Shares
in South African telecoms giant MTN fell almost 18 percent yesterday after the
company said 2015 earnings dropped by at least 20 percent.
The share price fall was the biggest since April 2000, as the
company fights a $3.9 billion fine imposed by Nigerian authorities last year
for failing to disconnect unregistered users. By midday, stocks of the
Johannesburg-headquartered company were trading at 126.25 rand after closing
the previous day at 153.70 rand.
On
Thursday, MTN advised shareholders that "the company is expecting to
report a decrease of at least 20 percent in basic headline earnings per
share". The company will announce its full year financial results on March
3.
"The
negative earnings performance has been impacted by a number of factors with the
operational underperformance in Nigeria resulting from the subscriber
disconnections," said a statement. Nigeria, Africa's most populous
country, is the MTN group's largest market, where it had more than 62.8 million
subscribers by the second quarter of 2015.
MTN was
slapped with the hefty penalty in October 2015 after it missed a deadline to
disconnect 5.1 million unregistered SIM cards. Negotiations over the amount are
underway and "there remains some uncertainty as to the final quantum of
the Nigerian fine", MTN said. But it noted that the fall in earnings per
share excludes the fine.
The
Nigerian Communications Commission said registration of subscribers was made
mandatory to ensure proper identification of users with their biometric data
and in line with international best practice.The fine led to the resignation of
chief executive Sifiso Dabengwa and other Nigerian executives.
0 comments:
Post a Comment