R11 billion loss for MTN

MTN has recorded an R11 billion loss after tax following a massive devaluation of the Naira in its largest market, Nigeria.

“We are pleased to report a strong underlying performance and strategic execution for FY 2024, despite challenges in the operating environment,” said MTN Group CEO Ralph Mupita.

“We are encouraged by the relative stability of some important key macroeconomic indicators in H2 – such as inflation and foreign exchange (forex) rates in certain of our key markets”

“This supported our results in the period, with a pleasingly positive momentum in H2 earnings, free cash flow and leverage ratio.”

However, the group said that the operating context was characterised by a sharp devaluation of the naira in Nigeria – the group’s largest market- and elevated inflation in some markets.

Volatility in the geopolitical landscape had knock-on effects on the group’s business, with ongoing conflict in Sudan impacting the group’s operational and financial performance.

The group’s overall subscriber base reached 291 million, excluding the markets it exited over the year. This represented net additions of 6.2 million customers.

Group EBITDA rose by 10.2% to R70.1 billion on a constant currency basis but fell by 33.5% on a reported basis.

The group’s service revenue decreased by 5.4% on a reported basis to R177.8 billion. Data revenue also decreased by 12.3% on a reported basis.

The group’s loss after tax reached R11.2 billion, a far cry from the R4 billion after-tax profit seen in 2023.

The group’s basic earnings per share also dropped by more than 100% to a loss of 531 cents per share. Reported headline earnings also decreased by 68.9% to 98 cents per share.

The board declared an ordinary dividend of 345 cents per share, an increase from the prior financial year’s 330 cents per share. The dividend will be paid out of revenue reserves.

South Africa performance

The group said that MTN SA was in a challenging macro environment as interest rates remained elevated and economic growth subdued.

Nevertheless, the group said that the two-pot system and the reduction in inflation benefitted consumers and increased spending ability. The rand also remained relatively stable.

The further reduction of the South African Reserve Bank’s repo rate in November 2024 and in January 2025 should provide relief to consumers.

MTN SA saw service revenue growth of 3.1% for the year, underpinned by network availability improvement and commercial initiatives.

The group said that the overall MTN SA result was supported by a 6.4% increase in subscribers to 39.8 million, a net addition of 2.4 million in the year. Prepaid customers increased by 5.5% to 29.9 million.

Total date revenue increased by 2.9% and contributed 47.8% to MTN SA’s total service revenue. The growth was driven by a 6.8% increase in active data subscribers to 21.8 million.

Data consumption per active prepaid subscriber increased by 9.5% to 3.2GB monthly. The consumer postpaid business saw a 4.5% increase in service revenue, driven by subscriber number increases.

MTN said that the local macroeconomic environment appears to be stabilising. The South African economy remains under pressure due to weak GDP growth and high unemployment.

“With the improved trends in inflation rate and the recent interest rate reductions, there is some optimism on the consumer’s ability to increase economic activity,” said the group.

It added that this should support the expected recovery in data performance in Q1 and Q2 2025. The group said that it is also evolving its data propositions, including 5G, to accelerate revenue growth.

The group said that executing its home strategy will remain a key priority, accelerating growth in Fibre to the Home (FTTH) and Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) to residential customers.

“The priority for MTN SA is to recover its profitability and cash flow profile, underpinned by the focus on accelerating topline growth and EBITDA margin towards its medium-term targets,” said the group.

MTN South Africa’s results were as follows:

• Service revenue increased by 3.1%
• Outgoing voice revenue declined by 5.5%
• Data revenue increased by 2.9%
• Fintech revenue increased by 46.8%
• Digital revenue increased by 10.6%
• Enterprise service revenue increased by 10.8%
• Wholesale revenue declined by 0.4% (including incoming voice revenue)
• EBITDA increased by 5.1% (up 5.5% excluding gain from disposal of towers)
• EBITDA margin increased by 1.3pp to 37.4% (up 1.5pp to 37.4%, excluding gain on disposal of towers)
• Capex of R16.3 billion on IFRS 16 reported basis (R9.8 billion, ex-leases)