MTN Nigeria Communications Plc has reported a Profit After Tax (PAT) of N358.89 billion for the 2022 financial year, up by 20.16 per cent from N298.65bn in 2021.
According to the audited earning reports released on Wednesday, the telecommunications company saw its revenue increase by 21.64 per cent to N2.012 trillion from N1.654 trillion in 2021, with service revenue contributing 99.7 per cent of that sum.
The numbers confirm that MTN is the first publicly listed company in Nigeria to hit the N2 trillion revenue mark. While NNPC reported N3.7 trillion in 2020, NLNG reported revenue of $5.6 billion in 2021, MTN is the most profitable company in Nigeria based on publicly published financial statements.
The latest report showed that the MTN’s sources of income, including data and digital services, saw considerable growth. The network service-providing firm also recorded growth across its financial position as total assets rose to N2.716trn, representing 20.02% from N2.262trn, and its total equity added 26.68% to N335.682bn from N264.981bn.
The company’s earnings per share increased by 20.16% in 2022 to N17.6% from N14.6% in 2021. MTN also said it would pay a dividend of N10 per share, taking its total dividend to N15.5 per share, which delivers an indicative dividend yield of 6.68%. This would bring the total dividend payment for the year to N317.5 billion (N15.60 per unit). That compares to N267.1 billion (N13.12 per share) one year prior.
“As at 31 December 2022, the MTN Group had trade receivables of N85.88 billion before expected credit loss of N13.65 billion,” independent auditor Ernst & Young noted in its report.
“The telecommunication industry continues to be impacted by certain macroeconomic challenges that resulted in the Company experiencing uncertainty over the collectability of some of its receivables from specific customers,” it added.
MTN’s activities in 2022
MTN Nigeria signed up 7.2 million new subscribers in 2022, signifying an expansion of 10.5 per cent and increasing its subscriber base to 75.6 million.
Last May, MTN launched its payments subsidiary MoMo PSB one month after it got regulators’ approval. The report indicated it had added 2 million active mobile money wallets since the launch to the end of December. Active fintech subscribers surged by over a half to 14.9 million during the year.
Direct network operating costs, which soared 18.1 per cent to N459 billion, and finance costs, which leapt by approximately one-third, were major pressure points for earnings. Costs saw a considerable jump, dealing a blow to margin, which stood at 17.8 per cent compared to the financial year 2021, when the net profit margin was 18.1 per cent.
In a separate statement accompanying the financials, CEO Karl Toriola said,
“We continued to manage and invest in the resilience of our business and networks, expanding coverage and capacity with a focus on expense efficiencies and disciplined capital allocation,”
“We became the first mobile network operator to launch a 5G network in Nigeria, providing coverage in key cities in the six geopolitical regions. Since its commercial launch in September 2022, we have rolled out 588 sites and brought the 5G network to 5G-enabled smartphones, starting with iPhone users.”
“Our strong commercial momentum, supported by an accelerated investment in our network, enabled growth across all revenue lines. As a result, we recorded a 21.5% increase in service revenue, above the average inflation rate and in line with our medium-term growth guidance.
Our ability to maintain service revenue growth while unlocking efficiencies through disciplined execution of our expense efficiency programme led to a 22.0% growth in EBITDA and a 0.2pp expansion in EBITDA margin to 53.2%, in line with our medium-term target range.”
MTN leads the pack as usual
According to the recently released industry statistics from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), MTN Nigeria continued giving the other mobile networks a run, snagging 15.4 million new subscribers in 2022.
The company also ramped up its customer base to 89.02 million as of last December, a 20.96 % jump from the 73.5 million it recorded in December 2021. MTN also holds the largest market share of the Nigerian telco market, with 40.06%.
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