Economy
MTN Plans $2.1bn Investment Across African Markets in 2024
By Adedapo Adesanya
Africa’s top telecommunication service, MTN Group, plans to invest up to $2.1 billion (about 39 billion Rands) in 2024 to capture the structural demand for data and fintech services across Africa.
This was disclosed by MTN Group President and CEO, Mr Ralph Mupita, after the company reported growth for 2023 in the face of tough macro headwinds.
On Monday, the telco declared a total dividend of 330 cents per share.
It disclosed that inflation remained elevated in several key markets and the sharp devaluation of the Nigerian naira impacted reported results for both MTN Nigeria and MTN Group.
Amid sustained high demand for data and fintech services, MTN Group increased the number of active data subscribers by more than 9 per cent to 150 million – half the total subscriber base – and active Mobile Money (MoMo) users by 5% to 72.5 million. Total subscribers increased to 295 million across the Group’s markets.
In the year ended December 2023, data traffic on MTN’s networks (excluding joint ventures) grew by more than a third, with usage up to an average of more than 6GB per user per month. To sustain this growth, as well as network coverage and quality, MTN deployed capital expenditure (excluding leases) of R41 billion in the year.
The volume of fintech transactions also increased by around a third to 17.6 billion, with the value of transactions across the fintech platform up at $272 billion, driven by the growth of advanced services in payments, banktech and remittance solutions.
In South Africa, where the business faced load-shedding challenges, subsidiary MTN South Africa deployed R10 billion of capex to drive network capacity expansion and power resilience. More than R2.6 billion of this was an investment in power and security resilience. By the end of the year, network availability across the entire network reached around 95 per cent.
“For the sites where we had completed our resilience investment, we recorded network availability of more than 98 per cent,” the company revealed.
MTN South Africa reported solid growth in the consumer postpaid, enterprise and wholesale businesses. In the second half of the year, there were also sequential improvements in the consumer prepaid business.
In the year, MTN Group made good strategic progress in the development of our fintech and fibre businesses. A key highlight was agreeing for payment network processor Mastercard to invest up to US$200 million for a minority stake in MTN Group Fintech at a valuation of US$5.2 billion.
Speaking on this, Mr Mupita said, “We are excited about this partnership, particularly the commercial agreements, which we expect to support the accelerated growth of our fintech business.
“In 2023, we also advanced our work to structurally separate the fibre business, Bayobab, with engagements to secure regulatory clearances in key markets being the main priority.”
In the year, Bayobab and Africa50 partnered to develop Project East2West, a terrestrial fibre optic cable network to help bridge Africa’s connectivity gap by improving broadband access for the continent’s landlocked countries in particular.
The MTN Group also noted another strategic progress which was a 13.1 per cent absolute reduction in Scope 1 and 2 emissions.
“This is part of our environmental commitment to reach Net Zero emissions by 2040. We also finalised the sale of MTN Afghanistan, which completed the Group’s exit of our consolidated subsidiaries in the Middle East,” it added.
In the year, MTN Group’s finances withstood a challenging external environment, marked by elevated inflation (averaging a blended 16.7 per cent ), forex volatility and paucity, and ongoing political tensions in some markets, most notably in Sudan.
In constant currency terms, MTN Group service revenue grew 13.5 per cent to R210 billion, with data revenue making up R84 billion and voice revenue contributing R83 billion. Fintech revenue totalled R21 billion.
Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation grew by almost 10 per cent in constant currency terms to R90 billion.
The Group delivered expense efficiencies of R2.6 billion and kept key debt ratios within covenant levels.
Looking ahead, Mr Mupita said MTN remained focused on executing Ambition 2025: sustaining operational momentum, accelerating the platform strategy, driving expense and capital efficiencies, and continuing to strengthen the balance sheet.
“We are anticipating that the macro conditions in our trading environment will persist in 2024, with naira volatility and elevated inflation the key challenges we will need to navigate. MTN plans to invest R35-39 billion in 2024 to position the company to capture the structural demand for data and fintech services across Africa,” he said.
“We maintain our overall medium-term guidance framework, however simplifying our objective for fintech,” Mr Mupita said, adding that MTN was encouraged by the outlook for the fintech business, given the solid growth in advanced services.
“The partnership with Mastercard positions the business well to scale faster and we are excited about the commercial launches of card issuance, acceptance and remittances across the footprint.”
By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange made a marginal 0.01 per cent rise on Tuesday, April 29, pushing the Unlisted Security Index (NSI) up by 0.29 points to 3,282.42 points from the previous session’s 3,282.42 points.
Also, the market capitalisation of the trading platform increased slightly by N170 million to remain relatively unchanged at N1.922 trillion.
At the trading session, the bourse ended with two price gainers led by Geo-Fluids Plc, which chalked up 15 Kobo to sell at N2.13 per unit compared with the previous day’s N1.98 per unit, and Food Concepts Plc grew by 13 Kobo to settle at N1.29 per share compared with the N1.17 per share it was traded a day earlier.
However, Afriland Properties Plc lost N1.71 to close at N16.07 per unit versus the preceding day’s price of N17.78 per unit, and FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc crumbled by 65 Kobo to finish at N37.50 per share, in contrast to Monday’s closing value of N38.15 per share.
The volume of securities traded in the session went up by 223.6 per cent to 2.2 million units from the 692,885 units transacted in the previous trading day, the value of transactions jumped by 70.8 per cent to N38.6 million from N22.6 million, while the number of deals fell by 18.4 per cent to 31 deals from 38 deals.
Impresit Bakolori Plc remained the most active stock by volume on a year-to-date basis with 533.9 million units worth N520.9 million, followed by Okitipupa Plc with 153.6 million units sold for N4.9 billion, and Industrial and General Insurance (IGI) Plc with a turnover of 71.2 million units valued at N24.2 million.
The most traded stock by value on a year-to-date basis was Okitipupa Plc with a turnover of 153.6 million worth N4.9 billion, trailed by FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc with the sale of 14.7 million units for N566.9 million, and Impresit Bakolori Plc 533.9 million units valued at N520.9 million.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira marginally appreciated against the United States Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) on Friday, April 11.
Data obtained by Business Post from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) showed that the exchange rate closed at N1,601.04/$1 during the trading session compared with the previous day’s value of N1,601.38/$1, indicating that the Nigerian currency improved its value by 0.08 per cent or 34 Kobo against the greenback.
Also, against the Pound Sterling, the local currency appreciated yesterday by N5.57 to sell for N2,145.85/£1 versus Monday’s closing price of N2,186.65/£1 but against the Euro, it lost N5.00 to trade at N1,823.82/€1, in contrast to the N1,818.82/€1 it was exchanged a day earlier.
At the parallel market, the Nigerian Naira maintained stability against the US Dollar on Tuesday, remaining unchanged at N1,610/$1.
Meanwhile, the cryptocurrency market turned bearish yesterday after a wave of economic data suggests the US economic activity is slowing down due to the tariffs policies unleashed by the administration of President Donald Trump.
Consumer confidence, according to a survey by the Conference Board, is currently at its lowest level since May 2020, a period when the world was on lockdown.
However, there are evidence that negotiation of trade deals with other countries, could offer support.
Dogecoin (DOGE) depleted by 3.3 per cent to sell at $0.1740, Ripple (XRP) lost 2.6 per cent to quote at $2.22, Cardano slumped by 2.4 per cent to trade at $0.6955, Litecoin (LTC) went down by 1.9 per cent to finish at $84.89, and Solana (SOL) recorded a 1.4 per cent depreciation to close at $146.55.
Further, Ethereum (ETH) declined by 1.3 per cent to end at $1,779.01, Binance Coin (BNB) crumbled by 1.2 per cent to settle at $603.30, and Bitcoin (BTC) slipped by 0.2 per cent to trade at $94,682.75, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00 each.
By Dipo Olowookere
An additional N11.49 billion has been recovered by the House of Representatives Committee on Public Accounts from some oil companies operating in Nigeria.
A statement signed by the spokesman of the lower chamber of the National Assembly, Mr Akin Rotimi, said the total amount recovered from these energy firms is now N61.5 billion.
He stated that the recovered funds were from oil and gas companies with outstanding obligations to the federal government.
It was revealed that $182,057.44 (N291.29 million) was recovered from Platform Petroleum Limited, $730,889.37 (N1.17 billion) was from Midwestern Oil and Gas, N1.58 billion from Seplat Energy, $3.9 million (N6.1 billion) from Aradel Holdings, $500,000 (N775 million)
From Network Exploration & Production, and $1 million (N1.55 billion) from Shoreline Resources Limited.
According to the statement, the committee’s intensified efforts are anchored on findings from the Auditor-General’s reports and data obtained from the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC).
These have informed sustained engagements with oil firms to ensure accountability for unremitted funds and outstanding liabilities.
The legislative arm of government also warned some organisations ignoring invitations to desist from such.
It said these defaulting firms collectively owe over $384 million and N325.7 million to the federal government, listing them as Neconde Energy Ltd – $110.5 million and N325.7 million, Heirs Holdings – $137.7 million, AITEO Ltd – $34.8 million, Continental Oil & Gas Ltd – $31 million, General Hydrocarbon – $28.4 million, Energia Ltd – $19.5 million, Waltersmith OML 16 – $8.7 million, Bilton – $5 million, Pillar Oil Ltd – $4.6 million, Millennium Oil and Gas Ltd – $2.067 million, Conoil Producing Ltd – $1.1 million, and Frontier OML 13 – $952,216.51.
“This Committee will not tolerate attempts by corporate entities to evade their responsibility to the Nigerian people.
“These companies are withholding billions of Naira owed to the federal government, and we will not allow them to disregard the authority of parliament.
“If these companies believe they are too big to be held accountable, they must understand that their licenses are at risk.
“We are prepared to recommend immediate revocation for any company that shows contempt for this Committee and the laws of the nation,” the chairman of the panel, Mr Bamidele Salam, fumed.
“No company is above the law. The funds being withheld are critical to the country’s growth and must not be hoarded while Nigeria suffers. Every company operating in Nigeria must settle its obligations promptly, as required by law,” he declared.
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