MTN Records First-Ever Loss

Mobile telecom company, MTN Group, has reported its first-ever loss owing largely to the fallout from the $1 billion fine by the Nigerian government.
Also, slack earnings in its two biggest markets, Nigeria and Iran, ensured the company ended 2016 in the negative.
MTN said in a statement on Wednesday that the Nigerian regulatory penalty chopped 4.74 rand from full-year earnings per share.
Nigerian regulatory authorities also forced MTN to disconnect millions of customers in the country, hurting results in its biggest market.
The company also registered a weak performance in South Africa, which is its home base.
The dispute over the Nigeria fine, which was reduced from an original $5.2 billion, led to a management overhaul at MTN, and investors are looking for improvement when incoming Chief Executive Officer, Rob Shuter, a former Vodafone Group Plc executive, arrives next month.
The company’s shares slumped as much as 6.6 percent, the most on an intraday basis since June, and traded 3.2 percent lower at 114 rand as of 10:18 am in Johannesburg. MTN is scheduled to report its full results on March 2.
The performance in Nigeria was further hurt by the forced disconnection of 4.5 million customers by the government a year ago and the weakness of the naira against the dollar, the company said.
In South Africa, lower demand for mobile-phone contracts reduced earnings.
Iran, MTN’s second-biggest market in terms of customer numbers, is also facing uncertainty after the newly elected U.S. President Donald Trump criticised a U.S.-led deal to prevent the country building a nuclear weapon.
Sanctions against the Middle Eastern country were lifted as part of the agreement.
MTN shares have declined 10 percent this year, valuing the company at 214 billion rand ($15.8 billion).