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MTN Nigeria, Nigeria’s largest telecommunications services provider, has reported a profit of N298.65 billion ($718.5 million) in 2021, owing to rising digital adoption and a recent surge in active data users and fintech subscribers.
MTN Nigeria is one of Africa’s largest telecom services providers, connecting approximately 68 million people across the country. Its 4G network now covers 70.3 percent of the population, up from 60.1 percent in December 2020.
The leading telecom company, led by Group CEO Karl Toriola, operates as the most profitable subsidiary of MTN Group, a multinational telecom group active in 20 African and Middle Eastern countries.
During the year, its service revenue increased by 23.3 percent, from N1.34 trillion ($3.22 billion) in 2020 to N1.65 trillion ($3.97 billion), primarily due to strong double-digit growth in its core business segments, with the exception of voice revenue, which increased by 8.4 percent.
The group’s digital, fintech and data segments delivered the highest growth per percentage, with revenue lines increasing by 61.2, 57.3 and 55.3 percent, respectively.
The average megabytes per user increased by 62.7 percent, resulting in an 85.3-percent increase in overall data traffic. Meanwhile, smartphone network penetration increased by four percentage points to 50 percent.
The strong growth in its topline was supported by the management’s effective cost-cutting strategies, which resulted in a 45-percent increase in profit from N205.2 billion ($493.7 million) last year to N298.65 billion ($718.5 million) in 2021.
The group’s assets increased by 15 percent from N1.96 trillion ($4.72 billion) in 2020 to more than N2.25 trillion ($5.41 billion), while the wealth attributable to its shareholders increased by over 48 percent from N178.4 billion ($429.2 million) to N265 billion ($637.6 million).
MTN Nigeria proposed a final dividend of N8.57 ($0.021) per share to reward its shareholders for their investment, representing a 4.5-percent dividend yield at the current share price of N190 ($0.4571).
The final dividend brings the total dividend for the year to N13.12 ($0.03157) per share, a 39.6-percent increase.
MTN Nigeria CEO Karl Toriola revealed that the group’s mobile subscriber base fell by 10.6 percent as a result of regulatory restrictions on new SIM sales and activations.
“However, we are pleased to have returned to positive growth in Q4 2021, adding approximately 1 million subscribers as we continued to ramp up our SIM registration and activation centers’ alignment with regulations,” he said.
