MTN said on Thursday that it expects that its headline earnings per share (Heps) for the full-year ended 31 December 2014 rose by between 5% and 15%.

The mobile operator, which owns networks in 22 countries in Africa and the Middle East, will report its 2014 annual results on 4 March.

It said it expects earnings per share (EPS) to have risen by between 15% and 25% compared to the 2013 financial year.

Heps will be between R14,82 and R16,23/share, while EPS will be between R16,79 and R18,25/share.

“The EPS for the 2014 financial year was positively impacted by the transaction whereby the MTN Nigeria’s passive infrastructure was transferred to an associate,” the group told shareholders in a statement issued via the JSE.

“MTN Group has retained a 51% interest in the newly created entity and MTN Nigeria will lease-back the towers for its operations.”

The JSE requires listed companies to publish a trading statement as soon as they are reasonably certain that their results will differ by at least 20% from those of the previous corresponding period.

MTN’s share price was last quoted trading down by 1,8% on the session, trailing the overall market, which was up slightly. In the past 12 months, the counter has added just over 6%. — © 2015 NewsCentral Media