The board of MTN Nigeria, on Friday, presented its audited financials for the year ended December 31, 2018, two weeks after its 20.35bn shares were listed on the premium board of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) at N90 each.
Highlights of the financials presented to the NSE showed that revenue for the period stood at N1.039tr, making it perhaps the biggest cash cows in the country, up by N151.937bn or 17.13%. The group earned N2.225bn as other income, an item that did not exist in the prior year.
A breakdown of the revenue showed that airtime and subscription remained its honey-pot, generating N676.361bn, up from the restated N556.577bn in 2017; data revenue stood at N165.169bn, up from N116.798bn; just short message service (SMS) revenue rose to N14.27bn in 2018 from N12.622bn. Interconnect and roaming revenue increased from N103.566bn to N107.182bn; digital revenue stood at N40.706bn, down from N69.41bn; just as value added services fetched it N30.54bn, compared to N24.015bn; while other revenue came to N4.659bn from N3.552bn in 2017.
Direct network operating cost rose from N268.358bn from the 2017 full year to N305.519bn; while value-added services gulped N16.643bn, down from N28.226bn; but the cost of handsets and other accessories gulped N6.191bn, slightly lower than the N7.214bn recorded in 2017. Interconnect cost rose to N95.63bn, compared to N84.194bn, just as roaming cost at N4.173bn was almost double the N2.724bn reported in the prior year. Transmission costs stayed flat at N5.508bn from N5.685bn; even as discounts and commission inched to N51.287bn from N45.77bn in the prior year. Advertisements, sponsorships and sales promotions costs rose slightly from N15.567bn to N16.274bn; impairment reversal on contracts with customers stood at N8.757bn, compared to losses of N5.595bn in 2017; even as employee costs increased from N22.683bn in 2017 full-year to N27.152bn.
Write-back of impairment of assets held for sale stood at N6.996bn; depreciation stood at N141.162bn from N123.817bn; amortization of intangible assets stayed at N26.7bn, from N26.648bn; notional reversal difference payment to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for the period under review stood at N19.192bn; while other operating expenses jumped from N55.721bn to N67.799bn.
Operating profit, therefore, stood at N266.113bn, rising by N151.937bn or 17.13% from N195.928bn in 2017.
Finance income dropped by N20.934bn or 48.12% from N43.503bn in 2017 to N22.568bn; driven by the decline in interest income on bank deposits from N12.747bn in 2017 to N8.184bn; and more significantly by the slide in interest income on amortised cost investments from N24.056bn to N10.514bn; even as foreign exchange gain fell to N749.023m from N2.508bn.
Finance costs fell from N131.542bn to N67.339bn, representing a decline of N64.202bn, or 48.8%, helped by the drop in interest expenses on borrowings from N46.163bn in 2017 to N36.375bn; and primarily the fall in forex loss from N55.405bn to N4.419bn.
Profit before tax increased by N113.452bn or 105.15% to N221.342bn from N107.889bn in 2017 full-year; while tax expenses for the year ballooned to N75.656bn from N26.819bn, representing N48.837bn or 182.09% growth within the period. Profit after tax for the period, therefore, climbed by N64.815bn or 79.95% to N145.685bn from N81.07bn, representing Earnings Per Share of N35.70, up from N19.91.