The share price of Africa’s largest telecommunications group breached R200 for the first time on Wednesday after it published its interim results for the six months to 30 June 2013.
The share touched R200,90/share in intraday trade, but fell back to R199 at the close, a gain of more than 1,5% on the day. At that level, MTN’s market capitalisation is R375bn. The counter has added almost 27% in the past 12 months.
The share price improvement comes on the back of interim results that showed the group taking strain in South Africa but performing well in its other key markets.
Headline earnings per share increased by 22% to 654c and group revenue rose by 9,8% to R65,2bn. Profit margin — measured using earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation — remained stable at 42,5%, while subscriber numbers grew by 6,5% to 201,5m.
In Nigeria, MTN’s largest market by subscriber numbers, it added 12,1m customers year on year to bring the total to 55,2m. However, a reduction in mobile termination rates, a ban on promotions during the period and the suspension of services in three states resulted in a 1,6% decline in revenue.
Meanwhile, in its home market of South Africa, MTN lost 400 000 subscribers as the price war with rivals intensified. At the same time South African revenue fell by 1,4% year on year to R20,1bn, in part due to the falling cost of calls and data. — (c) 2013 NewsCentral Media