MTN has lost its investment appeal, says Afrifocus
The company has lurched from one regulatory crisis to another in recent years, undermining its long-term value
MTN may have resolved a bruising Nigerian dispute, which has contributed to a R41bn fall in its market value, but the damage to the mobile operator’s investment case has been done, a Johannesburg-based wealth manager says. “We are seeing little value in staying invested in the company, where the continued legal disputes in Nigeria have resulted in an increase in the business risk,” Afrifocus Personal Wealth, which has a sell recommendation on the stock, said in a note to clients this week. In August, Nigeria’s central bank told MTN to return as much as $8.1bn it claimed the company had moved out of the country illegally. Days later, the country’s attorney-general told MTN it also owed $2bn in unpaid taxes. The mobile operator, which had barely recovered from a $1bn fine for not disconnecting unregistered SIM cards in the west African state, saw its share price slide in the second half of the year as the claims piled up against it. Even though it recently agreed to make a far more pa...
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