The subsidiaries of MTN Group in Nigeria and Ghana led the telco's overall profit for the first half of 2019.
MTN Nigeria led the market share with 12.2% growth while MTN Ghana contributed 18.7% to the overall service revenue at $4.48 billion.
This is contained in the group's interim financial results for the six months ended June 30, 2019, released on Thursday, August 8, 2019, in South Africa.
Business Insider SSA’s analysis of the report showed that MTN South Africa’s market posted a meagre 3.3% growth, impacted by a decline in consumer prepaid revenue as a result of new regulation.
According to the financial statement, the firm's subscribers increased by 7.7 million to 240 million within the period while group revenue increased by 10.2%.
Rob Shuter, MTN Group President, and CEO, commented on the report, saying: “We had a good first half, reporting solid financial results, good commercial momentum and encouraging strategic progress. We saw a growth of 12% in adjusted headline earnings per share, which is the first time that we have delivered growth in this measure in recent years.
During the period we had some landmark events. We successfully completed the listing of MTN Nigeria on the Nigerian Stock Exchange and our e-commerce joint venture Jumia listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Within three months of announcing our asset realisation program, which is targeting at least R15 billion ($990m) over the next few years, we delivered R2.1 billion ($139 million) in proceeds.”
Shuter added that MTN will clear the way for the launch of phase 1 of its Nigerian fintech business even as it awaits a banking license from the regulatory authorities.
“Our advanced instant messaging platform, Ayoba, is now live in three of our West African markets and has more than 300 000 active monthly users. We are very pleased with the formal approval of our super-agent license in Nigeria, which clears the way for the launch of phase 1 of our Nigeria fintech business while we await a banking license.”
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