Finally, Thursday, May 16, 2019 has been slated for the leading telecoms giant, MTN Nigeria Plc to get listed on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).
In an official invitation letter sent to Business Hilights Publications Tuesday evening by the Exchange, it said “The Council Members and Management of the Nigerian Stock Exchange(NSE) is pleased to welcome the Board and Management of MTN Nigeria Plc to the Exchange for the official listing of the company on the NSE Premium Board”.
“They will be honoured with our Closing Gong Ceremony and will deliver the Facts Behind the Listing presentation to capital market stakeholders on Thursday May 16, 2019.”
The schedule of the event as given by the NSE showed that it will take place by 2.00pm at the 9th Floor Gallery & 20th Floor NSE Event Center.
NSE concluded by saying “By this letter, we are pleased to invite your Capital Market Correspondent and Press Photographer/Cameraman to cover the event for publication or broadcasting through your medium”.
In a telephone interview, a top Corporate Affairs executive of MTN Nigeria, who pleaded anonymity confirmed the plan and assured that the company will continue to be part of Nigerian economic development by deepening investments.
Besides, in a statement made available Wednesday morning, MTN further confirmed the listiung date, saying it has received approval to list on the Premium Board of NSE.
“The listing is set to proceed on 16 May 2019 and will be done by way of an introductory listing. The listing by introduction means that the shares of existing MTN Nigeria shareholders will be listed without an additional public sale of shares. From this point, all MTN Nigeria shareholders will be free to trade their shares on the NSE”.
Explaining more on the development, CEo of MTN Nigeria, Mr Ferdi Moolman, averred that “It gives me great pleasure to confirm that the official listing via introduction of MTN’s shares on the NSE will take place on Thursday May 16.”
“We appreciate the continued support afforded us by the government, regulators and people of this great nation. In particular, I would like to thank the staff and management of MTN Nigeria who worked tirelessly to make this day possible. This is just the beginning; we still intend to pursue a future Public Offer giving more Nigerians greater access to the MTN opportunity.”
According to the MTN Group CFO, Ralph Mupita, “As MTN Group we are very pleased that we are taking this first and important step towards increasing the local ownership of the company, and building the equity capital markets in Nigeria”
Coming to the market with a plan to list at N90 per share, Business Hilights recalls that few days ago, the telecoms giant announced its earnings for the first quarter ended March 31, 2019 recording 13.4% growth in service revenue.
This was driven by a 12.7% and 32.4% rise in voice and data revenue respectively and the addition of 2.1 million active mobile subscribers to the network. The company announced Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization (EBITDA) ofN150.4 billion and expanded EBITDA margins to 53.3%(44.2%, on an IAS 17 basis)due to growth in revenue and effective cost management
