MTN Nigeria Communications Plc announced a loss after taxes of N392.7 billion for the first quarter of 2024, but now the company has suffered a second consecutive loss.
The telco experienced its second loss since going public on the Nigerian Exchange, despite increasing its service revenue by 32.0 percent to N747.3 billion year over year. This was revealed in the first quarter of 2024 earnings release.
The company reported that its net loss for the quarter brought its total losses and negative shareholders’ funds to N599.2 billion and N434.7 billion, respectively, even higher. It was noted that its profit after tax, which was adjusted for the net foreign exchange loss, decreased to N47.1 billion, a decrease of 57.8%.
“PAT would have decreased by 5.3 percent to N105.6 billion after accounting for the impact of the naira devaluation in opex,” according to MTN. N656.37 billion was the telco’s net foreign exchange loss.
The CEO of MTN Nigeria, Karl Toriola, stated that despite strong operating results, there were significant macroeconomic challenges.
“The operating environment remained very challenging in the first quarter, with rising inflation and continued depreciation of the naira off an already low base,” he stated.
He claimed that the depreciation of the naira and the historically high rate of inflation have affected the business climate in Nigeria.
“MTN Nigeria and other businesses operating in Nigeria have faced significant challenges as a result of these factors, which have increased consumer pressure, operating costs, and foreign exchange (forex) losses,” he continued.
MTN reported its first N137 billion loss after taxes in 2023. Its shareholders’ fund and retained earnings dropped to negative N40.8 billion and N208.0 billion, respectively.
