MTN Ghana Posts Strong 2018 Financial Performance

By Kingsley Asare

MTN Ghana posted a strong financial performance last year after it listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange and ceded more than a third of the company's shares to Ghanaians.

The MTN Group recorded a profit after tax of GHc754 676 and total assets of the group grew to GHC4, 216,880 from GHC3, 448,389 in 2017.

According to the company service revenue went up 23.5 per cent, representing 99.9 percent total revenue, while data revenue increased by 30.2 per cent constituting 26.1 per cent of total revenue and digital revenue including mobile money rose by 34.6 per cent and represented 24.8 per cent of total revenue.

Speaking at the maiden annual general meeting of MTN Ghana, the Board Chairman, Dr Ishmael Yamson attributed the performance of the company to its "strategy of maintaining a strong balance sheet, improving profitability and driving operational efficiencies."

"Underlying profit before tax increased by 16.5 percent to GHC1.6 billion while earnings per share were GHc0.067 and we are confident on building upon these achievements in 2019," he said.

Dr Yamson said the MTN Ghana share price recorded a 5.33 per cent price gain for the year ended 31 December 2018, with a 52-week high and low of GHC0.93 and 0.75 respectively, adding that the share price of the company at the end of the 2018 financial year stood at GHS 0.79.

The Board Chairman of MTN Ghana said the company at the end of 2018 had a market capitalisation of GHc 9.7 billion after listing on the GSE, making it the third largest listed company on the Accra bourse.

Dr Yamson said the MTN board declared an interim dividend of 2 pesewas per share after reviewing the third quarter performance of the company.

"After reviewing the full year performance of the company in 2018, the board shall be recommending a final dividend of 3 pesewas on ordinary shares bring the total dividend for the year 2018 to 5 pesewas per share or 81.2 per cent of profit after tax," he said.

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of MTN Ghana, Selorm Adadevoh said the company performed creditably last year.

He said the subscriber base of the company rose year-on-year to 20.1 million from 17.8 million the previous year, with a voice market share of 49.1 percent.

Active data subscribers last year, he said increased to 13.5 million from 6.4 million the previous year with a data market share of 59.9 percent, adding that Mobile Money subscribers increased by 17.9 percent to 13.6 million (8.4 million) supported by consistent service delivery across all channels.

"Data revenue growth was driven by a 92.0 percent increase in data traffic to 137,850TB. MTN MoMo supported digital revenue growth and increased its contribution to total revenue to 17.7 percent. Voice revenue increased by 15.1 percent year-on-year and contributed to 46.0 percent of revenue," Mr Adadevoh said.

Read Full Story