Cellular giant MTN and its Middle Eastern operation, Investcom, have announced financial results and subscriber statistics for the six months to end June.
MTN saw revenue of just over R20 billion between January and June (up from R17.6 billion for the corresponding period), and Investcom reported $600 million (R4.24 billion) in revenue over that period.
Due to a change in MTN`s classification of a financial year, the half-year figures can best be compared to the 2005 results to end September.
Adjusted headline earnings per share rose 27.5% to 278.5c; and subscriber numbers (excluding those taken on via MTN`s July acquisition of Investcom) grew 9.4%, to 25.4 million - with 10.4 million of those being in SA.
Net profit for the six months to end June was R4.8 billion, up from R3.8 billion for the six months to end September 2005.
Investcom
Investcom (for which MTN recently paid about R33.5 billion) announced a 26% growth in subscriber numbers between the six months to end June 2006 and the six months to end December 2005.
The operator now has 6.1 million subscribers throughout Ghana, Syria, Yemen, the Sudan, Cyprus, Benin, Liberia, Guinea and Guinea Bissau. Over two million of these are in Ghana.
Investcom`s revenue rose 52% to $600 million, while profit after taxation was up from $100 million to $131 million.
In early activity this morning, MTN`s shares were trading up slightly at R58.75 from yesterday`s close of R58.49.
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