Half Year 2024 MTN Group Ltd Earnings Call Transcript
Key Points
- MTN Group Ltd (MTNOF) reported strong commercial momentum with healthy growth in subscriber additions and usage in core connectivity and FinTech businesses.
- The FinTech ecosystem expanded significantly, with transaction volumes up by ZAR9.7 billion and advanced services growing by 58% year-on-year.
- The company made good progress on strategic initiatives, including regulatory compliance in Uganda and Ghana, and the orderly exit from Afghanistan and Guinea Bissau.
- MTN Group Ltd (MTNOF) improved its balance sheet by reducing dollar-denominated debt from 80% to 22%, closing the period with holdco leverage at 1.6 times.
- The Board is comfortable maintaining medium-term guidance and anticipates a dividend for FY2024, reflecting confidence in the company's operational momentum and ability to manage headwinds.
- The sharp devaluation of the Naira significantly impacted reported earnings, with the Naira averaging about 1,500 in the first half, leading to currency shocks.
- The ongoing conflict in Sudan resulted in network downtime and an impairment of about ZAR3.8 billion, affecting both top-line and bottom-line performance.
- Headline earnings per share declined by 50.5%, largely due to currency effects and the conflict in Sudan.
- Operating expenses increased by 28% year-on-year, driven by higher network expenses, energy costs, and inflationary pressures, particularly in Nigeria.
- The company faced challenges in upstreaming cash from Nigeria due to negative equity, impacting overall financial flexibility.
(video playing) Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Thato Motlanthe. I look after Group Investor Relations at the MTN Group. And it's my privilege and my duty to welcome everybody to our financial results for the half year ended June 30, 2024.
So I'm delighted to welcome our valued investors into the MTN Innovation Center, those who have come in person as well as the MTN's in the house, as well as across all of our markets, as well as everyone who's dialed in on the various platforms. So we're live on CNBC Africa. We're on the webcast also on the MTN YouTube and LinkedIn channel. So welcome to everybody.
So let's just start off with the usual housekeeping items. First and foremost, you should be seeing our standard disclaimer and safe harbor slide, and that just covers the presentation for today. And then those of you in the room, you'll be glad to know that the emergency exits have not changed. There's one to my right and one to the back of the auditorium. And then just for your convenience, we do have
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