Despite Nigerian run-ins, MTN’s earnings nearly doubled in 2018
MTN says its earnings in the year ended December will nearly double, despite run-ins with regulators in its biggest market, Nigeria. The mobile operator said after the market’s close that headline earnings per share (HEPS) for the year would be between 80% and 90% higher than in 2017, or between 328c and 346c. These numbers would have been 220c better were it not for a handful of once-off, non-cash items, including a regulatory fine in Nigeria. Earnings were dented by hyperinflation adjustments, net foreign exchange losses, and a payment to the Central Bank of Nigeria, MTN said. The mobile operator’s shares crashed in the second half of 2018 when it was slapped with a $2bn tax claim from Nigeria’s attorney-general, and a separate demand from the central bank that it return $8.1bn worth of dividends. The company ultimately reached a settlement with Nigeria’s central bank in late December with the $8.1bn claim being reduced to $53m. MTN said in its update on Thursday that following th...
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