The MTN Group has announced a higher dividend than what several analysts estimated despite posting a record loss in 2024 due to currency devaluations, particularly in Nigeria.
The African telecoms giant said it would pay a dividend of R3.45 ($0.19) a share, compared with the R3.35 ($0.18) -per-share forecast in a survey of Bloomberg analysts.
MTN posted a loss of R9.59 billion ($526 million) for the year ended December 31, more than double the R3.87 billion ($213.7 million) loss forecast by four analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.
Africa’s biggest wireless carrier by revenue, which has businesses across 18 markets, serving 291 million customers, has been struggling to deal with currency devaluations especially in Nigeria, which accounts for a third of its sales.
MTN reported revenue of R188 billion ($10.4 billion) compared with an estimate of R185 billion ($10.2 billion).
MTN’s shares rose as much as 3.4% in early Johannesburg trading, after the company said it targets paying a higher dividend of R3.70 a share for the current financial year.
In Ghana, MTN has also announced it will pay GHS0.24 ($0016) dividend per share.
