SHARE PRICE TUMBLE
Trump’s Iran sanctions keep MTN’s R3.4bn out of reach
Mobile operator MTN’s share price registered its biggest decline in more than a year after reporting that R3.4bn of its cash may remain trapped in Iran for at least three years, following renewed US sanctions against the Middle Eastern nation. Finance chief Ralph Mupita said the group would keep an eye on the Iranian central bank’s newly relaxed foreign exchange rules in the hope it would be able to move funds, but that it was not expecting to do so in the medium term. Shares in MTN closed 8.1% lower at R104.85 on Wednesday, trading just above its eight-year low reached in July, according to Bloomberg data. The R3.4bn trapped in Iran dwarfs MTN’s Iranian earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of R2.6bn in the period. On its own For the time being at least, MTN’s 49%-held Iranian business will be on its own from a funding perspective. "As we don’t expect any capital coming out now, we’re not going to be putting any capital into that business," Mupita said. "That...
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