MTN to list on Nigeria’s bourse, expects naira devaluation

Executive Chairman, MTN Group, South Africa, Phuthuma Nhleko, said the company may list its Nigerian unit on the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

Nhleko said on Thursday in Johannesburg that the listing would take place in Lagos once the company resolved a disputed 3.9 billion dollars fine with the Nigerian government.

He said that the company had set aside 9.3 billion rand (about $600 million) to cover a potential settlement of the fine imposed in 2015.

The fine was imposed by the Nigerian government when it was discovered that MTN failed to cut off unregistered SIM card users on its network.

Nhleko disclosed that headline earnings per share (EPS) came in at 746 cents in the year which ended in December, 2015, compared with 1,536 cents in the previous year.

Headline EPS is the main profit measure in South Africa that strips out certain one-off items.

The company raised its annual dividend by 5.2 per cent to 1,310 cents per share

Expects Naira devaluation

Meanwhile, the Group expects Nigeria to devalue the naira by up to 22 percent at some point this year, chief financial officer Brett Goschen said on Thursday.

Africa’s biggest wireless operator is in talks with Nigerian authorities to reduce a $3.9 billion fine imposed last year for failing to cut off unregistered SIM card users.

Nigeria’s naira trades officially at 197 against the dollar but changes hands on the black market at nearer 350 to the greenback. Goschen said he expects Nigeria’s central bank will devalue the official rate to 230-240/$ this year.