Economy
MTN Declares N10 Per Share Dividend as Revenue Hits N2.0trn
By Dipo Olowookere
Shareholders of MTN Nigeria will receive a N10 per share dividend for the financial year ending December 31, 2022.
The board proposed this cash reward in a regulatory notice filed to the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited.
The payment is only for shareholders who have the company’s stocks as of March 27, 2023, with the payment date fixed for April 20, 2023.
The telecommunications giant is rewarding its investors with this money amid a very profitable accounting year.
Details of its financial results showed that the revenue generated in the year under consideration improved by 21.5 per cent to N2.0 trillion compared with the N1.7 trillion achieved in the preceding year.
The improvement in the total turnover was due to increases in its mobile subscribers by 10.5 per cent to 75.6 million, active data users by 15.3 per cent to 39.5 million, and active fintech subscribers by 57.5 per cent to 14.9 million.
More people had reasons to join the MTN network because of the decision of the company to “invest in the resilience of our business and networks, expanding coverage and capacity.”
In the year, MTN cut its expenses by 21.2 per cent to N941.9 billion from N777.2 billion, with employee costs dropping to N45.1 billion from N48.4 billion, helping the operating profit to rise to N733.3 billion from N584.8 billion.
With a finance income of N13.8 billion versus N11.9 billion in FY 2021 and finance costs of N213.1 billion versus N160.0 billion a year earlier, the profit before tax closed at N534.0 billion as against the N436.7 billion recorded in the previous year, while the profit after tax stood at N358.9 billion, in contrast to N298.7 billion in FY 2021.
“2022 was challenging due to global macroeconomic and geopolitical volatility, resulting in higher inflation, supply chain uncertainties, foreign exchange volatility and availability.
“In Nigeria, Inflation reached a 17-year high of 21.5% in November before moderating slightly to 21.3 per cent in December, bringing the average for the year to 18.8 per cent and putting pressure on consumer spending.
“To curb rising inflation, the Central Bank of Nigeria increased interest rates four times in 2022, bringing the Monetary Policy Rate to 16.5 per cent – up by five pp during the year. This was further raised by 1pp in January 2023 to 17.5 per cent,” the chief executive of the firm, Mr Karl Toriola, said.
“In line with our dividend policy and guided by our ambition to create shared value for our stakeholders, the Board of Directors has proposed a final dividend of N10 per share to be paid out of distributable net income.
“This brings the total dividend for the year to N15.60 kobo per share, an increase of 18.9 per cent, delivering economic value to our shareholders,” he added.
By Dipo Olowookere
The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited ended Friday’s trading session lower with a marginal decline of 0.01 per cent as a result of continued market volatility.
Customs Street was down during the last trading session of the week despite bargain-hunting activities in the banking and industrial goods sectors, which closed higher by 0.51 per cent and 0.01 per cent, respectively.
Business Post reports that profit-taking in the other sectors contributed to the downfall of the local bourse yesterday, with the insurance index weakening by 3.21 per cent.
Further, the energy counter went down by 0.50 per cent, and the consumer goods space depreciated by 0.24 per cent, while the commodity industry closed flat.
At the close of business, the All-Share Index (ASI) shrank by 13.37 points to 105,511.89 points from 105,525.26 points and the market capitalisation declined by N8 billion to settle at N66.147 trillion versus Thursday’s closing value of N66.155 trillion.
A total of 348.3 million shares worth N8.1 billion exchanged hands in 11,444 deals on Friday compared with the 397.1 million shares valued at N8.7 billion traded in 13,667 deals a day earlier, implying a drop in the trading volume, value, and number of deals by 12.29 per cent, 6.90 per cent, and 16.27 per cent, respectively.
The activity log was led by UBA with the sale of 26.3 million stocks for N972.3 million, United Capital traded 25.6 million shares valued at N391.5 million, FCMB exchanged 24.2 million equities worth N211.2 million, Zenith Bank transacted 22.9 million shares valued at N1.1 billion, and Fidelity Bank traded 22.6 million stocks worth N441.7 million.
Investor sentiment remained bearish yesterday after the NGX finished with 19 price gainers and 29 price losers, showing a negative market breadth index.
Lasaco Assurance and AXA Mansard were the worst-performing equities with a decline of 10.00 per cent each to sell for N2.34, and N8.64 apiece, May and Baker decreased by 8.72 per cent to N7.85, Guinea Insurance crashed by 8.70 per cent to 63 Kobo, and FTN Cocoa lost 6.43 per cent to end at N1.60.
However, Learn Africa and Livestock Feeds closed as the best-performing stocks after they gained 10.00 per cent each to quote at N3.30, and N7.92, respectively, VFD Group soared by 9.83 per cent to N57.00, Union Dicon expanded by 9.43 per cent to N5.80, and NGX Group rose by 8.17 per cent to N32.45.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The duo of FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc and Food Concepts Plc weakened the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange by 0.21 per cent on Friday, April 4.
FrieslandCampina Wamco Plc lost N1.86 to close at N36.80 per unit compared with Thursday’s closing value of N38.66 per unit, and Food Concepts Plc recorded a 1 Kobo decline to end at N1.17 per share versus the preceding session’s N1.18 per share.
This dragged down the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) by 6.88 points at the close of business to 3,309.46 points from the previous day’s 3,316.34 points and the market capitalisation dropped N3.97 billion to settle at N1.911 trillion, in contrast to the N1.915 trillion it ended at the preceding session.
At the unlisted securities yesterday, the volume of trades increased by 247.9 per cent to 1.3 million units from the 372,568 units transacted in the previous trading day.
Equally, the value of transactions surged by 23.2 per cent to N1.3 million from N4.1 million, but the number of deals went down by 50 per cent to 20 deals from the 40 deals recorded on Thursday.
When the bourse ended for the session, Impresit Bakolori Plc remained the most active stock by volume on a year-to-date basis with a turnover of 533.9 million units worth N520.9 million, trailed by Industrial and General Insurance (IGI) Plc with 71,2 million units worth N24.2 million, and Geo Fluids Plc with 44.2 million units sold for N89.4 million.
FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc also remained as the most traded equity by value on a year-to-date basis with the sale of 13.8 million units valued at N534.7 million, followed by Impresit Bakolori Plc with 533.9 million units worth N520.9 million, and Afriland Properties Plc with 17.8 million units sold for N364.2 million.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira extended its loss against the United States Dollar at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) by 1.45 per cent or N22.49 on Friday, April 4.
Data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) showed that the local currency was exchanged to a Dollar at N1,573.23/$1 during the session compared with the N1,550.74/$1 it was transacted on Thursday.
Similarly, the domestic currency weakened against the Euro in the official market yesterday by N2.91 to settle at N1,725.29/€1, in contrast to the previous day’s N1,722.38/€1 but on the British Pound Sterling, it appreciated by N12.27 to sell for N2,031.02/£1 versus the preceding session’s N2,043.29/£1.
In the black market, the Nigerian currency lost N10 against the greenback on Friday to trade at N1,570/$1 compared with the N1,560/$1 it was transacted a day earlier.
The Naira’s negative outcome aligns with a wider slowdown in the global financial markets as retaliatory tariffs weaken outlook and raise possibility of a recession.
Already, Nigeria could face lower foreign exchange earnings from oil, which could be impacted heavily by tariffs.
As for the cryptocurrency market, it remained mixed after China announced retaliatory tariffs on all goods, responding to President Donald Trump’s Wednesday decision to boost the overall levy on Chinese goods to 54 per cent.
The concensus is that China’s response is not only negative for the US but it is also impacting the global outlook.
Binance Coin (BNB) shed 0.5 per cent to close at $594.69, Cardano (ADA) went down by 0.5 per cent to $0.6561, Litecoin (LTC) dropped 0.4 per cent to close at $84.09, Bitcoin (BTC) tumbled by 0.05 per cent to $83,444.13, Ethereum (ETH) declined by 0.04 per cent to $1,810.12, and the US Dollar Tether (USDT) moderated by 0.03 per cent to $0.9997.
On the flip side, Ripple (XRP) jumped by 3.1 per cent to $2.13, Solana (SOL) appreciated by 2.8 per cent to $120.63, and Dogecoin (DOGE) leapt by 2.4 per cent to $0.1690, while the US Dollar Coin (USDC) closed flat at $1.00.
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