MTN to list on NSE by June

Barring unplanned changes, telecommunication giant, MTN, will list its shares on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) in or before June this year.MTN, while announcing its results for the year ended December 31, 2018, confirmed its intention to list by introduction on the NSE in the first half of 2019.

The financial results showed that the South African firm, with operations in over 20 countries, actually increased its service revenue in Nigeria by 17.2 per cent, data revenue by 39.3 per cent and fintech revenue by 32.7 per cent, but digital revenue decreased by 58.1 per cent.

The result also showed that the Nigerian arm grew its Earnings Before Interest, Tax, Depreciation and Amortisation (EBITDA) by 30.8 per cent to N453.1 billion (excluding Central Bank of Nigeria payment). EBITDA margin increased by 4.5 pp to 43.6 per cent (excluding CBN payment) and mobile subscribers increased by six million to 58 million.

The result showed that the firm recorded total revenue of 37.971 billion South African rand (about N965.3 billion) in Nigeria.Chief Executive Officer, MTN Nigeria, Ferdi Moolman, said: “In 2018, we rebuilt the base, adding another six million Nigerians to our network, giving a total of 58 million people access to worldwide communication services.

“This growth was built on our sustained focus on customer-centric delivery – ensuring that customers get more value for their money. This included the deployment of proactive interventions to improve customer experience, together with the enhancement of network quality and coverage, and the optimisation of our services portfolio.”

Moolman said the firm also enabled an additional eight million people to access the possibilities that the internet provides, “bringing our total data subscriber base to 44 million, of which 18.7 million use more than five megabytes per month. We are now even better positioned to ensure that everyone can access the benefits of a modern connected life.

We are excited to have been given the privilege to continue playing a role in facilitating this, and are grateful to our customers, our people, our partners and our regulator for making this possible.”

The founder, Independent Shareholders Association of Nigeria (ISAN), Sunny Nwosu, attributed the move by MTN to list on NSE to pressure by the Nigerian stakeholders and consumers to actively participate in the company’s wealth creation process.On how the offer would impact the market when concluded, Nwosu said: “Even 10 per cent of MTN will create an impact in the capital market and grow the overall capitalisation.”