MTN Nigeria Exceeds N10tn in Post-Earnings Vibes, Public Offer Looms
MTN Nigeria Plc has surpassed N10 trillion in market capitalisation in the stock market as investors increased their bets in telecommunications amidst better-than-anticipated earnings performance in the first half of the year.
MTN Nigeria becomes the most valuable brand in terms of market capitalisation following strong earnings performance in the first half of 2025. The telecom company exited the wood after regulatory tariff hike approval in the industry.
The telecom company’s negative shareholder fund has reduced sharply, reflecting positive impacts of undistributed earnings in the first and second quarters. This is expected to pave the way for dividend payment and a public offer plan by the group seeking to reduce interest in MTN Nigeria.
MarketForces Research reported that the company share price closed at N480 in the equities market on Friday after a sizeable volume was traded in the open market. Ticker: MTNN rose to N480 per share on Nigerian Exchange on Friday from its July close of N472 as 1.485 million units of the telco company valued at about N714 million exchanged hands.
In the first half of 2025. MTN Nigeria Communications profit rose to N414.86 billion, compared to a negative print of N519.06 billion last year. The bumper earnings performance was supported by revenue growth, driven largely by the full effect of the price adjustments.
In the period, service revenue surged by 54.6% year on year to N2.38 trillion, benefiting from tariff adjustments, heightened demand for data and disciplined commercial execution. Data revenue segment is officially now the largest contributor to revenue at 51.7%, up from 47.2% a year ago, spurred by increases in data users and scaling average usage per subscribers,
MTN data users surged by 11.8% year on year in the first half of 2025 to 51 million, the company disclosed in its earnings update. At the same, average usage per these data subscribers surged by 26.3% to 13.26 gigabyte.
Voice revenue supported the telecom company service revenue performance in the period, driven by growing subscribers’ base, high tariff and the continued focus on customer value management initiatives.
MTN Nigeria Plc.’s operating expenses climbed by 18.7% to N1.18 trillion but at a slower pace compared with topline growth, keeping its margin strong year on year. This occurred as a result of a relatively stable FX environment as well as cost savings from revised tower lease contracts and ongoing expense efficiency initiatives.
Its net interest costs increased by 57.8% to N265.33 billion as a result of 52.8% year on year surge in finance costs and 3.5% year on year reduction in finance income. FX losses for the period printed at N5.23 billion in contrast to the FX loss of N887.68 billion recorded in H1’24.
“We attribute the moderation in FX losses to the relatively more stable FX regime witnessed in the review period”, CardinalStone Securities limited said in its review note. MTN Nigeria profit before tax came in at N622.26 billion from a negative of N751.29 billion in the prior period. The positive top-to-bottom performance drove EPS to settle higher at N19.8, reversing loss per share posted in the equivalent period in 2024.
The telecom company’s negative earnings balance reduced to -N42.45 billion from -N324.57 billion in the first quarter of 2025. The company closed 2024 with a negative shareholders fund of N458.00 billion.
Analysts at CardinalStone Securities noted that the improvement in shareholders fund signals positive prints for equity in the third quarter of the year and thereafter, suggesting the likelihood of a dividend in the current year.
The investment firm anticipates an offer for sales as Ralph Mupita, MTN Group president, earlier announced plan to reduce the stake in MTN Nigeria through a public offer when the company returns to a positive equity position and dividend payment. UACN Gains 61% on Simultaneous Acquisition, Earnings Update
