MTN Group has warned shareholders that it expects its headline earnings per share (Heps) for the 2023 financial year to plunge by up to 80%.

Heps will fall between 60% and 80%, the JSE-listed telecommunications group said, on foreign exchange losses related to its key Nigeria operation.

Although MTN said its underlying operational performance for the year ended December 2023 is expected to be “resilient”, the sharp devaluation in the value of the Nigerian naira will have a big negative impact on the reported numbers.

“This mainly drove higher operating and net finance costs for MTN Nigeria, which are expected to impact the group FY23 financial performance. The foreign exchange losses in MTN Nigeria’s financial are estimated to be 593c (2022: 52c) in the group FY23 results,” MTN told shareholders on Friday.

Heps slump

Other impacts on earnings in the reporting period include:

-40c/share from impairment losses related to investments, goodwill, property, plant and equipment, and remeasurement of non-current assets held for sale totalling approximately (2022: -44c);
-50c/share impairment loss on remeasurement of disposal groups (2022: -70c);
+3c/share gain on the disposal of South African towers (2022: +22c); and
-1c from the net loss on disposal of property, plant and equipment and intangible assets (2022: +9c).

Heps was negatively impacted by some non-operational items of -889c/share (2022: -159c). These include hyperinflation adjustments (-151c); foreign exchange losses of -715c; and other non-operational items (-23c).