MTN Nigeria has become the second listed company in the West African country to reach a market value of 10-trillion naira as a turnaround in the unit’s fortunes helps to drive up investor sentiment.
Nigeria has provided many twists and turns for the storied JSE-listed mobile operator. As its largest business, the unit has grown since opening shop in August 2001 to account for a third of earnings, followed by SA and Ghana.
Due to the weight of this business in the group’s portfolio MTN cashes in when the Western African economy is riding high, but feels the blows in tough times.
The past two years have certainly been the latter. Like many other companies operating in Africa’s largest economy, MTN has been a casualty of the devastation caused by the Nigerian naira’s more than 90% plunge since mid-2023.
The group dipped into the red at the halfway stage of its 2024 financial year, the first time the telecom major has reported a loss since 2016, as the devaluation of the naira and the conflict in Sudan weighed on results.
Last week appears to have signalled that the tide is turning to better times. Having started the year at 200 naira a share, MTN Nigeria is now trading at 480 naira, a gain of 140%.
By Monday, the company was worth 10.08-trillion naira, becoming only the second company to reach this milestone after Dangote Cement in January 2024.
MTN Nigeria reported a strong turnaround in the first half of 2025 as operating conditions improved. The company reported profit after tax of 414.9-billion naira (R4.9bn) for the six months ended June after a loss of 519.1-billion naira a year ago.
Earnings per share rose to 19.8 kobo (R3.23) from a loss of 4.7 kobo a year ago. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (ebitda) increased 119.5% to 1.2-trillion naira.
Total subscribers increased 6.7% to 84.7-million, with active data users up 11.8% to 51-million. Service revenue increased 54.6% to 2.4-trillion naira.
News of the turnaround on Thursday saw MTN’s shares on the JSE performing best on the day, up 5.61%. This adds to the group’s own positive momentum through the year on the stock market.
Year to date, MTN shares are up 66%, valuing the cellphone provider at R282.06bn. The sector has rallied through the year, with rivals Vodacom and Telkom up 35% and 75%, respectively, over the same period.
While Cell C is set to enter the fray with its own stock market flotation later this year, its now largest shareholder, Blue Label Telecoms, has gained tremendously, up 181%, as market players anticipate the reorganisation.
MTN will credit the turnaround in Nigeria on the execution of its strategy and a more stable currency.
In April 2024, MTN Nigeria convened an emergency meeting of its shareholders to discuss its plans to grow revenue, improve margins and return to profit in an effort to address declines caused by a challenging operating environment.
At the top of the five-point plan was a lobbying effort for regulated tariff increases meant to boost revenues and offset some of the declines that operators have experienced due to the currency devaluation.
Earlier this year, Nigerian regulators authorised a 50% tariff increase, which has begun to help earnings. In addition, MTN Nigeria has renegotiated its tower leases to reduce spending in foreign currency, tapped local instead of international markets for funding and repurposed existing network capacity, without reducing quality.
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