To complete its strategic agreement with Mastercard, MTN Group will spin off its financial technology operations in Ghana, Nigeria, and Uganda. Planned to be executed in the first half of the year, this change would help form separate entities for the fintech divisions, allowing Mastercard to hold a minority position in these fast-growing markets.
Ralph Mupita, Chief Executive Officer, MTN said that while processes are on track in Ghana and Uganda, Nigeria presents a more challenging environment because of complex regulatory requirements.
MTN’s mobile money business is scaling rapidly, fueled by a young, tech-savvy population in Africa who use their phones to access essential services such as banking. Mobile money transactions were up 35% to more than $320 billion.
Mupita also noted that MTN is willing to consider network-sharing partnerships, another trend gaining ground in European markets.
MTN still ranks as Africa’s largest telecom company by sales. It has just declared a dividend of R3. 45 (0.19 cents) a share in 2024, topping the average analyst estimate of R3. 35 compiled by Bloomberg. The company also said it planned to pay a higher dividend of at least 3.70 rand per share for its current financial year.
Given these positive moves, MTN announced a loss of R9.29 billion for 2024, more than the anticipated drawdown of R0. 87 billion. But its shares gained as much as 3.4% in early Johannesburg trading, a sign of investor confidence in the group’s strategic direction.
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