MTN Group scoops African brand awards, named most helpful private sector brand during pandemic

MTN Group’s brand is growing from strength to strength, evidenced by its top rankings in two separate independent brand surveys released this week.

MTN remains the ‘Most Admired African Brand’ in the Brand Africa 100: Africa’s Best Brands 2021 survey published on Tuesday. The survey covers 28 countries representing 80% of the continent’s population as well as 80% of its GDP.

For the 10th year running, MTN was also named as the most valuable and strongest South African brand by Brand Finance, which gave the Group a brand value of R44.8 billion in its South Africa 50 2021 survey released on Monday.

“MTN’s work to achieve the best brand in our markets is part of ensuring that we offer the leading customer experience. This is a vital enabler of our Ambition 2025 strategy,” said MTN Group President and CEO Ralph Mupita, adding that 15 of the Group’s 21 operations boasted their market’s highest net promoter scores.

I would like to thank every one of our 278 million subscribers for trusting us to deliver the communication and digital services they need. We take seriously your customer experience, and strive every day to live our core belief that everyone deserves the benefits of a modern connected life. I would also like to acknowledge MTN’s 19 300 people who work tirelessly to further digital and financial inclusion across our markets.”

This year, Brand Africa’s survey included a new category – brands which were perceived to have been helpful during the COVID-19 pandemic. MTN was named the number one private sector brand in this category and followed the World Health Organization in the overall rankings.

During COVID-19, the Group worked to keep people connected and informed. In a unique public/private partnership in early 2021, MTN donated US$25 million to the African Union’s vaccination programme to secure COVID-19 vaccines for the continent’s health workers.

The Group also worked with host nations to support the Africa COVID Communications and Information Platform and launched the #WearItForMe mask campaign to encourage people everywhere to protect each other.

MTN Group’s President Ralph Mupita pays courtesy visit to the Ghana stock exchange

The Group President and CEO of MTN, Ralph Mupita has saluted the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) for its role in the ‘Ghana Cares’ national socio-economic priorities that is going to be critical for Ghana’s development going forward.

“We are encouraged by the progress we have seen in the development and deepening of the capital markets in Ghana”, Mr Mupita said. He noted that “capital formation and capital markets are critical in economic development of countries. We salute the ‘Ghana Cares’ national socio-economic priorities that is going to be critical to Ghana’s development going forward”.

He made the remarks on Tuesday 18 May 2021 when he visited the GSE to pay a courtesy call on the Managing Director, Mr. Ekow Afedzi, as part of a three-day working visit to one of MTN Group’s key markets. He also used the opportunity to get a first-hand account of the performance of Scancom Plc (MTN Ghana) shares since the Initial Public Offer (IPO) in 2018.

Mr. Mupita was grateful for the support MTN Ghana had received since its listing on the bourse. “On behalf of the MTN Group we would like to thank the GSE for the support we have received since listing in September 2018”, he said.

MTN Ghana’s performance on the Ghana Stock Exchange in 2021 has been nothing short of excellence, accounting for 86% and 77% of total volume and value traded on the Ghana Stock Exchange as at 18 May 2021. The company’s share price has gained 49 pesewas this year representing a year to date return of 76.6%.

The MD of the GSE, Mr. Ekow Afedzi applauded MTN Ghana’s stellar performance. He commended the company for being the most liquid and driver of liquidity on the market. 

MTN Ghana listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange in 2018 and is the third largest company by market capitalization. This represents about 23% of the total market capitalization of the listings on the Ghana Stock Exchange.

The MTN Group CEO was accompanied on his visit to the GSE by the VP for MTN WECA Region, Mr Ebenezer Asante, Chief Enterprise Business Officer, Mr Sam Addo representing Selorm Adadevoh Chief Executive Officer, and the Chief Corporate Services Officer, Mr Samuel Koranteng.

MTN Group reports resilient first quarter 2021 results as data and fintech services accelerate

MTN Group today announced a strong and resilient operational and financial performance in the first quarter of 2021, with growth in service revenue exceeding medium-term guidance, driven by gains in data and fintech revenue.

“The MTN Group has delivered a solid Q1 2021 trading performance, with service revenue and EBITDA margins expanding on the back of continued commercial momentum and resilient networks,” said MTN Group President and Chief Executive Officer Ralph Mupita, adding that the Group’s Ambition 2025 strategy had gained execution traction during challenging COVID-19 macroeconomic conditions in the quarter.

In constant currency terms, service revenue grew by 17.8% to R42.3 billion at end-March 2021, earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 21.3% and the EBITDA margin widened to 44.2% from 42.7%.

“The overall Group results were supported by double-digit service revenue growth from our large operations and continued focus on our expense efficiency programme. We are encouraged in particular by the strong performance of MTN South Africa, as well as accelerating data and fintech services across the group in the period,” he said.

MTN South Africa (MTN SA) recorded strong performances across the consumer, enterprise and wholesale businesses. Underpinned by market share gains and a subscriber base of 32.1 million, an 11.8% increase in service revenue and good cost containment drove a 3.2 percentage point expansion in MTN SA’s EBITDA margin to 39.8%. MTN Nigeria and MTN Ghana – both of which reported Q1 results in the past week – continued to build on their solid operational execution and commercial momentum.

Group data revenue grew by almost a third amid sustained demand for work-from-home services, digital entertainment as well as online education offerings. Fintech revenue also accelerated, expanding by more than 31% as the value of fintech transactions increased by 87% to US$53 billion.

“We are pleased with the momentum in driving our platform strategy and the fintech separation project is progressing well, in line with our Ambition 2025 strategy,” said Mupita. “MTN Rwanda recently received a licence to operate a separate fintech entity, bringing the number of structurally separated entities to 12 (out of 16 fintech markets). We continue to progress our work in establishing the Topco structure for fintech, and anticipate that this will be concluded before Q1 2022.”

The Group’s strong overall performance was despite a 1.7 million decrease in subscriber numbers to 277.9 million as MTN Nigeria’s subscribers declined because of restrictions on all new SIM sales and activations in that market. The Group’s active data subscribers increased by 1.3 million to 115.6 million and the number of MoMo customers increased by 0.2 million to 46.6 million. Excluding the impacts of MTN Nigeria, MTN Group total subscribers increased by 3.4 million.

COVID-19 continued to impact lives and livelihoods across the world, including at MTN. By 31 March 2021, the Group had reported 1 557 COVID-19 infections and mourned the loss of 11 MTN employees to the virus across our markets. We continue to prioritise the health and safety of our people.

Alongside equity partners, in April we submitted a bid for one of two telecoms licences to operate in Ethiopia, Africa’s second most-populous country which represents the last and largest telco liberalisation opportunity in the world. MTN’s participation in the bid process aligns with our pan-Africa focus and capital allocation framework.

The Group remains committed to its asset realisation programme (ARP) and is confident of making progress on realising the 29% stake in tower company IHS Group in the short term. This is key to MTN’s ARP. IHS continues to explore an IPO of its shares in line with its public statement made in August 2020.

“Looking ahead, we are focused on executing our Ambition 2025 strategy, driving growth, de-leveraging the Holdco balance sheet and unlocking value, whilst navigating the impacts of the pandemic,” concluded Mupita

MTN Rwandacell PLC lists by introduction on the Rwanda Stock Exchange

MTN Rwandacell PLC (MTN Rwanda) has today made history in Rwanda by being the first mobile network operator to list its shares on the Rwanda Stock Exchange (RSE).

As part of the May 4th listing by introduction, Crystal Telecom Limited’s shareholders now hold a direct 20% stake in MTN Rwanda and can trade their MTN Rwanda shares directly on the RSE. These shares were previously held by Crystal Telecom PLC.

MTN Rwanda CEO Mitwa Ng’ambi said the listing was good news for MTN and Rwanda: “We are honoured to be the first telecommunications network provider in Rwanda to be listed on the RSE. We are committed to further establishing our presence, expanding our connectivity, driving digital inclusion and contributing to the sector and economy.

She said MTN was proud of its journey in Rwanda in the past 23 years: “We are grateful to our customers, partners and stakeholders and look forward to this new chapter. Listing on the RSE is a major milestone for us and the platform for even better and bolder things to come.

MTN Group President and CEO Ralph Mupita said the listing demonstrated MTN’s commitment to Rwanda: “This listing will assist in deepening the Rwandan capital markets by broadening public ownership over time and will also establish the basis for a new and emerging telecoms and technology asset class on the exchange.

This listing by introduction is part of MTN Group’s work to continuously promote local ownership and participation in MTN businesses across its markets and provides an opportunity for Rwandans to invest directly in the country’s leading network operator.  

MTN Rwanda joining the Rwanda Stock Exchange as we celebrate 10 years of operations as an Exchange is another big milestone for our market. We hope that the powerful brand recognition brought by MTN Rwanda on the market will attract more private sector companies both locally and internationally to join the market and enjoy the benefits of listed companies,” said Pierre Celestin Rwabukumba, CEO of the Rwanda Stock Exchange.

Ahead of its listing by introduction on the RSE, MTN Rwanda changed its status from a private company to a Public Liability Company (PLC) effective December 2020. The full company name has therefore been changed from MTN Rwandacell Limited to MTN Rwandacell PLC.