MTN Nigeria Communications Plc has charted its path back to profitability after three successive quarters of loss. The telco declared a profit after tax of N4.13 billion in the third quarter of 2024.
However, the telco declared N514.93 billion for the nine months ended September 2024 due to successive quarters of loss, which was revealed in its financial statement. Its nine-month loss is a 0.80 percent decline from the N519.1 billion it declared for the six months ended June 2024, indicating a slowdown. MTN’s financial performance has been impacted by record-high inflation and the naira’s devaluation, worsening businesses’ operational expenses.
Karl Toriola, chief executive officer of MTN Nigeria, said, “In the first nine months of 2024, we sustained growth in our underlying operating performance—underpinned by our resilient business model and operational agility—despite challenging conditions.”
Read also: Seven key highlights from MTN Nigeria’s H1 financials
The telco noted that its profit after tax (PAT) adjusted for the net forex loss would have been N118.5 billion for the nine months.
A Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) unification of the foreign exchange market in 2023 has tumbled the naira from N471/$ before the move to above N1,500, which led to losses in the telecoms sector, with Airtel Africa and MTN Nigeria losing N1.29 trillion in foreign exchange losses in 2023.
Airtel Africa recently reported that its revenue fell to $2.37 billion from March to September due to currency devaluation in Nigeria. Its PAT of $79 million was impacted by $151 million of exceptional derivative and foreign exchange losses (net of tax) “arising from the further depreciation in the Nigerian naira during the period.”
Despite economic headwinds, MTNN grew its service revenue by 33.6 percent to N2.4 trillion, boosted by data revenues of N1.14 trillion. “Our commercial momentum drove broad-based growth across all revenue segments, demonstrating the underlying strength and resilience of the business. We recorded an increase in service revenue of 33.6 percent, which was ahead of the average inflation rate in the period. This growth was led by data and supported by voice, fintech, and digital services,” stated Toriola.
It highlighted that its subscriber base decreased by 0.9 percent to 77 million, impacted by the NIN-SIM regulations, but its active data users increased by 5.1 percent to 45.3 million. Voice traffic increased by 9.8 percent, and data traffic grew by 42.1 percent. MTN noted that data usage per user grew by 31.2 percent to 11.3 GB, supported by the rising demand for data and digital services.
The telco noted that higher inflation and interest rates weighed on consumers’ spending power and impacted business activity in the period under review.
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