MTN Nigeria recently announced off-center full-year turnover in the financial year of 2020, the highest ever recorded by a Nigerian listed entity.
Against all odds, the telecom giant’s revenue skyrocketed by 15.1% year-to-year to N1.3 trillion in the review period. The strong revenue growth was basically due to its data-led segment as sales from the segment expanded by an impressive 51.5% Year to Year.
In the audited results for the financial year ended December 31, 2020, the growth was attributed to the surge in both voice and data service.
- Voice sales rose relatively by 5.6% year to year as the global switch to data-enabled communication subsisted.
- MTN Nigeria Plc also announced a N5.90/share final dividend on impressive growth in its free Cash Flow for the financial year of 2020.
- Notably, MTN’s 4G network now covers 60.1% of the population compared to 43.8% in 2019.
- According to MTN Nigeria, the suspension of new SIM registration enforced in mid-December did not have a material effect on the voice segment, which managed a 10.6% YoY revenue growth in Q4’20 (vs 7.0% YoY in Q3’20).
The report disclosed that data traffic rose by 126.5 per cent and average usage by 64.0 per cent. The firm said it added approximately 8.2 million new smartphones to the network, bringing smartphone penetration to 45.9 per cent of its base, up from 41.9 per cent in 2019.
According to it, mobile subscribers increased by 12.2 million to 76.5 million, while active data users increased by 7.4 million to 32.6 million.
MTN explained that its Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) grew by 9.7 per cent to N685.7 billion, while EBITDA margin declined by 2.5 percentage points (pp) to 50.9 per cent Profit Before Tax (PBT) grew by 2.6 per cent to N298.9 billion
According to it, Earnings Per Share (EPS) rose by 0.9 per cent to N10.1 proposed a final dividend of N5.90 kobo per share.
Outgoing MTN Nigeria CEO, Ferdi Moolman comments, “2020 was a challenging year for all. The unprecedented disruption that the COVID-19 pandemic caused the businesses and people we serve, challenged us in new and demanding ways. The impact continues to evolve. Adoption of our data and digital services accelerated as lockdowns and gathering restrictions were imposed, and work-from-home became the norm for many.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with those who have lost loved ones due to the pandemic; the toll on lives and livelihoods globally has been profound. To date, Nigeria has recorded 155,417 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 1,905 related deaths, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC). MTN Nigeria has also been directly impacted by the pandemic, with 62 employees diagnosed with COVID-19 and 46 recoveries. Sadly, one of our employees succumbed to the virus.”
