MTN Group president and CEO Ralph Mupita.

MTN Group's Ghana and Uganda operations are driving increasing growth and contribution to the telco’s markets portfolio.

Africa's largest telecommunications carrier released results for the full fiscal year ended December 2023.

MTN Group CEO Ralph Mupita stated today that both Ghana and Uganda's operating companies reported good results and are well-positioned to capitalise on growth opportunities, in their respective countries.

Despite the good performance of the two units, MTN Group's full-year 2023 financial results showed a dramatic reduction in earnings, as the volatility of the Nigerian naira harmed the telco's profitability.

The group announced headline earnings per share (HEPS) of 315cps, down 72.3% from a restated R11.37 a year earlier, while adjusted HEPS fell 9.5% to 1,203cps for the financial year ending December 2023.

Mupita said: “The sharp devaluation of the naira during the period impacted our reported results for both MTN Nigeria and MTN Group.”

MTN Nigeria, the most profitable of MTN Group's 19 markets, last month released its performance for the year ended December 2023.

The unit reported loss after tax of $87 million (N137.0 billion), compared to a restated profit after tax of $221 million (N348.7 billion) in 2022.

This resulted in negative retained earnings and total equity at the end of December 2023 of $132 million (N208.0 billion) and $26 million (N40.8 billion), respectively.

In terms of service revenue growth in its larger markets, Mupita said, MTN Nigeria was up by 22.1%, MTN South Africa (MTN SA) by 2.5% and MTN Ghana by 35.0%.

Turning to other key metrics for the year, group voice revenue increased by 3.3% (+6.3% ex-SA), data revenue increased by 23%, fintech revenue increased by 21.8%, subscribers increased by two percent year-on-year to 294.8 million, and active data subscribers increased by 9.3% to 149.7 million.