MTN Uganda on Tuesday celebrated one year since becoming a publicly traded business and began trading its shares on the Uganda Securities Exchange (USE).
The company’s management and representatives celebrated a significant achievement by ringing the bell on the Uganda Securities Exchange on December 6, 2021, becoming the local stock with the highest market capitalisation.
“We are very proud to celebrate our first anniversary as a public listed company on the Uganda Securities Exchange,” said Ms. Sylvia Mulinge, the Chief Executive Officer at MTN Uganda.
“At the beginning of this journey, MTN Uganda committed to drive business growth to return value to all our shareholders. I am excited to share that we have delivered on our promise in our first year having recorded impressive growth in all the key parameters in the past nine months.”
According to MTN Uganda’s most recent unaudited financial data, which were just made public, the company saw a 21% increase in net profit for the first nine months of 2022, from Sh241.9 billion to Sh292.65 billion.
As mobile customers expanded by 9.2% to 16.7 million over the same time under review, the company’s total income increased by 11.6%, from Shs 1.5 trillion to Shs1.68 trillion, supported by data and fintech services.
MTN Uganda has since distributed Shs 447.55 billion in dividends and announced the distribution of an additional Shs 120.9 billion to shareholders on the register by December 22, 2022.
“However, the telecom company is still operating in a volatile operating environment characterised by unfavorable macro and micro conditions and my focus is to ensure that we improve our product and service offering to retain our customers amidst this aggressive environment,” She said. “
She added: “We also need to build financial resilience in this environment so that we can preserve liquidity through efficient supply chains and continue to invest in business growth. We will continue to engage with the industry regulator for more spectrum to be more efficient in the delivery of our services to our customers.”
Uganda Securities Exchange has undergone a revolution as a result of the company’s choice to launch the first-ever totally digital IPO that is paperless and conducts all transactions using the MTN Momo platform, according to Ms. Mulinge.
She claimed that since then, more than 80,700 customers have opened Securities Central Depository (SCD) accounts through the MTN USSD and MoMo App platform, giving them the ability to easily apply for shares, check their balances for all listed companies, access mini-statements to monitor transactions, and get to know their brokers.
“This figure is far higher than the number of SCD accounts that USE had before this innovation,” she added.
Charles Mbire, the chairman of MTN Uganda, praised the government, shareholders, customers, and management on the successes realized since the company’s market listing.
The MTN Group’s ownership of MTN Uganda decreased from 96% to 83.05% after the telecom company listed on the USE, in line with the Group’s strategic aim to create shared value, which is achieved in part by ensuring broad-based ownership in all operating subsidiaries.
Additionally, this was in line with the new license criteria for widespread Ugandan ownership set forward by the Ugandan Communications Commission.
The MTN Uganda corporation, formed in 1998, has a proud 24-year history of revolutionising the nation’s telecommunications industry, even though it has only been a public company for a year.
With seven lines for every ten people, or a 70% penetration today, mobile penetration has increased thanks in part to the corporation from just 0.27%. It has been Uganda’s greatest taxpayer for the past ten years, paying 839 billion in only 2021.
MTN Uganda is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life in the communities in which it operates. Since 2007, it has contributed 1% of its yearly profit after tax to the MTN foundation, which has benefited millions of Ugandans.