By Chinwendu Obienyi
MTN Nigeria has announced that it is proposing a final dividend of N8.57 per 2 kobo ordinary share to its shareholders.
The telecom company, in a filing with the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited at the weekend, noted that the total dividend for the financial year ended December 31, 2021, would stand at N13.12 , adding that this is subject to appropriate deduction of withholding tax and will be paid to shareholders whose names appear in the Register of Members as at the close of business on April 6, 2022.
The company’s earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) grew by 27.9 per cent to N877.1 billion, while its mobile subscribers, which decreased by 8 million to 68.5 million, returned positive net additions in Q4 2021.
Further analysis of the company’s result revealed that its profit after tax (PAT) grew by 45.4 per cent to N298.7 billion, earnings per share (EPS) rose by 45.5 per cent to N14.67 while its active data users increased by 1.7 million to 34.3 million.
Speaking on the performance of the company, its Chief Executive Officer, Karl Toriola, said 2021 was a significant year for the company and added that it made good progress towards its ambition, 2025 objectives, demonstrating the objectives of the strength and resilience of the business.
“Driven by the strong operational performance, we delivered growth across all revenue lines, demonstrating the underlying strength and momentum of the business. Service revenue grew by 23.3 per cent, exceeding our mid-term target, driven mainly by growth in voice, data and fintech service revenue lines. EBITDA rose by 27.9percent, while our EBITDA margin expanded by 2.1pps to 53.0 per cent, in line with our Ambition 2025 objective.
This was driven by solid revenue growth on the back of accelerated investments in our network, supported by cost management initiatives through our expense efficiency programme. Overall, these efficiencies translated into an increase of 46.1 per cent in PBT and 45.5 per cent in PAT”, Toriola said.