Africa's largest cellular company, MTN, expects earnings to improve when it reports its results for the six months to June tomorrow.
The mobile operator envisages an increase of between 19.8% and 24.8% in basic headline earnings per share, as well as attributable earnings per share for the first half of the year.
However, adjusted headline earnings per share are expected to decrease by between 8.6% and 13.6% compared with a year ago, the group says in a Stock Exchange News Service statement.
Last year, MTN reported attributable headline earnings per share of 334.6c, while adjusted headline earnings per share were 408.5c.
The difference between earnings and adjusted earnings is the result of the reversal of the impact of the put option that a shareholder has on MTN's Nigeria operations. In addition to this reversal, the prior period comparative had an adjustment for the reversal of the deferred tax debit relating to the MTN Nigeria operations.
A put option, or put, allows a buyer the opportunity to sell the option at a certain price to the seller at a later stage. The seller is obliged to buy the option at the strike price.
In addition, MTN says, the stronger rand during the first half of the year has resulted in foreign exchange losses, which the group did not quantify.
Companies are obliged, by JSE rules, to alert shareholders as soon as they are aware results will differ by 20% from the previous corresponding period.
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