MTN Nigeria Communications Plc has announced audited financial results for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022. Mobile subscribers increased by 10.5% to 75.6 million, adding 7.2 million subscribers. Active data subscribers increased by 15.3% to 39.5 million. Active fintech subscribers rose by 57.5% to 14.9 million, with 2.0 million active mobile money (MoMo) wallets since the launch of PSB. Also, service revenue was up by 21.5% to N2.0 trillion.
Additionally, earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) increased by 22.0% to N1.1 trillion, and the EBITDA margin expanded by 0.2 percentage points (pp) to 53.2%, while the profit before tax (PBT) grew by 22.3% to N534.0 billion. Profit for the year grew by 21.1% to N361.5 billion (excluding non-controlling interest). The earnings per share (EPS) increased by 21.3% to N17.79 kobo. Capital expenditure (Capex) rose by 23.5% to N504.3 billion.
Commenting on the results, MTN Nigeria’s CEO, Karl Torlola, said, “2022 was challenging due to global macroeconomic and geopolitical volatility, resulting in higher inflation, supply chain uncertainties, foreign exchange volatility and availability. In Nigeria, inflation reached a 17-year high of 21.5% in November before moderating slightly to 21.3% in December, bringing the average for the year to 18.8% and putting pressure on consumer spending. To curb rising inflation, the Central Bank of Nigeria increased interest rates four times in 2022, bringing the Monetary Policy Rate to 16.5% — up by five pp during the year. This was further raised by 1pp in January 2023 to 17.5%.”
Outlook
Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) practices remain at the core of the “Ambition 2025 strategy.” As part of the ESG goals, MTN Nigeria is committed to net zero emissions by 2040 and 50% female representation by 2030. The journey to embed sustainability practices in operations remains a crucial part of the ongoing cultural transformation program, “as we invest in our network to further strengthen our commercial operations and we continue to engage the authorities in relation to regulated tariff increases in the current high-inflation environment,” noted Karl.
