MTN Uganda to pay out Shs147b in dividends after surge in half-year profits

MTN Uganda has said it will pay out Shs147.8 billion in dividends at Shs6.6 shillings per share for the first six months of this year after the telecom giant registered a surge in profits.

MTN Uganda’s half-year performance report for January to June 2024 showed that the company’s profit after tax increased by 29.7 percent, reaching Shs295.7 billion.

Ms Sylvia Mulinge, the MTN Uganda Chief Executive Officer, attributed this success to the overall economic progress in Uganda.

“MTN Uganda’s performance in the first half of the year continued on a positive trend, supported by the overall momentum in economic growth. The Ugandan economy grew by 6.0 percent for the 2023/24 financial year, with macro-economic indicators trending favourably in the six-month period,” she said.

The report shows that MTN Uganda’s service revenue grew by 20.4 percent, bolstered by connectivity and FinTech business services, with a 14.6 percent year-on-year increase in the customer base to 20.7 million subscribers. Innovations in the company’s services have enhanced liquidity among customers, driving FinTech business transactions up by 25.2 percent year-on-year, with volumes reaching 2 billion Shillings.

Voice call revenue grew by 15.1 percent year-on-year, though its contribution to total service revenue dropped to 41.6 percent from 43.6 percent last year. Data revenue saw a 28.6 percent increase, with active data users rising to 8.8 million. The contribution of data revenue to total service earnings grew to 24.8 percent, up from 23.2 percent in the first half of 2023.

“To enhance the quality, capacity, and resilience of our network, we invested Ush 219.1 billion focused on 4G and 5G. Our 4G LTE population coverage increased to 87.8%, up 4.4pp while our 5G roll-out extended to 538 strategic sites with full coverage of the capital, Kampala. Our 2G and 3G population coverage also rose to 98.9% (+0.5pp) and 93.2% (+0.8pp) respectively as we extended connectivity across the country,” Mulinge said.

FinTech revenue reached 442.3 million Shillings, a 23.5 percent rise, with mobile money services contributing 430.8 million Shillings. Mobile money revenue grew by 25.7 percent, with transactional value at 69.4 trillion shillings, marking a 12.6 percent increase. FinTech businesses contributed 29.4 percent of the entire service revenue, up from 28.7 percent last year.

Mulinge also noted the increase in MTN Uganda’s shareholder base to 20,636 shareholders, following the company’s secondary ordinary sales offer.

“Notably, during the quarter ended 30th June 2024, MTN Uganda Limited fulfilled its 20 percent listing obligation on the Uganda Securities Exchange, following the secondary sale offer of approximately 1.6 billion ordinary shares in the company,” she explained