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MTN Nigeria Plc has recorded an impressive 31.28% surge in profit for its Q1 2022 financial results totaling N97 billion to underscore a robust business performance across the company’s segments notably voice, data, interconnect & roaming, SMS, digital, value-added services and (VAS), among others.
Nigeria’s largest network by profit and subscription retains its lead with a N421.49 billion earning from calls and data in Q1 2022, a 20.32 per cent increase from N350.31 it raked in for Q1 2021.
In its Q1, 2021 announcement, MTN revealed that it made N470.98bn in total revenue in 2022.
The telco’s filing shows increase in its service revenue by 22.0% to N469.8 billion while earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) grew by 25.7% to N257.1 billion.
5G launch
It’s an impressive beginning for a telco hoping to further consolidate its market grip with expected launch Momo Payment Service Bank (PSB) by Q2 and 5G services by Q3.
“In addition, we have fully paid for one lot of 100MHz in the 3.5GHz spectrum band and have been assigned the 3500 – 3600 MHz frequencies for 10 years. We will launch our 5G services once regulatory approval is obtained,” said Toriola.
Insiders say, MTN expects a cautious 30% growth added to its overall market value by year end through 5G launch.
“This will enable us to deepen broadband penetration in Nigeria, enhance customer experience and unlock new revenue streams from the numerous use cases 5G offers,” said MTN Nigeria CEO, Karl Toriola.
Adding: “Having obtained the final approval for our MoMo PSB, which we expect to launch the business in Q2, we will leverage our agent network to accelerate the rollout of advanced services in our mission to drive digital and financial inclusion.”
Toriola said the telco’s mobile subscriber base declined by 1.9% year on year from 71.5 million in March 2021 to 70.2 million owing to regulatory restrictions on new SIM sales and activations.
However, the company added 1.7 million subscribers in Q1 2022 while active data users rose from 3.4 million to 35.9 million year on year, adding 1.6 million active users in Q1 2022.
His words: “We added 1.7 million subscribers in Q1 2022. In addition, active data subscribers rose by 10.5% year on year to 35.9 million, with 1.6 million added in Q1 as we continued to drive data conversion from our new and existing subscriber base”.
Toriola further said: “We have continued to make good progress in the first quarter, building on the momentum we achieved in Q4 2021 and delivering several key milestones as we grow our connectivity business and platforms.
“I am pleased that we have made significant strides in deepening our relationships with all our stakeholders while substantially enhancing our contributions to government revenue.
“In recognition of our remarkable performance in remittance of taxes despite the challenges posed by the pandemic, the Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS) recognised MTN Nigeria as a top 20 taxpayer and one of the best tax compliant organisations in Nigeria for the 2021 tax year.
Shareholders get more
The company declared a dividend of N8.57 kobo for FY 2021, which was paid on April 28, 2022, while Earnings per share for the Q1 2022 period is N4.76, a 31.49% growth from N3.62 in Q1 2021.
According to Toriola, the company has strengthened local ownership with increased number of shareholders from Nigeria.
“In terms of strategic milestones, we concluded the first phase of a series of transactions to increase Nigerian ownership in MTN Nigeria, and we are delighted to have welcomed 126,720 retail investors to our shareholder base, many of whom are first-time investors.
“As at 31 March 2022, the number of retail shareholders had increased to approximately 139,000, demonstrating the advances in MTN’s localisation imperative. We also completed a group-wide brand refresh to position the business appropriately as we accelerate our growth and scale our platforms through our Ambition 2025 strategy.
