Analysts expect the credit ratings downgrade on MTN to have minimal effect in the short term, but warned that it may put future dividends at risk. On Wednesday Moody’s downgraded MTN, a communication services company, along with other companies following the downgrading of SA’s credit ratings by Moody’s last week, in the wake of S&P Global Ratings and Fitch junking the country’s foreign currency rating. Moody’s has downgraded senior unsecured notes issued by MTN to Ba1 from Baa3. The group’s outlook was changed to stable from negative. MTN is facing a number of headwinds in its key markets, SA and Nigeria, including weak macroeconomic environments, regulatory challenges, local currency weakness and dollar shortages in Nigeria, which has negatively affected the group’s performance.
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