MTN said in a third-quarter update that it had also exited an 8 % shareholding in MTN Zambia, realising $12.5 million.

MTN share closed up 4.11 % at $3.55 on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) on Friday.

Jumia, Africa’s first unicorn, was listed on the New York Stock Exchange in April last year. After peaking at $49.77 within its first week of trading, the stock fell below its initial public offering price by August, trading at about $3, but it had recovered somewhat to $17.27 on Friday.

MTN’s third-quarter results were strong due to the performance of its larger operations in South Africa, Nigeria and Ghana, and good group-wide growth in subscriber numbers despite challenging trading conditions.

“As the Covid-19 pandemic has continued to impact lives and livelihoods across our markets, the group has demonstrated strong operational execution and resilience,” said MTN Group President and Chief Executive Officer, Ralph Mupita.

To meet the increase in data and digital usage, MTN had focused its investment on network capacity and modernising its IT systems.

Service revenue grew 11.4 % to more than $2.6 billion. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) increased by 13.9 %, and the group’s Ebitda margin widened by 1.4 percentage points to 43.3 %, in line with medium-term targets.

“We recorded solid growth in voice revenue of 3.9 %, which reflects an encouraging recovery supported by the easing of lockdown restrictions,” said Mupita.

Data revenue grew 31.9 %, driven by the increased demand for work-from-home services, digital entertainment and online education offerings.

Fintech revenue grew 21 %, while digital revenue was up 37.5 %, driven by the increased adoption of digital offerings.

In the quarter, MTN added 12 million subscribers to reach a total of 273 million subscribers across 21 markets.

It added 5.3 million active data users to 107 million.
 

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