MTN Nigeria Communications Plc declared a profit after tax (PAT) of N358.89 billion for the fiscal year 2022, an increase of 20.16 percent from N298.65 billion in 2021.
The telecommunications company’s income increased by 21.64 percent to N2.012 trillion in 2021 from N1.654 trillion in 2021, according to audited earnings reports released on Wednesday, with service revenue accounting for 99.7 percent of that total.
The figures prove that MTN is Nigeria’s first publicly traded company to reach N2 trillion in revenue. While NNPC reported N3.7 trillion in 2020 and NLNG claimed $5.6 billion in sales in 2021, MTN is the most profitable corporation in Nigeria, according to publicly available financial statistics.
The network service provider’s total assets increased by 20.02% to N2.716 trillion, up from N2.262 trillion, while its total equity increased by 26.68% to N335.682 billion, up from N264.981 billion.
In 2022, the company’s earnings per share climbed by 20.16% to N17.6%, up from N14.6% in 2021. MTN also announced an N10 per share payout, bringing its total payment to N15.5 per share, for an approximate dividend yield of 6.68%.
An independent auditor, Ernst & Young noted in its report, that “As at 31 December 2022, the MTN Group had trade receivables of N85.88 billion before expected credit loss of N13.65 billion,”
“The telecommunications industry continues to be impacted by certain macroeconomic challenges that resulted in the company experiencing uncertainty over the collectability of some of its receivables from specific customers,” the report added.
There was growth for MTN on all fronts in 2022. The company added 7.2 million new members in 2022, representing a 10.5% increase and bringing its total subscriber base to 75.6 million.
MTN started its payments subsidiary MoMo PSB in May, one month after receiving a a regulatory license. According to the study, it added 2 million active mobile money wallets between the debut and the end of December. During the year, active fintech subscribers increased by more than half to 14.9 million.
“We continued to manage and invest in the resilience of our business and networks, expanding coverage and capacity with a focus on expense efficiencies and disciplined capital allocation,”
“We became the first mobile network operator to launch a 5G network in Nigeria, providing coverage in key cities in the six geopolitical regions. Since its commercial launch in September 2022, we have rolled out 588 sites and brought the 5G network to 5G-enabled smartphones, starting with iPhone users.”
“Our strong commercial momentum, supported by an accelerated investment in our network, enabled growth across all revenue lines. As a result, we recorded a 21.5% increase in service revenue, above the average inflation rate and in line with our medium-term growth guidance.
Our ability to maintain service revenue growth while unlocking efficiencies through disciplined execution of our expense efficiency program led to a 22.0% growth in EBITDA and a 0.2pp expansion in EBITDA margin to 53.2%, in line with our medium-term target range.” CEO Karl Toriola said, in a statement about the company’s growth in 2022
MTN still continued to lead as the best-performing telco in Nigeria. In a recent disclosure by the Nigerian Communications Commission’s industry figures, MTN Nigeria continued to outperform the other mobile networks, gaining 15.4 million new users in 2022.
In addition, the corporation increased its customer base to 89.02 million as of last December, a 20.96% increase from 73.5 million in December 2021. MTN also has the greatest market share in Nigeria, accounting for 40.06% of the telecom market.