With 29m additional customers, strong 2020 results, MTN announces Ambition 2025 roadmap

The MTN Group, in its latest balance sheet, has grown its telecom subscribers base with additional 29 million customers to consolidate its African market despite the challenges of 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic bites.

Not surprisingly, the Africa’s telecom giant is reporting a strong 2020 financial year with an adjusted headline earnings per share by 52% – more than doubling operating cash flow to R28.3-billion.

But MTN is suspending its full-year dividend due to uncertainties regarding cash repatriation in markets like Nigeria even as it announced a roadmap for the next four years – Ambition 2025, a strategic review of its operations and growth plans.

Under its new deal, the telco will be separating its platforms such as fintech from its infrastructure assets. According to MTN Group president and CEO Ralph Mupita, the plan is to allow for true value of such operations so as to attract third-party capital and partnerships into these businesses over the medium-term.

“We believe that Ambition 2025 will position the business to capture the exciting opportunities across our markets and our medium-term guidance has been enhanced to reflect this accelerating growth outlook,” added Mupita.

Full-year dividend to wait

According to the group, “near-term focus on faster deleveraging of its holding company as well as three conditions which negatively impacted this objective” will have to keep on hold, expectations for full-year dividend.

The telco explained, the three conditions to be challenges on “cash upstreaming,” repatriation from Nigeria, its largest market; the timing of proceeds from the asset realisation programme, and Covid-19 impacts.”

Its statement added: “In light of these material uncertainties, the board has also suspended the dividend policy and anticipates communicating a revised medium-term dividend policy when we announce our 2021 results in March 2022.”