MTN Nigeria Communications Plc has released its unaudited result for the six months ended June 30 and announced an interim dividend of N2.95 per share to its shareholders.

The company disclosed this through its unaudited results for the six months ended 30th June 2019, released on Friday in Lagos.

Commenting on the report, Ferdi Moolman, CEO, MTN Nigeria, said: “In the first half of 2019, we sustained a solid performance, delivering double-digit growth in service revenue, underpinned by growth in voice and data revenue.

“We added 3.3 million customers to our network, increasing our subscriber base to 61.5 million.
“Pleasingly we saw data subscribers increase in the period by 2.1 million to 20.7 million.

“We made significant network investments to improve network quality and expand our 4G coverage.

“Our recent work to revamp our data prices and accelerate our 4G network has put us in a strong competitive position to offer more value to our customers, supporting data and voice revenue growth which will ultimately strengthen our business.

“We are pleased with obtaining a super-agent license from the Central Bank of Nigeria, which will enable us to build an agent network and accelerate the growth of our finTech business.

“In May, MTN Nigeria was successfully listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), making us the first mobile network operator to list on the NSE.

“The listing demonstrates our commitment to the Nigerian market and provides local investors with an opportunity to participate in and benefit from the company’s growth prospects.

“We made changes to our Board following the retirement of six pioneer Non-Executive Directors on the expiration of their tenure and in compliance with applicable corporate governance codes.

“We express our heartfelt appreciation to our out-going Directors for their contributions to the success of the Company. We also welcome the incoming ones whose combination of extensive experience across the worlds of technology, Finance, regulatory and policy development and corporate governance offers a hugely synergistic set of skills that will be of great benefit to us as we move into a new phase of growth.

“Our Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Mr. Adekunle Awobodu has also indicated his intention to resign from the position of the CFO of the company in H2 of 2019 for Family related reasons.

“The identification of a suitable successor has reached an advanced stage to facilitate a seamless transition. To ensure continuity on certain projects, Mr Awobodu has graciously accepted to continue to support the company on consultancy basis.

“The Board extends its appreciation to Mr. Awobodu for his contributions to the growth of the company.

“In line with our dividend policy guidance at listing, the Board has approved a maiden interim dividend as a listed company, of N2.95 kobo per share to be paid out of distributable net income.

On the operational review, Moolman said, “MTN Nigeria delivered a solid performance, with strong voice (+11.4%) and data revenue (+31.7%) driving double-digit service revenue growth and Further improving the margin on earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA).

“Voice revenue growth was supported by an increase in subscribers (+5.7%), relatively stable tariffs and our Focus on pro-consumer activities. This was boosted by our targeted customer value management (CVM) initiatives.

“Data revenue growth was driven by an increased number of smartphones on the network, greater data usage and growth in the number of active data users.

“We added 2.5 million smartphones, increasing smartphone penetration by 2.1pp to 39.2%. Active data subscribers increased by 11.0% to 20.7 million and data traffic rose by 67% YoY.

“Our Fintech business continued to gain momentum with 21.2% growth in revenue YoY.

“The super-agent license will allow us to leverage our established distribution channels to offer a wide range of mobile Financial services. We will continue to work forwards obtaining a Payment Service Banking license that we applied For in late 2018. Digital revenue continued to be impacted by the optimisation of value-added services (VAS).

“However, our focus is to build a sustainable base of active digital users in order to boost revenue growth.

“Our enterprise business also delivered satisfactory results, with revenue increasing by 31.3% to contribute 11.9% to service revenue.

“We recorded an EBITDA margin of 53.8% on account of the implementation of IFRS 16.

“On an IAS 17 bass, operating expenses increased by 9.7%, below inflation. The 1.5pp improvement in the EBITDA margin was supported by a stable naira against the US dollar benefiting our operating expenses as well as lower digital expenses arising From our VAS optimisation initiatives.

“Our bottom line remained strong with 30.9% and 34.8% growth in profit before and after tax respectively, while earnings per share increased by 34.8% to 486 kobo.

On the Corporate and legal matters, he stated  “The hearing on the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) matter, which was originally scheduled to hold on June 26, 2019 for commencement of trial on the substantive issue before the court was adjourned to October 29 and 31 2019. We remain resolute that MTN Nigeria has not committed any offence and will continue to defend this position.

“The redemption of MTN Nigeria’s Preference shares has always been envisaged as a necessary part of the simplification of our capital structure. The redemption process is underway and will be completed after necessary regulatory process.

“Our overriding priority for the rest of the year is to Focus on our BRIGHT strategy to build a sustainable business and create value for customers.

“We will continue to progress in the second half of the year making improvements to our network experience, subscriber growth and enhance operational efficiency.

“We expect lower data pricing and our acceleration of the 4G network expansion to bolster the acquisition of customers and data traffic volumes in the second half.”