In 2023, MTN Nigeria reported a loss after tax of ₦137.0 billion, compared to a profit of ₦348.7 billion in 2022.
The net foreign exchange loss for 2023 compared to 2022 was N740.434 billion, representing an increase of +804.93% year on year compared to N81.822 billion the previous year. However, revenue increased by 22.7%, from N2.01 trillion to N2.47 trillion.
The company’s audited financial records for the year ended December 31, 2023, reflect this.
MTN Nigeria’s CEO, Karl Toriola, reported a challenging operating environment in Q1 due to growing inflation, currency depreciation, foreign exchange shortages, and geopolitical disturbances.
The financial statement stated that MTN’s service revenue increased by 22.4%, mostly due to a 39.8% increase in data income. Voice income increased by 9.7%.
The company maintained strong commercial momentum in its connectivity operations and platforms, fueled by user base growth, hitting over 4 million subscribers in 2023 and bringing the total to 79.7 million. The company’s data subscribers climbed by more than 5 million to 44.6 million, contributing to a 44.9% increase in overall data traffic.
On July 27, 2023, the company’s Board of Directors approved interim dividends of N117.48 billion for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2023 (interim 2022: N113.99 billion). The interim dividend was paid from interim profits achieved during the same period and is N5.60 kobo per ordinary share on the issued share capital of 21 billion ordinary shares of 2 kobo each for the period ending June 30, 2023.
Given the severe currency devaluation and its impact on retained earnings, the directors will not recommend a final dividend payment due to the ensuing loss for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2023.
This climbed by 2.4%, with Xtratime (our airtime lending product) up 2%. Despite the obstacles posed by the CBN’s NIN requirement for KYC in Q4, we increased the number of active wallets by 3.3 million to 5.3 million this year. This helped to boost MoMo PSB income by 8.1%.
Active mobile money (MoMo PSB) wallets surged by 163% to 5.3 million, with 326,000 MoMo agents and 324,000 merchants in its ecosystem.
MTN anticipates a difficult year in 2024 as inflation rises and the naira devalues. In January 2024, the inflation rate was 29.9%, and the currency rate had devalued to N1582/$ as of February 26, 2024. “This is anticipated to put additional pressure on consumers, the cost of doing business, and further potential forex losses,” according to the report.
