Over the fine slammed on MTN by the Nigerian government, MTN Group expects to report a full-year loss due to a $1bn regulatory fine in Nigeria and for under-performance both in Nigeria and South Africa, the company said, today.
According to Ceoafrica, MTN had agreed in June to pay Nigeria N330bn, ($1.05bn at the time) being fine for missing a deadline to cut off unregistered SIM cards from its network.
Despite the shares in MTN, which fell more than 4% at market open, were 3.82% lower at 113.25 rand at 07:33 a.m., its lowest level since December, MTN remains the largest mobile phone company in Nigeria, the continent’s biggest economy.
It said the net effect of the Nigerian fine for the year ended December was a negative impact of 474 cents per share, as it will issue a further trading statement on the likely range within which its headline loss is expected.
Underlying operational results for full-year 2016 were also affected by fees incurred for a planned listing in Nigeria.
The result also showed MTN under-performance of its units both in Nigeria and in South Africa in the first half of 2016, and MTN disclosed that its aims is targeted at listing its Nigerian operations on the local bourse during 2017, subject to market conditions.
However, the unit has been battered by the weak economy, depreciation of the naira and the disconnection of 4.5 million subscribers in February 2016, when the Naira lost a third of its official value against the dollar in 2016 after the central bank scrapped its currency peg in a bid to alleviate dollar shortages.
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