JSE-listed MTN Group on Monday posted a 33.5% decline in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) to R60.10-billion on a reported basis during the year ended December 31, amid the sharp devaluation of the naira, along with elevated inflation in some markets.

MTN Nigeria’s Ebitda plunged 56.7% to R15.97-billion, while MTN South Africa achieved a 5.5% increase to R19.65-billion in the year under review.

The group’s financial results were impacted by foreign exchange devaluation, particularly the naira, as well as the conflict in Sudan, explained Group president and CEO Ralph Mupita.

On a constant currency basis, the group’s Ebitda increased 10.2% to R70.1-billion, with increases of 7.5% from Nigeria and 5.5% from South Africa.

MTN Group’s Ebitda margin decreased by 8.9 percentage points on a reported basis to 32%, and 0.8 percentage points lower to 38.2% in constant currency, with South Africa’s Ebitda margin increasing 1.5 percentage points to 37.4% and Nigeria’s declining 10.3 percentage points to 38.9%.

Basic earnings per share (EPS) decreased by 333.9% to a loss of -531c, while reported headline EPS (HEPS) decreased by 68.9% to 98c.

The 2024 financial year’s EPS includes impairment losses of -578c that mainly relate to investments, goodwill, property, plant and equipment primarily related to Sudan; an impairment loss on remeasurement of disposal groups of -8c; a net loss on the disposal of investments in joint ventures and associate and subsidiary of -36c; and a net loss on disposal of property, plant and equipment and intangible assets of about -7c.

HEPS was negatively impacted by some nonoperational and one-off items of about -718c, such as hyperinflation adjustments of -16c; forex losses of -598c, including naira depreciation impact of -399c;  (FY2023: -593 cents); deferred tax charge of -58c; and other nonoperational items of a further -46c.

“There remained volatility in the geopolitical landscape, which had knock-on effects on our business. In Sudan, the ongoing conflict in the country negatively impacted our operational and financial performance,” Mupita commented.

However, he said that there was a strong underlying performance and strategic execution for 2024, despite challenges in the operating environment, noting MTN Group’s adjusted HEPS declining by 32.2% to 816c, reflecting a strong sequential improvement in trajectory in the second half of the 2024 financial year over the first half.

“We are encouraged by the relative stability of some important key macroeconomic indicators in the second half – such as inflation and foreign exchange rates in certain of our key markets.

“This provided support to our results in the period, with a pleasingly positive momentum in second-half earnings, free cash flow and leverage ratio. These outcomes were underpinned by strong operational performances in several of our key markets.”

He said that the 2024 financial results, further boosted by the approval of tariff amendments in Nigeria in the new year, and which were presently being implemented, enabled MTN Group to exit the year on a strong footing to sustain the encouraging momentum going forward.

During the year ended December 31, group service revenue decreased by 15.4% on a reported basis to R177.8-billion, but increased by 13.8% in constant currency.

“Particularly encouraging was the tick up in the momentum of our underlying performance in the second half, excluding MTN Sudan, with service revenue up 15.3% [in the last six months], with an Ebitda margin of 40.1%.”

Adjusting for MTN Sudan, service revenue would have grown by 14.4%, with an underlying Ebitda margin of 38.5%.

South Africa’s service revenue edged up 3.1% to R43.18-billion, while Nigeria’s service revenue contracted 44.8% to R40.76-billion.

Data revenue decreased by 12.3% on a reported basis, but increased by 21.9% in constant currency, while fintech revenue increased by 11% on a reported basis and by 28.5% on a constant currency basis.

Adjusting for MTN Sudan, data revenue would have risen by 23%.

Voice revenue held relatively steady, rising by 0.5%, with strong growth from MTN Nigeria, with an increase of 14.2%, and MTN Uganda, increasing 12.7%. Overall voice traffic increased 8.9%.

Fintech sustained a strong overall revenue growth trajectory in 2024, with the year-on-year increase led by Ghana, Uganda and Cameroon.

“We are pleased with the ongoing momentum in advanced services revenue (up 52%), which continued to grow strongly relative to basic services revenue (up 23%) in line with our objectives. The contribution of advanced services to total fintech revenue, excluding airtime advance, rose to 30% (up 4.3 percentage points),” Mupita continued.

Advanced services revenue sustained a robust trajectory, expanding by 52% to contribute 25.3% to overall fintech revenue.

Fintech transaction volumes increased by 15.3% to 20.3-billion and transaction value increased 35.1% to $321.3-billion.

MTN Group’s total subscribers increased by 2.2% to 290.9-million during the year under review.

Active data subscribers increased by 7.7% to 157.8-million, with data traffic increasing 32.6% to 19 459 PB.

Further, Mobile Money monthly active users increased by 0.9% to 63.1-million.

During the year ended December 31, MTN Group deployed R29.9-billion of capex to strengthen the quality and capacity of its networks.

“We continue to enhance our coverage with the population covered by our 3G, 4G and 5G networks growing by 3.8-million, 9.6-million and 31.3-million respectively. The penetration of smartphones in our customer base increased to 63.9%, from 60.8% in 2023, amounting to 184.7-million smartphones on our networks.”

In 2024, MTN deployed an additional 2 472 3G sites, 3 180 4G sites and 1 358 5G sites.

In addition, the company realised sustainable savings of R3.8-billion in the year, which includes R1.3-billion in savings realised from the renegotiation of the IHS tower lease contracts in Nigeria, with pleasing progress made in the group’s expense efficiency programme (EEP).

The company remains on track to deliver on its EEP target of R7-billion to R8-billion in cost savings between 2024 to 2026.

MTN Group also finalised the sale of MTN Afghanistan in February 2024, which completed its exit of the consolidated Middle East operations.

“We announced conclusions of the sales of MTN Guinea-Bissau and MTN Guinea-Conakry in August 2024 and December 2024, respectively.”

“In August 2024, we successfully renegotiated the tower lease contracts in Nigeria, which incorporate more sustainable terms that enable MTN Nigeria to better manage impacts of the macroeconomic environment on the business. This was a significant milestone in our efficiency initiatives, resulting in R1.3-billion in opex savings benefits to MTN Nigeria in 2024,” Mupita added.

Conditions in Sudan remained challenging amid the ongoing conflict in the country, and MTN’s operation continued to be impacted by power outages, fuel shortages and other network disruptions.

However, there were some encouraging signs of an improving trajectory in the situation in Sudan, he said.

MTN declared a dividend a share of 345c for the 2024 financial year.