Babajide Okeowo
Barring any unforeseen circumstances, Nigeria’s telecom giant, MTN Nigeria, is set to be officially introduced on the Nigerian Stock Exchange come Thursday, May 16th, as all relevant processes have been completed. This is according to sources within the NSE and MTN.
Recall that the company successfully completed the registration of 20.345 billion ordinary shares of N0.02 each with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently. At the time when the registration was completed, MTN Nigeria‘s CEO, Ferdi Moolman, described the development as a milestone in the company’s listing process.
According to him, “I am excited we have achieved another milestone in our listing process, and we want to thank the sec and the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) for supporting us through the process. We have now begun to engage with the NSE to complete the listing process.”-MOOLMAN
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Investors eagerly await the debut of the Telecoms giant on the floors of the NSE following the reports of the release of its first quarter 2019 report, which indicated that the company recorded steady growth during the period under review.
Specifically, the Q1 report shows that MTN Group‘s biggest market (i.e., MTN Nigeria), recorded a 13.4% increase in service revenue, year on year. Also, the subsidiary’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) margins also increased by 53.3%.
Since the release of the Q1 report, investors have been eagerly anticipating the official commencement of MTN‘s shares trading. Basically, the announcement of steady growth in MTN Nigeria‘s revenue is expected to boost investors’ confidence to buy MTN’s shares with expectations of high dividends payable to shareholders. Similarly, stock brokerage firms should equally be on the line to earn significant fees from the volumes of trade this could provide.
