MTN Group reported a 20.8% decline in revenue to 85.3 billion rands in the first half of 2024, down from 107.7 billion rands in the same period last year. The company attributed this drop to the devaluation of the naira and the ongoing conflict in Sudan.
Despite this, MTN achieved strong commercial momentum, executed key strategic initiatives, and maintained a resilient balance sheet. In constant currency terms, data service revenue rose by 21%, and fintech service revenue climbed by 27%.
The company made progress in increasing local ownership in MTN Ghana and MTN Uganda, generating gross proceeds of R1.7 billion. MTN also completed its exit from Afghanistan and Guinea-Bissau as part of its portfolio optimization strategy.
As of June 2024, MTN had 288 million subscribers across 18 markets, with 150 million active data subscribers and 66 million active Mobile Money users. Data traffic on MTN’s network increased by over a third to 9,054 petabytes, while fintech transaction volumes rose by 18% to 9.7 billion.
However, the strong underlying performance was masked by the impact of weaker currencies and the conflict in Sudan on reported results. Ralph Mupita, MTN Group President and CEO, noted that macro headwinds affected reported results, with the naira devaluation having the most significant impact.
Adjusted headline earnings per share decreased by 50% to 373 cents, and adjusted return on equity declined by 4.2 percentage points to 20.2%. Despite challenges, MTN South Africa demonstrated encouraging progress, and MTN Nigeria delivered a strong underlying performance. The company expects GDP, inflation, and currencies to improve in 2025 across key markets.
