MTN Uganda said revenue for the first three quarters of the year rose 15.9 per cent year on year to Shs1.9tn ($518.1mn), driven by growth across all business segments, in results submitted to the Uganda Securities Exchange Thursday.
The telecom saw a rebound in voice revenue, up 10.4 per cent on the year to Shs828.3bn, compared with a decline of 2.3 per cent in the same period last year. However, the biggest contributors to revenue growth were data and financial technology (fintech), up 22 per cent and 18.1 per cent year on year to Shs450.3bn and Shs555.6bn respectively.
The company’s operating profit grew by 20 per cent annually to Sh665.2 billion, slower than the 21 per cent growth recorded in the previous year. This was because operating expenses grew at a faster rate, increasing by 16.2 per cent compared to 14 per cent in 2022.
Net profit rose 21.1 per cent to Shs354.4bn; in 2022, after-tax profit for the first nine months was 21 per cent higher than the figure reported for the same period the year before. Earnings per share for the period were Shs15.83, up from Shs13.07 in 2022.
The company announced a dividend of Shs6 per share for the three quarters, to be paid on the 22nd of December.
Subscriber growth
- MTN’s mobile subscriber base grew by 13.9 per cent to 19 million in the nine months to September. To be considered active, a mobile user must have had a revenue-generating event in the past 90 days.
- Active data subscribers – customers who have used more than 5Mb of data in the last 30 days – rose 23 per cent to 7.5 million
- The number of active fintech users – users who have made at least one transaction in the last 30 days – increased by 9.7 per cent to 11.6 million. Fintech includes mobile money, insurance, airtime loans, and all other electronic transactions.
($1 = Shs3761.21, on 29 September 2023)
