Africa’s biggest telecoms operator MTN Group (MTNJ.J), opens new tab on Monday reported a 72.3% tumble in full-year profit as a sharp devaluation in the Nigerian naira pushed its biggest unit MTN Nigeria (MTNN.LG), opens new tab to a loss.
South Africa-headquartered MTN said its headline earnings per share – one of the main profit measures – fell to 315 cents for the year ended on Dec. 31, from a restated 1,137 cents a year earlier.
Nigeria’s central bank in June adopted new forex rules that MTN said had since led to an approximately 96.7% devaluation in the exchange rate to 907.1 naira per dollar by the end of December.
Adjusted headline earnings per share declined by 9.5% to 1,203 cents.
MTN, with 295 million customers in 19 African markets, declared a final divided of 330 cents per share and said its group service revenue grew by 6.9% to 210.1 billion rand ($11.09 billion).