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South Africa’s MTN Group has reported its first-ever per-share loss as a public company, after Africa’s biggest mobile-phone operator agreed to settle a record fine in Nigeria and was hurt by weaker earnings in South Africa.
The loss will be between 2.85 rand and 3.15 rand per share in the six months through June, the Johannesburg-based company told Bloomberg in a statement yesterday.
The so-called headline figure, which excludes one-time items, will be a loss of between 2.55 rand and 2.85 rand per share.
The biggest contributor to the decline was MTN’s agreement to pay a record N330 billion ($1 billion) fine in Nigeria, the company’s largest market. The penalty was levied in October after MTN missed a deadline to disconnect unregistered subscribers, and the subsequent loss of customers further hurt operations in the country.
“MTN pushed the value of the entire fine onto the income statement,” Byron Lotter, a money manager at Vestact Ltd., which holds MTN stock, said by phone. “This is a once-off and expectations are that they will recover in the next year.”
The South African business, the company’s no. 2 market, is expected to report a decline in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) margin for the half-year period, MTN said.
The loss will be between 2.85 rand and 3.15 rand per share in the six months through June, the Johannesburg-based company told Bloomberg in a statement yesterday.
The so-called headline figure, which excludes one-time items, will be a loss of between 2.55 rand and 2.85 rand per share.
The biggest contributor to the decline was MTN’s agreement to pay a record N330 billion ($1 billion) fine in Nigeria, the company’s largest market. The penalty was levied in October after MTN missed a deadline to disconnect unregistered subscribers, and the subsequent loss of customers further hurt operations in the country.
“MTN pushed the value of the entire fine onto the income statement,” Byron Lotter, a money manager at Vestact Ltd., which holds MTN stock, said by phone. “This is a once-off and expectations are that they will recover in the next year.”
The South African business, the company’s no. 2 market, is expected to report a decline in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) margin for the half-year period, MTN said.
