MTN Group’s 2024 integrated annual report published on Tuesday, reveals that Group CEO Ralph Mupita, Senior Vice President for Markets, Ebenezer Asante and three others hold far more MTN shares than is required under the group policy.
TechCentral reports that the company’s policy requires that its executives buy and hold shares at a level in proportion to their annual fixed packages to “align shareholder and executive interests”.
It noted that as at the end of December 2023, Mupita held 1.12 million shares directly, and through American depository receipts (ADRs), equating to 11.1x his annual fixed remuneration package.
At MTN’s share price of R90.37 ($4.87) and MTN’s ADRs price of US$4.83, at the time of writing this – Mupita’s personal holding in the group amounts to about R101 million ($5.4 million+)
The resulting multiple of 11.1x his annual fixed package (AFP) is far higher than the 2.5x required under the group personal shareholding policy.
Meanwhile, Ebenezer Asante also holds eight million shares (indirectly, via Scancom Ghana), for a multiple of 5x his AFP for the 2023 financial year, twice what the policy prescribes.
Other executives’ holdings are as follows, according to the disclosures in the annual report (again, as of 31 December 2023):
- Chief financial officer Tsholofelo Molefe:119 967 shares for a multiple of 2.1x AFP, above the 1.75x required;
- Chief operating officer Jens Shulte-Bockum:188 355 shares for a multiple of 2.8x AFP, above the 1.5x required;
- Nigeria CEO Karl Toriola: 2.11 million shares for a multiple of 3.1x AFP, above the 1.5x required; and
- South Africa CEO Charles Molapisi: 52 600 shares for a multiple of 1.1x, below the 1.5x required.
So, of the six executives whose remunerations were reported, only the CEO of MTN South Africa holds shares lower than he is allowed to. The remaining five have exceeded their quota.
”The target value of shareholding is determined at start and fixed for a five-year period,” MTN explained.
“Annually, each executive is required to accumulate at minimum a fifth of their overall target value – or 20% annually. Direct and indirect shareholding in MTN Group, MTN Nigeria and Scancom Ghana are included in the calculations,” it said.
