MTN posts 28.9% increase in profit in Q3 2019; makes N533.7 billion from airtime sales

Mobile network operator, MTN Nigeria, on Wednesday released its financial statement for the period ended September 30, 2019, recording a 28.94 percent in profit after-tax.

MTN Nigeria recorded revenue of N856.5 billion in the period under review, which is a 12.04 percent increase from N764.5 billion garnered in the same period of 2018.

Out of the total revenue, airtime, and subscription from subscribers amounted to N533.8 billion, increasing by 8.20 percent from N493.3 billion in 2018.

Data revenue increased by 32.78 percent to N162.3 billion from N122.2 billion from 2018. SMS revenue, however, dropped by 2.14 percent to N10.3 billion from N10.5 billion in 2018.

Interconnect and roaming revenue stood at N95.4 billion, increasing by 21.63 percent from N78.4 billion in 2018. Handset and accessories sales contributed N848.8 million to MTN Nigeria’s revenue, which is a whopping 378.64 percent increase compared to N177.3 million from the comparative period of 2018.

Digital revenue stood at N26.4 billion as against N33.6 billion made in 2018 representing a drop of 21.37 percent.

Revenue from value-added services (VAS) was N25.3 billion compared to N22.6 billion in 2018. This represents a 12.06 percent increase. Revenue from other source was N2.3 billion as against N3.7 billion from 2018, representing a drop of 38.24 percent.

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Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) was N460.1 billion in 2019 as against N330.2 billion, growing by 39.34 percent. This indicates an EBITDA margin percentage of 53.7 percent and 43.2 percent for 2019 and 2018 respectively.

MTN’s Profit before tax (PBT) for the period was N212 billion as against N171 billion in 2018. This was a 23.95 percent increase in PBT.

Profit after tax (PAT) was N148.3 billion against N115 billion in 2018, representing a 28.94 percent increase.

Earnings per share increased to N7.29 from N5.65. This represents a 29 percent increase.

Mobile subscribers increased from 0.1 million to 61.6 million and active data users increased by 1.6 million to 22.3 million.

Capital expenditure (CAPEX) increased by 39.5 percent to N154.1 billion in the period under review.

MTN is currently trading at N126.95 on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).

Commenting on the result, MTN Nigeria CEO, Ferdi Moolman, said: “Our performance was very encouraging, demonstrating the resilience of our business despite a challenging operating environment. We sustained double-digit growth in service revenue led by growth in voice and data revenue.”

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