Telecom giant sets aside $600 mln for Nigeria fine, FY profit drops

South Africa's MTN Group has set aside around $600 million to cover the potential settlement of a fine in Nigeria, it said on Thursday, as it posted a more than 50 percent drop in annual profit.

MTN said headline earnings per share (EPS) came in at 746 cents in the year to end-December compared with 1,536 cents a year earlier.

Headline EPS is the main profit measure in South Africa that strips out certain one-off items.

The company raised it annual dividend by 5.2 percent to 1,310 cents per share.