MTN, sub-Saharan Africa's biggest cell phone services operator, said on August 29 first-half earnings rose by 75 percent and subscribers increased by 20 percent, boosting its share price.
MTN said earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose to 15.2 billion rand ($2.10 billion) while adjusted headline earnings per share for the six months to end-June rose to 324.7 cents, just above the average forecast of 320 cents given in a Reuters survey of eight analysts. Headline earnings, the main profit measure in South Africa, strips out non-trading, capital and some extraordinary items.
By 1200 GMT MTN shares were up 0.97 percent at 102.98 rand, outperforming a 0.27 percent rise in the JSE blue chip top-40 index. "Our subscriber growth reflects the strong opportunity we have in our expanded footprint," MTN's chief executive, Phuthuma Nhleko, said in a statement. MTN said its Investcom unit - which operates in war-scarred countries including Afghanistan and Sudan - recorded subscriber growth of 28 percent to 10.8 million, contributing 22 percent of the group's total subscribers.
Its Irancell operation added 1.8 million subscribers to reach a total of 1.98 million, having forecast 5.5 million subscribers for its full year. By August 20 MTN said Irancell had 3.2 million subscribers.
Nigerian subscribers rose 14 percent to 14 million, while South African subscribers increased 7 percent to 13.4 million. Nhleko told analysts in a results presentation that the group expected to add 17.5 million more net subscribers by end-December 2007. Renaissance Specialist Fund Managers portfolio manager Khulekani Dlamini said he was pleased with the relative robustness of subscriber growth.
"You still get a sense that there is a lot more growth to come from the group's operations, particularly from its west and central African (WECA) operations," he said. MTN's most populous region of operations - which includes Nigeria, Ghana, Ivory Coast and Cameroon - has a population of 226 million, with 22 percent mobile market penetration. There has been speculation in the market that MTN could purchase fixed-line operator Telkom for access to its fixed-wireless market, should the firm sell its 50 percent stake in South African rival Vodacom to joint owner Vodafone.
In June MTN said it may build its own fixed-line network to trim the levies it has to pay Telkom to use its backbone and to meet demand for Internet access.
Comments
Comments are closed.