MTN Nigeria’s full-year revenue hits record N1.7 trillion

MTN Nigeria Communications Plc (MTNN) has reported turnover in the sum of N1.7 trillion for full-year 2021, a milestone that will help firm up its status as Nigeria’s biggest listed company by revenue.

The Nigerian operation of South African-owned MTN Group attained the new height after the number of its active data users surged by 1.7 million to 34.3 million, helping income from data sales increase by 55.3 per cent to N516 billion.

MTNN cited an extension of its coverage areas for 4G services October through December as the catalyst for the higher earnings from data.

Relative to its figure for 2020, revenue for last year grew by 22.9 per cent.

Last November, the wireless carrier secured a permit from the Central Bank of Nigeria to start a payment service bank, and that will give it the latitude to offer many of the services performed by commercial banks, the notable exceptions being disallowance from granting credit and offering foreign exchange functions.

“During the year, our total contribution to the Government through direct and indirect taxes was N669.2 billion, up 83.4 per cent, representing approximately 40 per cent of our total revenue,” said Karl Toriola, the chief executive officer.

Profit before tax stood at N436.7 billion, up by 46.1 per cent from the preceding year’s figure, while profit after tax accelerated 45.5 per cent to N298.7 billion.

MTNN conducted its initial public offering in December, when it put up 575 million shares for sale to investors, about two and a half years after it listed by introduction on the Nigerian Exchange.

Nigeria is the biggest market of the MTN Group, responsible for about one-third of its revenue.