MTN Ghana has declared a dividend of GHC0.115 per share for the year 2021, an increase from that of 2020.
Speaking at the 4th Annual General Meeting of MTN Ghana since it became a public listed company four years ago, board chairman, Ishmael Yamson said in 2021, MTN Ghana recorded strong growth in service revenue (+28.5% YoY) and managed its costs prudently, which led to growth in profit after tax of 43.5% YoY to GHS2 billion.
According to him, after reviewing the full-year performance of the company in 2021, “the board shall be recommending a final dividend of 8.5 pesewas on ordinary shares to be approved by shareholders. This is further to the interim dividend of 3.0 pesewas per share declared by the board after reviewing the half-year performance of the company.”
He added that “this brings the total dividend for the year 2021 to 11.5 pesewas per share and represents 70.6% of profit after tax and a 43.8% increase in dividend per share payout in 2021 over 2020.
The CEO of MTN Ghana, Selorm Adadevoh said in the year under review, Capital Expenditure (CAPEX) was GHC1.5 billion mainly to improve the network and quality of service and experience for customers.
He explained that during the period – 4G network coverage was improved to over 90% with an additional 1,446 sites to reach an extra 1.7 million people with 4G. Additionally, the company added 131 2G sites, and 130 3G sites, while some 1,200 sites were modernized to improve customer experience.
The CEO said during the year, service revenue grew 28.5% year-on-year, driven mainly by a 58% growth in data revenue (adding 36% to service revenue), 38% growth in mobile money revenue supported by some 4.9% growth in voice revenue. Meanwhile, the company saw one million additional subscribers and a significant rise in the number of smartphones on its network in 2021.
According to the CEO, COVID-19 gave rise to the use of digital channels to interact with customers and made life even easier for customers while growing data usage exponentially, hence the growth in data revenue.
Meanwhile, digital revenue grew 5.1% to GHC2.2 million, with entertainment content alone adding some 1.1 million new customers to grow the total to 2.4 million.
Adadevoh said so far, MTN has reached 23.7% localization but the target is 30% so they are quite close as they continue to pursue strategies to reach the target. Indeed, the company has amended its constitution in order to increase staff shares in the company from 4.4% to 5%, all in pursuit of the 30% localization.
Again, the constitution was amended to add an additional member to the Board of Directors, in the person of the newly appointed Chief Finance Officer, Antoinette Kwofie, to make 13 members.
E-Levy
Selorm Adadevoh added that the E-levy is early days yet so MTN has been observing the short-term impact and strategising to safeguard its stakeholders, adding that their eyes are on the possible medium-term impact and they are strategizing to ensure the best for stakeholders.
There were concerns that E-Levy has impacted the share price of MTN on the stock market, but Adadevoh explained that the behaviour of equity shares on the stock market is more of a function of the global events; mainly the Russia-Ukraine war rather than e-levy.
“We don’t think e-levy is necessarily the cause of the reduction in share prices, as there was a global decline on equity stock prices due mainly to Russia-Ukraine war and other factors rather than E-Levy – rise in interest rates also affect equities and not e-levy.”
Nicholas Brown with additional information from TechGh24
Asaase Radio 99.5 – tune in or log on to broadcasts online
99.5 in Accra, 101.5 in Bawku, 99.9 in Bimbilla, 100.3 in Cape Coast, 90.7 in Ho, 98.5 in Kumasi, 99.7 in Tamale, 89.5 in Tarkwa and 106.9 in Walewale
Join the conversation. Call: 020 000 9951 or 059 415 7777. Or WhatsApp: 020 000 0995.
#AsaaseRadio
#TheVoiceofOurLand
