The recently announced unaudited nine months results ended 30 September 2019 of MTN Nigeria Communications Plc, has shown resilience and profitability.
Fact checks showed that Mobile subscribers increased by 0.1 million to 61.6 million; Active data users increased by 1.6 million to 22.3 million; Service revenue increased by 12.1% to NGN 854.9 billion; and EBITDA grew by 39.3% to N460.1 billion (IAS 17: 15.8% to N382.5 billion).
Also, EBITDA margin increased by 10.5 pp to 53.7% (IAS 17: 44.7%, up 1.5pp); Earnings per share rose by 29% to N7.29k (IAS 17: 36.6% to N7.72k); and Capex increased by 39.5% to N154.1 billion (IAS 17: 20.9% to N133.5 billion).
In his remarks, the Chief Executive Officer of MTN Nigeria, Mr Ferdi Moolman averred that “Our performance was very encouraging, demonstrating the resilience of our business despite a challenging operating environment. We sustained double-digit growth in service revenue led by growth in voice and data revenue.”
“We recorded 61.6 million subscribers, representing a 0.1 million increase QoQ. We were required to undertake a SIM re-registration process, which resulted in a disconnection of around 0.6 million active subscribers, limiting base growth.”
Continuing, he added that “During the quarter, we focused on the end-to-end optimisation and repositioning of our data offerings. We made significant investments in accelerating 4G network expansion; and leveraging 800MHz spectrum activated in Q2 2019, we launched enhanced 4G+ services in Lagos, Abuja, and Port-Harcourt. We also changed our pricing strategy, placing us in an even stronger competitive position going forward.”
“As a result, we have begun to see promising results with active data subscriber net additions of 1.6 million and 4G population coverage at over 35% in 64 cities. Data traffic volume also increased by over 68%, while data revenue rose by 34.9% yoy.
“We continued to sustain EDITDA margin expansion and operating leverage with EBITDA growth ahead of revenue and inflation at 39.3%, while growth in profit after tax and earnings per share remained strong at 29% apiece.
Moolman disclosed further that “During the period, we obtained Platinum accreditation from Investor in People (IiP), a global body that assesses the people practices of companies across 75 countries. This achievement reflects the premium we place on our people, and places MTN Nigeria among the best companies to work for globally,” Moolman averred.
