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Q & A with the CFO
Q
How did MTN’s financial performance in 2017 support the delivery of
BRIGHT?
A
A key element of BRIGHT is ‘returns and efficiency focus’. In the year, we made good progress by
reporting improved results and returning to profitability in headline terms. This is against the
backdrop of weakening currencies in most of our markets and geopolitical challenges in the
Middle East. Service revenue increased by 7,2%* on a constant currency basis, benefiting from
good growth in the data and digital services delivered to our customers. We were particularly
pleased to have maintained outgoing voice revenue at 2016’s level, given the pressure on voice
from OTT services.
We invested R31,5 billion in capex in the year, most of which went into extending our carrier
network. The improvement made to data network quality and capacity across key markets
supported the 34,2%* increase in data revenue and 14,2%* expansion in digital revenue.
For the year, we reported a 1,4-percentage point* (pp) decline in our EBITDA margin to 34,0%*.
This was largely the result of higher foreign-currency-denominated expenses in Nigeria because
of the depreciation of the naira against the US dollar, as well as fixed asset impairments for MTN
Sudan (of R1,7 billion**) and MTN Syria (of R1,3 billion**).
That said, we had 2,0 pp* expansion in MTN South Africa’s margin, resulting from lower handset
subsidies and volumes and the impact of a stronger rand on handset costs. The group EBITDA
Creating
value
Ralph Mupita,
group chief financial officer
32
MTN Group Limited
Integrated Report 2017