MTN Nigeria at the weekend released its first quarter unaudited result ended March 31, 2022 with a mobile subsctbers decline of 1.3 million to 70.2 million on year-on-year (YoY) performance which was impacted by the regulatory restrictions on new sim sales and activation.
The company according to the report added 1.7 million subscribers in Q1 2022 as against Q4 2021 while active data users increased by 3.4 million to 35.9 million YoY. Also, 1.6 million active users in Q1 2022 as against Q4 202.
Active fintech subscribers rose by 6.2 million to 10.7 million YoY to add 1.3 million subscribers in Q1 2022 against Q4 2021. Service revenue increased by 22.0 per cent to N469.8 billion while earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) grew by 25.7 percent to N257.1 billion.
EBITDA margin increased by 1.5 percentage points (pp) to 54.6 percent as Profit after tax (PAT) grew by 31.3 per cent to N96.8 billion. Earnings per share (EPS) also rose by 31.3 percent to N4.76 kobo.
Capital expenditure (Capex) rose by 80.8 percent to N162.5 billion (up 156.8 per cent to N81.2 billion, excluding right of use assets) as final dividend of N8.57 kobo per share was paid in full year 2021.
Commenting on the company’s performances, the MTN Nigeria CEO, Karl Toriola said the company has continued to make good progress in the first quarter, building on the momentum achieved in Q4 2021 and delivering several key milestones as they grow their connectivity business and platforms.
This was achieved against a backdrop of significant geopolitical volatility exacerbated by the war in Ukraine. This conflict has significantly impacted energy prices, broader inflation, supply chains and consumer spending.
Nevertheless, he said he was pleased that they have made significant strides in deepening their relationships with all our stakeholders while substantially enhancing their contributions to government revenue.
Adding that, in recognition of their 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.
terms of strategic milestones, the company has concluded the first phase of a series of transactions to increase Nigerian ownership in MTN Nigeria, and they are delighted to have welcomed 126,720 retail investors to their shareholder base, many of whom are first-time investors.
This includes Nigerian pension funds representing approximately 6.5 million Nigerian contributors. As of 31 March 2022, the number of retail shareholders had increased to approximately 139,000, demonstrating the advances in MTN’s localization imperative.
However, he said they also completed a group-wide brand refresh to position the business appropriately as they accelerate their growth and scale their platforms through their Ambition 2025 strategy.
in addition, he said they 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.
He assured subscribers of their launching their 5G services once regulatory approval is obtained.
Post the reporting period, he said the company was granted final approval for our MoMo Payment Service Bank (PSB) by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). This he said will enable them to offer financial services in line with the CBN’s guidelines and support the government in fulfilling its agenda of driving financial inclusion in Nigeria.
Looking ahead, he said the company is focused on building on the solid foundation of growth they have laid thus far.
“We will continue to ramp up gross connections through our rural connectivity drive and leverage CVM initiatives to grow our subscriber base and usage further. To support further growth in our connectivity business, we will continue to accelerate the expansion of our 4G network towards achieving our goal of 80 percent coverage by year-end while providing home broadband to capture a significant share of market growth”, he said.
Following the 5G spectrum acquisition, he aid they will commence the initial rollout of 5G services in the six geopolitical zones once we receive regulatory clearance. This will enable them to deepen broadband penetration in Nigeria, enhance customer experience and unlock new revenue streams from the numerous use cases 5G offers.
Having obtained the final approval for their MoMo PSB, which they expect to launch the business in Q2, he said the company will leverage on theirr agent network to accelerate the rollout of advanced services in their mission to drive digital and financial inclusion.
He assured investors and customers that the company will remain committed to driving cost management across the business through their expense efficiency programme and strengthening their operations and financial position to improve returns to shareholders.
In the near term, he said their margins will be impacted by the NCC’s directive on NINSIM linkage, higher energy-related costs as well as the investment to launch and rollout PSB.
