MTN Nigeria Contributes 8% to Group’s Six Months Revenue Base

Review of results by MTN Group showed that it delivered a solid operational performance for the six-month period to 30 June 2014. 

The result released on its website indicates good growth was experienced in data and MTN Mobile Money usage but voice revenue continued to be impacted by aggressive competition, regulatory pressures and a weakening economic environment in key markets.

Meanwhile, MTN Nigeria delivered a robust performance in line with market expectations, however the South African operation remained under pressure and steps were taken to improve its performance.

The Group continued to benefit from the ongoing investment in its network, which enhances MTN’s offering and positions us well for sustained growth.

Group subscribers increased by 3,5% to 215,0 million.

During the period MTN focused on reducing churn, offering competitive segmented offerings as well as improving network quality and capacity as key differentiators in our value proposition.

Continued macro-economic weakness in some of our key markets, however, led to a decline in overall market net additions against the comparable prior period.

Reported revenue for the six months increased by 10,7%, supported by the continued weakness of the South African rand against our operating currencies, in particular the relatively stronger Nigerian naira, Central African franc and Ugandan shilling.

On a constant-currency basis, revenue increased by 4.1%.

This was largely the result of 8.0% revenue growth in MTN Nigeria, tempered by a 7.0% (3.4%) revenue decline in MTN South Africa.

The Large opco cluster delivered pleasing results in line with guidance, growing revenue by 13,4%*, with encouraging growth reported by operations in Ghana, Cameroon and Sudan.

The Small opco cluster delivered a modest 5,7%* increase in revenue as conditions in Guinea Conakry, Liberia and Yemen remained challenging.

Although MTN Nigeria delivered a solid performance, the operation faced regulatory pressures and localised network performance challenges.

Notwithstanding this, the operation remains on track to deliver solid results for the full year.

MTN South Africa took aggressive steps to regain its competitive market position.

While financial performance will continue to be subdued in the short term, the South African operation expects to resume positive subscriber and revenue growth over the next 6 months.

Group EBITDA increased by 19.6% (10.6%) to R33 663 million excluding the profit from the sale of towers.

This reflects the success of the Group-wide cost-control initiatives, particularly in Nigeria where EBITDA increased by 11.3%.

Capital expenditure for the period of R9 199 million reflected a decrease of 28.1% (32.7%) from the same period in 2013.

More than two thirds of the full year’s capex budget has been committed.

Also, the group’s operations rolled out 1 716 2G and 2 232 3G sites, providing greater capacity, quality and faster data speeds on our 3G and LTE networks.