MTN Group Expects 1st Half Earnings Per Share to Fall Up to 85%

By Joe Hoppe

MTN Group Ltd. said Monday that it expects to report a fall of between 75% and 85% in earnings per share for the first half of the year.

The South Africa-based telecommunications group said that its expects earnings per share to decrease to in the range of 1.01 South African rand to 1.69 South African rand (6.9 cents-11.5 cents), down from ZAR6.74 a year prior. Headline earnings per share is expected to fall to be between ZAR3.66 and ZAR4.09, from ZAR4.30 a year before.

The company said that the earnings per share includes impairment losses mainly related to MTN Yemen, largely non-cash losses from the deconsolidation of its subsidiary MTN Syria and a gain on the fair value uplift after consolidating its investment in aYo.

Headline earnings per share were hit by a number of nonoperational and one-off items, largely related to foreign exchanges and donations to coronavirus prevention efforts in Africa.

Write to Joe Hoppe at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

08-02-21 0935ET