MTN Nigeria Communication (MTN Nigeria) Plc, the largest telecommunications company in Nigeria, has distributed 641.05 million ordinary shares, worth 2.0 kobo each, to shareholders who chose to convert their cash dividends into equity stakes.
MTN Nigeria distributed 641.047 million ordinary shares to shareholders as part of its most recent scrip dividend election scheme, according to a regulatory report at the Nigerian Exchange (NGX).
At an initial public offering price of N232.68 per share, or an immediate market value of N149.15 billion, the allotted shares were added to the total number of MTN Nigeria shares that are currently outstanding.
Following the supplementary listing, MTN Nigeria’s total number of issued and fully paid up shares increased from 20.35 billion to 20.996 billion 2.0 kobo ordinary shares.
According to a report in The Nation, MTN Nigeria had made the decision to investigate a plan that would let shareholders convert their cash dividends to shares.
For the 2022 fiscal year, MTN Nigeria had declared a final dividend of approximately N204 billion, or N10 per share. After the company had paid an interim dividend of N113.99 billion or N5.60 per share during the year, this brought the total dividend payout for the 2022 fiscal year to approximately N318 billion or N15.60 per share.
To shareholders listed on the company’s register as of the close of business on March 27, 2023, the final dividend was paid electronically on April 20, 2023.
The two-way optional dividend arrangement was put forth and approved by shareholders at the April 18, 2023 meeting, giving shareholders time to decide before the dividend payment date of April 20, 2023.
It was anticipated that MTN International (Mauritius) Limited, which owns a controlling equity stake of 72.83% in MTN Nigeria, would benefit the most from the dividend conversion option.
Important excerpts from MTN Nigeria’s audited report and accounts for the fiscal year that ended on December 31, 2022, revealed double-digit increases in all key performance indicators.
The total amount received increased by 21.6% to N2.01 trillion. EBITDA, which stands for earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization, increased by 22% to N1.1 trillion. Thus, EBITDA margin increased marginally by 0.2 percentage points to 53.2%. Gain before taxes of 22.3% brought in N534 billion. Net profit after taxes increased by 20.2% to N358.9 billion. Consequently, EPS increased to N17.79 kobo in 2022, up 21.3%.
Additionally, the operational report revealed significant advancements, with mobile subscribers increasing by 10.5% to 75.6 million, with 7.2 million more subscribers expected in 2022. To reach 39.5 million, the number of active data users increased by 15.3%, adding 5.2 million new users in 2022. Since the launch of PSB, there have been two million active mobile money (MoMo) wallets, increasing the number of active fintech subscribers by 57.5% to 14.9 million.
