2024

Penny

Steel

Africa’s biggest telecoms operator,&nbsp;<a href="https://technext24.com/2023/02/16/mtn-group-to-invest-1-billion-in-ghana/">MTN Group</a> has reported a group service revenue slump of 20.8% to 85.3 billion rands from 107.7 billion rands in its half-year&nbsp;report released this morning. According to the group, the revenue drop was owing to the devaluation of the Nigerian naira and operational challenges in Sudan. 
MTN’s service revenue from South Africa surpassed that of MTN Nigeria, its biggest market by revenue, growing marginally by 3.3% to 21.1 billion rand, while Nigeria tumbled by 52.9% to 20.5 billion rand. In constant currency, Nigeria grew by 32.4%. 
In contrast, group service revenue, which excludes device and SIM card revenue, rose by 12.1%. The telecoms operator reported a headline loss of 256 cents per share in the six months ended June 30, compared with restated headline earnings from a year earlier at 260 cents a share. 
The company also said that its board anticipates paying a minimum ordinary final dividend of 330 cents per share for the 2024 financial year. 
Speaking on the development, Group CEO Ralph Mupita said in a statement that the company was affected largely by external factors: “Although the underlying commercial momentum and strategy execution were solid in the period, macro headwinds impacted operating results”. 
“The further devaluation in the naira against the U.S. dollar, the translation impact on reporting currency (rands) of the naira and the ongoing&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/sudanese-rsf-brings-down-telecoms-networks-across-sudan-sources-2024-02-05/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">conflict in Sudan</a>&nbsp;had the most significant impact on reported results”, he added. 
Recall that we <a href="https://technext24.com/2024/08/08/mtn-group-warns-of-h1-loss/">reported</a> that the MTN Group warned that it expects to report a 140% to 150% decrease in headline earnings per share for its half-year results. This was contained in a notice to investors and signed by the Company’s Secretary, Uto Ukpanah. 
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 <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="611" height="407" src="https://technext24.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Ralph-Mupita.jpeg" alt="Ralph Mupita, chief executive officer of MTN Group Ltd., poses for a photograph following an interview in London, U.K., on Wednesday, May 29, 2019. Asked in a Bloomberg Television interview whether the U.S. government has put pressure on MTN Group to stop using Huawei as a supplier, Chief Executive Officer Rob Shuter said: &quot;Not at all.&quot; Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg via Getty Images" class="wp-image-174762">
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 Ralph Mupita, chief executive officer of MTN Group Ltd. Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg via Getty Images
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According to it, the naira devaluation impact on its Nigerian operating expenses is estimated to reduce the group’s half-year results by 90 cents, compared to a 4% impact last year. “The foreign exchange losses in MTN Nigeria’s financial results are estimated to reduce Group H1 ’24 results by a further 389 cents (2023: 123 cents).” 
The company also said a fall in the value of most local currencies would further impact its results which are reported in the South African rand, while&nbsp;conflict in Sudan&nbsp;had led to losses at its unit there. 
On the bright side, the company assured investors that it expects to report a resilient underlying performance with pleasing momentum in other key African markets.&nbsp;“MTN Ghana and MTN Uganda reported strong H1&nbsp;’24 performance, while we expect reporting results for MTN SA that demonstrate encouraging progress in key areas of the business,”&nbsp;it said. 
MTN also said it had been encouraged by the progress in cash upstreaming from markets like Nigeria, which supported the holding company’s leverage. The company also reported that its fintech platform has sustained robust revenue growth trends and ecosystem expansion. 
<h4 id="mtn-gets-license-to-generate-electricity-in-nigeria" class="wp-block-heading">MTN gets license to generate electricity in Nigeria</h4> 
The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has issued permits to Golden Penny Power Limited, MTN Communications Nigeria Limited, Havenhill Synergy, and others for mini-grid electricity generation. 
A statement by the NERC indicated that it issued nine new off-grid generation licences in the first quarter of 2024 with a gross capacity of 109.69 megawatts and three new trading licences. 
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 <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="900" height="563" src="https://technext24.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/MTN-Group-Limited.jpeg" alt="MTN Nigeria to raise N52 billion through commercial papers issuance for recapitalization" class="wp-image-219773">
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MTN was granted a permit to build four captive generation plants across Lagos State with 15.94MW capacity. Golden Penny Power Limited got a licence to build six off-grid gas plants in Lagos, Oyo, Ogun, and Cross River states. The total capacity is 100MW. 
Aside from MTN, SweetCo Foods Limited, African Steel Mills Nigeria Limited, West African Ceramics Limited, Royal Engineered Stones Limited, and Armilo Plastics Limited were permitted to generate captive power. 
Section 165(1)(m) of the Electricity Act 2023 permits the NERC to award licences for mini-grid concessions to renewable energy companies to exclusively serve a specific geographical location indicating aggregate electricity to be generated and distributed from a site with the obligation to serve customers to request service. 
A permit is issued to a mini-grid developer for the construction, operation, maintenance, and where applicable ownership of mini-grids with distribution capacity above 100 kilowatts and generation capacity up to 1MW.
The post <a href="https://technext24.com/2024/08/19/mtn-groups-revenue-drops-by-20-h1-2024/">MTN Group’s revenue drops by&nbsp;20.8% in H1 2024</a> first appeared on <a href="https://technext24.com">Technext</a>.

MTN Group’s revenue drops by 20.8% in H1 2024

Technext.ng

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