the benefits of a modern connected life. We also saw improvements in customer experience, network quality and market share across the group.

On the strategic front, we launched our instant messaging platform Ayoba, which is now live in 12 markets with two million monthly active users. We launched MoMo in South Africa and Afghanistan and received our super-agent licence in Nigeria, registering more than 100 000 agents by year-end. We also delivered R14 billion of asset realisations within the first 12 months of our programme and MTN Nigeria listed on the Nigeria Stock Exchange. We recorded progress on various regulatory issues, including the AGF tax matter in Nigeria. Relationships with stakeholders across our markets improved, and we reported our highest employee sustainable engagement score yet.

On the financial side, we delivered service revenue growth of 9,8% with an acceleration in the second half. Our EBITDA margin improved and reported headline earnings per share grew by 62%. Our network rollout brought a further 69 million people into 4G coverage whilst reducing capex intensity.  Improved cash flows during the year supported stable balance sheet ratios.”

Operating environment

This outcome was delivered against challenging macroeconomic conditions, particularly in South Africa, with muted economic activity and the rand weakening against the US dollar.

Financial performance

In constant currency terms, group service revenue increased by 9,8%* to R141,8 billion and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) expanded by 13,6% to R53,4 billion. The holding company leverage ratio improved to 2,2x, which is well within the group’s guidance range of 2,0 to 2,5x, and we reduced our capex intensity to 17,5% from 19,3%, indicating greater efficiency in deploying assets. Driven by the strong earnings performance, operating cashflow increased by 18% and the ROE increased from 11,5% in 2018 to 14,3% in 2019 on an IAS17 basis.

The group’s results were supported by double-digit growth in service revenue by both MTN Nigeria and MTN Ghana. The performance of MTN South Africa was impacted by economic pressure, new data usage rules and changes in recognition criteria for roaming revenue from Cell C due to delayed payments under the networking roaming agreement.

Management succession

MTN announced that the group president and CEO Rob Shuter will be stepping down from his role at the end of his contract in March 2021. The board thanks Rob for the contribution he has made, and continues to make, to MTN. The succession process will be concluded during the year, enabling a seamless handover.

MTN group chief technology and IT officer Charles Molapisi has been appointed to the group executive committee and the fixed contract of the group chief operations officer, Jens Schulte-Bockum, has been extended until 31 March 2022.

Looking ahead, Shuter says:

“We are well positioned for growth. Guided by our well-defined BRIGHT strategy, we are building our growth strategy on our digital operator model while optimising efficiencies, capex and cashflow.

Following data price reductions in South Africa and Nigeria in 2019, we expect price elasticity to improve data revenue growth in 2020, supported by expanded 4G coverage in Nigeria and across the group. We will continue to scale up our fintech and digital services as well as grow our enterprise and wholesale businesses.

We have maintained our service revenue, EBITDA margin, capex intensity and ROE targets and increased our asset disposal target by a further R25 billion over the medium term. We also now target a holding company leverage ratio at below 2x. We will use 2020 to implement our succession process and ensure a seamless handover to the new group president and CEO whilst maintaining our operational execution.

Inspired to harness the pioneering spirit that has built MTN over the last 25 years, we remain committed to delivering on our strategy in a more agile way in close collaboration with our many partners, with whom we are #GoodTogether.”

MTN Ghana (Scancom PLC or MTNGH or the Company) delivered a strong performance for the year in a competitive industry, maintaining market leadership with 55.21% market share. Service revenue increased by 22.8% year-on-year (YoY), underpinned by growth in revenue from voice, data and Mobile Money (MoMo).

Double-digit growth in voice revenue (up 19.4% YoY) was driven by an increase in the number of active subscribers* (+11.2%), the benefits of various customer value management (CVM) initiatives and pro-consumer activity, as well as continued improvements to our network. As new lines of revenue continued to grow much faster than the traditional business, voice revenue’s contribution to service revenue decreased from 46.3% to 45.0%.

Solid data revenue growth (up 32.5% YoY) was attributable to growth in active data users# (+26.6%), growth in the number of smartphones (+18.5%) on the network and an increase in data usage (up 85.9% to 256,301 Terabyte). Data revenue’s contribution to service revenue expanded from 26.3% to 28.4%.

Click here for more details: https://www.mtn.com/investors/shareholders/sens/category-sens/?sens_year=2020

MTN has released a trading statement guiding for growth in its earnings for the year ended 31 December 2019. Headline earnings per share (HEPS) for the period, on pro forma like-for-like IAS basis, is expected to be between 55 – 75% higher. This will result in a range of 522 cents and 590 cents, compared with the HEPS of 337 cents for the prior financial year.

MTN will announce its results on or about Wednesday, 11 March 2020.

https://www.mtn.com/investors/shareholders/sens/category-sens/?sens_year=2020

MTN Group today announced sustained momentum in its results for the 9 months to September 2019 with service revenue growing 9,6% and its EBITDA margin improving by 0,6% to 35,1%. During the quarter the group added 3,5m subscribers and now serves 244 million customers across its 21 markets.

Commenting on the update, MTN Group CEO Rob Shuter said: “Service revenue growth and improvements in our EBITDA margin continued into the third quarter. We remain committed to driving access to internet and financial services and in Q3 we added 4.7 million active data users and 2.2 million Mobile Money subscribers across the portfolio. Our Ayoba messaging platform is now available across five markets and is already recording 515,000 active users per month.”

Overall, solid performances in Nigeria and Ghana offset the headwinds in South Africa, which was impacted by the weaker consumer demand and changes in ICASA’s End User Subscriber Service Charter Regulations which have impacted out-of-bundle (OOB) usage. Notwithstanding these pressures, in the third quarter MTN South Africa saw an improving trend in both prepaid and enterprise service revenues. Consumer post-paid in South Africa remained strong in a competitive market with service revenue growing at 5,8%.

At June 2019 MTN had not recognised R393 million of unpaid revenue from its roaming agreement with Cell C and an impairment of R211 million had also been raised. Since the end of June 2019 to date, Cell C has made payments amounting to nearly R750 million, in line with an agreed payment plan.  MTN has continued its conservative accounting for the Cell C roaming contract and only payments receive during the third quarter were processed, and all against the outstanding balances as at June 2019. We continue to work with Cell C on an expanded network deal and are seeing good progress to date.

Providing an update of the asset realisation programme (ARP) MTN Group CFO Ralph Mupita said: “As at June 2019 we had achieved R2.1bn of the 3-year R15 billion target announced in March this year. We continue to make steady progress in this regard and, following American Towers Corporation’s announcement of its acquisition of Eaton Towers, we are in advanced discussions to dispose of our 49% holdings in ATC Ghana and ATC Uganda which we value at between R7bn and R8bn.

The post IPO lock up period of Jumia, in which we have an 18.9% stake has expired and, as at 29 October, this stake is valued at approximately R1.4 billion. We also continue to await regulatory processes for the redemption of MTN Nigeria preference shares that have a value of $315 million for MTN Group. Finally, Econet’s unsolicited offer to acquire our 53% stake in Mascom has been terminated following certain conditions of the sale not being met.”

The Group expects an improved performance in South Africa in 2020 as the effects of the End User regulation on OOB usage moderate, the enterprise division returns to growth and the Cell C situation stabilises. We are confident that in Nigeria we will maintain service revenue and EBITDA growth in line with the medium-term guidance. This will be delivered as we improve our data revenue performance with increased 4G coverage as we utilise our 800 Mhz spectrum. We are also pushing ahead with our mobile money strategy through the super-agent licence, with 66,282 registered agents currently and a target of 100,000 by year end.

Shuter concludes: “Although conditions have been tougher in the year, we have sustained our performance in 2019 and looking forward, we are focussed on executing our BRIGHT strategy to deliver sustainable growth in our operations and to simplify our portfolio to reduce risk and improve returns. We remain resolute and committed to building our digital operator strategy and delivering on our medium-term targets and dividend policy.

MTN Group today announced it has shown encouraging progress under difficult trading conditions. The Group saw growth of 12% in adjusted headline earnings per share, which is the first time that we have delivered growth in this measure in recent years. Commercially, the subscriber base continues to grow, increasing by a further 7,7 million to now number more than 240 million across operations.

Looking forward the Group is well-positioned to grow by leveraging its scale and enhancing its competitive position as it transitions into a digital operator.

Listen to MTN Group President & CEO, Rob Shuter, commenting on the interim results:

 

MTN is breaking the demographic divide

 

Increasing access to economic and transactional services for all

 

Make a big difference in the continent

 

MTN invested R12 billion in building world-class network

 

MTN Group today announced an encouraging set of results for the six months ended 30 June 2019 in the context of difficult trading conditions across its major markets.

Commenting on the results, Rob Shuter, MTN Group President and CEO, said:

“We had a good first half, reporting solid financial results, good commercial momentum and encouraging strategic progress. We saw growth of 12% 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% and EBITDA just above 10%, 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 capex intensity drop further, to 16,9%.

Commercially, we 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 grew by 3,5 million to 82 million and our 30-day active Mobile Money users grew by 2,4 million to 30 million. Our continued focus on the customer experience has seen us record brand NPSˆ leadership across more than 50% 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.  

During the period we 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.”

 Operating environment

 In South Africa, the group contended with a weak macroeconomic environment as well as the introduction of new end-user requirements and the repricing of out-of-bundle data rates. In Nigeria, economic activity was muted in the time of presidential elections and prior to the formation of the cabinet. In Iran, the rial weakened sharply after the re-imposition of US sanctions.

Financial performance

Notwithstanding this environment, in constant currency terms, service revenue grew by 9,7% to R67,9 billion and earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) expanded by 10,2% to R31,2 billion. The holding company net debt to EBITDA ratio remained stable at 2.3x, which is well within the group’s guidance range of 2.0 to 2.5x, and capex intensity dropped further to 16.9%, indicating greater efficiency in deploying assets.

Looking ahead, Shuter says:

“MTN is well positioned to grow by leveraging our scale and enhancing our competitive position.

 In the second half, in South Africa we will focus on the continued turnaround of the enterprise business, the recovery of prepaid and the launch of Mobile Money. In Nigeria, we will focus on the further rollout of 4G coverage, the launch of Ayoba and Music Time! as well as accelerating our fintech ambitions by fully leveraging our extensive distribution network to offer a range of transfer and payment services to our GSM customer base.

 Across the rest of the portfolio we have six focus areas. These are: the continued turnaround of our operations in the West and Central Africa region; the resolution of some of the more complicated regulatory situations; the rollout of MusicTime! and Ayoba across the group; the asset realisation programme; launch of our pan-African MTN 4 Good campaign and delivering on our medium-term targets.”

View our Interim results for 2019 here.

Highlights:

MTN Nigeria Communications Plc (“MTN Nigeria” or “the Company”) is one of Africa’s largest providers of communications services, connecting over 61 million people in communities across the country with each other and the world.

Guided by a vision to lead the delivery of a bold new digital world, MTN Nigeria’s leadership position in coverage, capacity and innovation has remained constant since its launch in 2001. MTN Nigeria is part of the MTN Group – a multinational telecommunications group which operates in 21 countries in Africa and the Middle East.

MTN Nigeria announces its unaudited results for the six months ended 30 June 2019. In January 2019, MTN Nigeria adopted IFRS 16 accounting standards in line with global best practice and adjustments are reflected in the results. All financial comparisons are year-on-year (YoY) unless otherwise stated. All subscriber numbers are compared to end of December 2018 unless otherwise stated. This announcement is the responsibility of the MTN Nigeria board of directors.

 MTN Nigeria CEO, Ferdi Moolman comments:

“In the first half of 2019, we sustained a solid performance, delivering double-digit growth in service revenue, underpinned by growth in voice and data revenue. We added 3.3 million customers to our network, increasing our subscriber base to 61.5 million. Pleasingly, we saw data subscribers increase in the period by 2.1 million to 20.7 million.

We made significant network investments to improve network quality and expand our 4G coverage. Our recent work to revamp our data prices and accelerate our 4G network has put us in a strong competitive position to offer more value to our customers, supporting data and voice revenue growth which will ultimately strengthen our business.

We are pleased with obtaining a super-agent licence from the Central Bank of Nigeria, which will enable us to build an agent network and accelerate the growth of our fintech business.

In May, MTN Nigeria was successfully listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), making us the first mobile network operator to list on the NSE. The listing demonstrates our commitment to the Nigerian market and provides local investors with an opportunity to participate in and benefit from the company’s growth prospects.

We made changes to our board following the retirement of six pioneer non-executive directors on the expiration of their tenure and in compliance with applicable corporate governance codes. We express our heartfelt appreciation to our outgoing directors for their contributions to the success of the company. We also welcome the incoming directors whose combination of extensive experience across the worlds of technology, finance, regulatory and policy development and corporate governance offers a hugely synergistic set of skills that will be of great benefit to us as we move into a new phase of growth.

Our Chief Financial Officer, Mr. Adekunle Awobodu has indicated his intention to resign from the position of the CFO of the company in the second half of 2019 for family-related reasons. The identification of a suitable successor has reached an advanced stage to facilitate a seamless transition. To ensure continuity on certain projects, Mr Awobodu has graciously accepted to continue to support the company on a consultancy basis. The board extends its appreciation to Mr. Awobodu for his contributions to the growth of the company.

In line with our dividend policy guidance at listing, the board has approved a maiden interim dividend as a listed company, of N2.95 kobo per share to be paid out distributable net income.”

Operational review

MTN Nigeria delivered a solid performance, with strong voice (+11.4%) and data revenue (+31.7%) driving double-digit service revenue growth and further improving the margin on earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA).

Voice revenue growth was supported by an increase in subscribers (+5.7%), relatively stable tariffs and our focus on pro-consumer activities. This was boosted by our targeted customer value management (CVM) initiatives. Data revenue growth was driven by an increased number of smartphones on the

network, greater data usage and growth in the number of active data users. We added 2.5 million smartphones, increasing smartphone penetration by 2.1pp to 39.2%. Active data subscribers increased by 11.0% to 20.7 million and data traffic rose by 67% YoY.

Our fintech business continued to gain momentum with 21.2% growth in revenue YoY. The super-agent licence will allow us to leverage our established distribution channels to offer a wide range of mobile financial services. We will continue to work towards obtaining a payment service banking licence that we applied for in late 2018. Digital revenue continued to be impacted by the optimisation of value-added services (VAS). However, our focus is to build a sustainable base of active digital users in order to boost revenue growth. Our enterprise business also delivered satisfactory results, with revenue increasing by 31.3%, to contribute 11.9% to service revenue.

We recorded an EBITDA margin of 53.8% on account of the implementation of IFRS 16. On an IAS 17 basis, operating expenses increased by 9.7%, below inflation. The 1.5pp improvement in the EBITDA margin was supported by a stable naira against the US dollar benefiting our operating expenses as well as lower digital expenses arising from our VAS optimisation initiatives. Our bottom line remained strong with 30.9% and 34.8% growth in profit before and after tax respectively, while earnings per share increased by 34.8% to 486 kobo.

Corporate and legal matters

The hearing on the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) matter, which was originally scheduled to be held on June 26, 2019 for commencement of trial on the substantive issue before the court was adjourned to October 29 and 31 2019. We remain resolute that MTN Nigeria has not committed any offence and will continue to defend this position.

The redemption of MTN Nigeria’s preference shares has always been envisaged as a necessary part of the simplification of our capital structure. The redemption process is underway and will be completed after necessary regulatory process.

 Outlook

Our overriding priority for the rest of the year is to focus on our BRIGHT strategy to build a sustainable business and create value for customers. We will continue to progress in the second half of the year, making improvements to our network experience, subscriber growth and enhance operational efficiency. We expect lower data pricing and our acceleration of the 4G network expansion to bolster the acquisition of customers and data traffic volumes in the second half.

This announcement is only a summary of the information in the full announcement and does not contain full or complete details. Please visit https://www.mtn.com/investors/more-in-investors/nigeria/ for the unaudited results for the six months ended 30 June 2019.

MTN Group has released its first quarter update for the period ended 31 March 2019, meeting its medium-term revenue growth target by delivering 10% year-on-year growth led by strong operational performance in South Africa, Nigeria and Ghana.

Commenting on the update, MTN Group CEO Rob Shuter said: “We are encouraged by the operational progress we continue to see across the business, supported by the network roll-out we achieved and enhancements to the propositions that we offer to our customers. In South Africa, we implemented changed pricing for pre-paid propositions where we reduced, materially the out-of-bundle tariffs, making data services much more affordable.”

Shuter added that the company takes note of the provisional report from the Competition Commission of Inquiry into data services and will respond by 14 June 2019. MTN remains of the view that the release of high demand spectrum in South Africa is critical to providing affordable and ubiquitous data services for the citizens of the country.

As part of broadening the fintech business, MTN also launched Africa’s first instant messaging platform ‘Ayoba’ in Ivory Coast and Cameroon with further expansion into other markets and the integration of payments planned in the second half of the year.

Commenting on the regional performance, Group CFO Ralph Mupita said: “We are pleased by the service revenue development, despite challenges in some markets. The growth in service revenue was supported by the continued expansion in voice, data and fintech revenue which increased 5,9%, 18,3% and 30,6% respectively. Our asset realisation programme remains on track, and we anticipate that the Mascom transaction will close by end of June 2019, subject to regulatory approvals. Good progress has also been made on repayment of the ATC Ghana shareholder loan to MTN Group.”

Early in the second quarter, MTN’s e-commerce joint venture Jumia Technologies AG successfully raised fresh capital to list on the New York Stock Exchange. MTN’s shareholding reduced to 18.9% in the IPO, and as at 6 May 2019, the value of its shareholding in Jumia was approximately $560m. The company completed the conversion of MTN Nigeria to a public company ahead of the listing by introduction on the Nigerian Stock Exchange anticipated for May 2019.

AGF matter

On Tuesday, 07 May the Federal High Court delivered its ruling, rejecting the Notice of Preliminary Objection filed by the AGF in response to MTN Nigeria’s lawsuit. The substantive case is now scheduled to be heard on June 26.

Looking ahead, the company remains committed to achieving its medium-term targets through delivering against all elements of its BRIGHT strategy.

MTN accelerates growth, delivers on dividend, simplifies the group and lifts its medium-term targets  

Johannesburg – MTN Group published its financial results for the year ended December 2018 on Thursday, meeting all its medium-term targets, reducing its holding company leverage and accelerating service revenue growth driven by the implementation of its BRIGHT strategy.

It increased its subscriber base by 16 million to 233 million customers across 21 markets in Africa and the Middle East. The number of active data users increased by 10 million to 79 million and the active mobile money subscriber base rose to 27 million. This strong commercial momentum drove a 10,7% constant currency increase in service revenue to R125,4 billion.

“The service revenue growth rate achieved is ahead of both prior year and our guidance and – more importantly – is above the average rate of inflation in our markets, which means we are delivering real growth in service revenue,” said Rob Shuter, MTN’s group president and CEO.

Group Ebitda rose more than 15% and reported headline earnings per share (HEPS) increased to 337 cents from 182 cents in 2017. Adjusting for once-off items HEPS would have been 565 cents per share. The total full year dividend of 500 cents is well covered and a final dividend of 325 cents has been declared.

Optimising the portfolio

MTN has conducted an extensive review of its portfolio to reduce risk, improve returns and simplify MTN. This review covered not only its subsidiary companies but also its associates and its investments in e-commerce investments and tower companies. The group has R40 billion tied up in the value of the e-commerce and tower company investments and has announced that they are not viewed as long-term strategic assets of the group and will be monetised over time.

The group has committed to the portfolio review realising more than R15 billion over the next 3 years excluding any proceeds from its R23 billion position in IHS.

Pursuant to this it announced that it would be disposing of its associate in Botswana, Mascom, for $300 million where its lack of control position and MTN branding meant that the group is not able to execute on its BRIGHT strategy.

Stabilising leverage, managing regulatory challenges

The group stabilised its gearing, bringing the holding company leverage down to 2,3 times at December 2018 from 2,9 times at June 2018 and within the target range of 2,0 to 2,5 times. The group’s overall gearing moderated to 1,3x.

“We have made good progress to improve the holding company leverage bringing it within the medium-term guidance range we set out. Proceeds we receive from the asset realization program will support efforts to further reduce debt and de-lever the holding company balance sheet.” said group CFO Ralph Mupita. “We believe the holding company leverage is appropriate, and we can well manage the debt and deliver on our 500 cents progressive dividend policy in the future.” he added.

The company overcame several regulatory headwinds in 2018, the most material of which was the Central Bank Central Bank of Nigeria dispute on historical dividend repatriations. This was resolved and MTN announced in December 2018 that they had agreed to implement a notional reversal of the 2008 private placement and consequently made a resolution payment of $53 million. The group is committed to further enhancing its risk management and stakeholder management processes.

Enhancing guidance

“We see significant opportunity to grow subscribers and voice revenue as we also execute on the large mobile data opportunity,” said Shuter. “We are also extending our BRIGHT strategy to build MTN into a digital operator with a major focus on the fintech, digital, enterprise and wholesale business areas.”

“Key focus areas for 2019 are the launch of our own music streaming and instant messaging applications and extending MTN mobile money from 14 to 18 countries through launches in South Africa, Nigeria, Afghanistan and Sudan”

Considering the improved performance in 2018 and its growth plans, the group revised its guidance to investors upwards, targeting double-digit growth in service revenue, improved profit margins and capex efficiency and a new target to drive return on equity from 11% to over 20% in the next three to five years.

About the MTN Group

Launched in 1994, the MTN Group is a leading emerging market operator, connecting more than 230 million subscribers in 21 countries in Africa and the Middle East. The MTN Group is listed on the JSE Securities Exchange in South Africa under the share code: “MTN”. MTN is pursuing its BRIGHT strategy with a major focus on growth in its financial services, digital, wholesale and enterprise businesses.

 

View 2018 Financial Results for the year ended 31 December 2018.