Key Highlights
Revenue (2023 vs. 2022): N2.469 trillion vs. N2.012 trillion, +22.69% YoY.
Operating Profit (2023 vs. 2022): N773.660 billion vs. N734.164 billion, +5.38% YoY
Finance Income (2023 vs. 2022): N25.815 billion vs. N13.768 billion, +87.50% YoY
Finance Cost (2023 vs. 2022): N236.927 billion vs. N147.287 billion, +60.86% YoY
Net FX Loss (2023 vs. 2022): N740.434 billion vs. N81.822 billion, +804.93% YoY
(Loss)/Profit after tax (2023 vs. 2022): -N137.021 billion vs. N348.727 billion, -139.29% YoY
(Loss)/Earnings per share (2023 vs. 2022): -N6.38 vs. N16.76, -138.07% YoY
Total Borrowing (2023 vs. 2022): N1.177 trillion vs. N689.673 billion, +70.69% YoY
Total subscribers increased by 5.3% to 79.7 million
Active data users increased by 12.7% to 44.6 million
Active mobile money (MoMo PSB) wallets increased by 163.2% to 5.3 million
Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) grew by 12.3% to N1.2 trillion
EBITDA margin decreased by 4.5 percentage points (pp) to 48.7%
Net loss for the year has resulted in a depletion of its retained earnings and shareholders’ fund to negative N208.0 billion and N40.8 billion, respectively.
Company Commentary: “2023 witnessed a very challenging operating environment characterised by rising inflation, currency devaluation and foreign exchange shortages, complicated by geopolitical disruptions and cash shortages in Q1 arising from a redesign of the naira.
These factors created severe headwinds for our customers and our business during the year. The inflation rate increased throughout the year, reaching 28.9% in December 2023 – the highest reading in 18 years – with an average rate of 24.5%.
This was further exacerbated by higher fuel prices, arising from the removal of the fuel subsidy in May 2023, with the average prices of diesel and petrol up by 66.4% and 257.1% in 2023 to N1,416.8/litre and N600/litre, respectively. In June 2023, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) adopted a more liberal foreign exchange management system and reintroduced the ‘willing buyer, willing seller’ model.
This has resulted in a 96.7% unfavourable movement in the exchange rate against the US dollar from N461.1/US$ in December 2022 to N907.1/US$ (Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) rate) in December 2023.
This development contributed meaningfully to the upward pressure on the cost of doing business in Nigeria, and for MTN Nigeria in particular, significantly increased the costs in relation to our tower leases.”
Peoplesmind