MTN Nigeria Posts 28.9% Profit Growth Despite “Challenging Operating Environment”

While MTN Nigeria appears to still be locked in a never-ending USD 2 Bn tax dispute with the Nigerian government, and while the telco seems to always be one issue away from falling out with Nigerian regulators, the telco appears to still be killing it on the business end of things.

Apart from the fact that the Nigerian subsidiary of the South African telco, MTN Group, is the undisputed leader in Africa’s largest market, it’s financials seem to be looking pretty good.

MTN Nigeria Communications Plc has disclosed its consolidated financial report for the nine months ended September 30th, 2019.  The report shows impressive performance by the company which was listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange earlier this year.

MTN recorded revenue of NGN 856.4 Bn in the nine months ended September 30. It’s a 12 percent increase when compared to the NGN 764.4 Bn recorded during the same period last year.

Interestingly, the direct network operating costs of the telco for the period decreased by 21.7 percent to NGN 177.9 Bn, though the cost for employees’ benefits and advertising cost saw respective increases of 20.9 percent and 10.6 percent.

Looking at the telco’s operating profit for the period under review, the figure was pegged at NGN 286.2 Bn, signalling an increase of 39 percent as against NGN 205.8 Bn recorded in September 2018.

Profit before tax also rose by 23.9 percent to NGN 212 Bn during the period under review as against NGN 171 Bn during the comparable period last year.

Profit for the period was reported as NGN 148.3 Bn, a 28.9 percent increase compared to N115 billion reported by the company for the first three quarters of 2018.

MTN’s earnings per share for the period (basic and diluted) was reported at NGN 7.29 as against NGN 5.65 as at September 2018.  

MTN’s Chief Executive Officer, Ferdi Moolman, expressed his thoughts on the telco’s financial performance. He stated that saying that it is a reflection of the company’s “resilience” despite “a challenging operating environment”.

It is also important to note that the company generated most of its revenue for the period through its voice and data services.