MTN GROUP LIMITED - MTN Ghana unaudited results for the nine-month period ended 30 September 2019

MTN Ghana unaudited results for the nine-month period ended 30 September 2019

MTN Group Limited
(Incorporated in the Republic of South Africa)
(Registration number 1994/009584/06)
(Share code MTN)
(ISIN: ZAE000042164)
( “ MTN Group ” )

Salient features

- Subscribers (QoQ)
     - Subscribers increased by 1.1% to 21.6 million (+1.6% to 19.2
              *
       million ).
     - Data subscribers decreased by 2.6% to 17.7 million (active data
                                             #
       subscribers up by 0.1% to 7.4 million ).
     - Registered Mobile Money users increased by 5.0% to 14.9 million
                                                   *
       (active MoMo users up by 2.2% to 8.7 million ).
- Service revenue increased by 22.7% to GH¢ 3,723 million.
- EBITDA up by 63.0% to GH¢ 1,875 million (up by 35.1% to GH¢ 1,553
  million under IAS 17).
- EBITDA margin up by 12.4 percentage points (pp) to 50.0% (up by 3.9
  pp to 41.5% under IAS 17).
- Profit after tax increased by 14.8% to GH¢ 689 million (up by 24.6%
  to GH¢ 748 million under IAS 17).
- Capex for the period was GH¢ 862 million 1 (GH¢ 808 million under IAS
  17).

IFRS 16 and IAS 17 comparison
                          IFRS 16                                             IAS 17                          IAS 17
                     Period ended                                       Period ended                    Period ended
                     30 September                                       30 September                    30 September
                              2019                                              2019                            2018
                              GH¢m                                              GH¢m                            GH¢m
EBITDA                      1,875                                              1,553                           1,150
EBITDA margin %             50.0% 1
                                                                               41.5%                           37.6%
Capex                         862                                                808                             611
Profit   before                989                                             1,068                             848
tax
Profit    after                689                                                       748                             600
tax


1 Capex under IFRS 16 is made up of Capex spend (GH¢808m) and ROU assets (GH¢54m) for the period.
* Aligned with the MTN Group definition. Out of bracket numbers conform to the respective regulator subscriber definition.
# Active data subscribers as per MTN Group definition and respective regulator definition.




Unless otherwise stated, financial growth rates are year-on-year (YoY) (the nine-month period ended 30 September 2019 versus the
nine-month period ended 30 September 2018). Non-financial growth rates are presented quarter-on-quarter (QoQ), or 3Q19 vs 2Q19.

MTN Ghana unaudited results for the nine-month
period ended 30 September 2019

Commentary
MTN Ghana delivered a solid performance for the period. Service
revenue increased by 22.7% YoY, supported by resilient growth in
voice, data and mobile financial services. Voice revenue increased by
                                                           *
19.0% mainly attributable to good growth in subscribers , customer
value management and continued improvements made to our network. These
also contributed to a strong data revenue growth (+32.6%). Mobile
financial services revenue grew by 45.0% driven by innovations in
service delivery and deepening the ecosystem. An increase in active
                   *
mobile money users (+2.2%) also contributed to growth and benefited
from an increase in regional activations.
Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA)
grew by 63.0% with an EBITDA margin expansion of 12.4 percentage
points (pp) to 50.0%. Under IAS 17 and adjusting for the management
fee, the like-for-like EBITDA margin expanded by 5.3 pp to 42.9%
mainly as a result of increased distribution efficiencies.
We continued to invest in our network and rolled out 350 2G, 627 3G,
   ^
900 4G and 100 rural telephony sites.
2019 is our ‘year of the customer’ and MTN Ghana will continue to
pursue its BRIGHT strategy through the fourth quarter with the prime
focus on customer experience and creating value for shareholders.


* Aligned with the MTN Group definition. Out of bracket numbers conform to the respective regulator subscriber definition.
# Active data subscribers as per MTN Group definition and respective regulator definition.
^ 900 4G sites consists of 329 new sites and 571 upgraded sites.



Unless otherwise stated, financial growth rates are year-on-year (YoY) (the nine-month period ended 30 September 2019 versus the
nine-month period ended 30 September 2018). Non-financial growth rates are presented quarter-on-quarter (QoQ), or 3Q19 vs 2Q19.




This announcement is only a summary of the information in the full
announcement and does not contain full or complete details. Please
visit https://mtn.com.gh/investors/annual-and-quarterly-financials for
the unaudited results for the nine months ended 30 September 2019.

Fairland

30 October 2019

Lead sponsor
JP Morgan Equities (SA) Proprietary Limited

Joint sponsor
Tamela Holdings Proprietary Limited

Date: 30/10/2019 02:05:00
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