Following recommendation by directors of MTN Ghana, shareholders are set to receive as payment of final dividend to the tune of about GHc 368.714 million for the 2018 financial year.
According to the company’s 2018 financial statements, the number of ordinary shares in issue is 12,290,474,360, of which each share has earned GHc 0.03.
Dividend amounting to GHc 1, 313 million was declared for the year ended December 31, 2018 (2017: GHc 470 million, GHc 0.0437 per share). This consisted of a special dividend of GHc 1, 068 million paid to pre-initial public offering (IPO) shareholders and an interim dividend of GHc 245 million (GHc 0.02 per share) paid to post-IPO shareholders.
The company made a profit after tax of about GHc 480 million for the 2018 financial year.
Payments of Final Dividend
Payments are to be made on Wednesday, 15 May 2019, as the dividend will be transferred electronically to the bank accounts or Mobile Money wallets of certificated shareholders.
However, the payment of the final dividend would be made available to shareholders registered in the books of MTN Ghana at the close of business on Tuesday, 30 April, 2019.
In view of this the register of shareholders will be closed from Thursday, 2 May, 2019 to Monday, 6 May, 2019, both dates inclusive.
In view of the foregoing, the ex-dividend date, the day a shareholder must officially own shares to be entitled to the dividend, has been set as Friday, 26 April, 2019. Consequently, an investor purchasing MTN shares before this date will be entitled to the final dividend.
However, an investor buying MTN shares on or after Friday, 26 April, 2019 will not be entitled to the final dividend.
Localisation
In June 2016, the National Communications Authority (NCA) issued a provisional authorisation to Scancom Plc to operate and provide mobile broadband services in the 800MHz band. The licence required Scancom Plc to fulfil certain conditions including listing on the Ghana Stock Exchange.
The IPO was completed with the listing on the Ghana Stock Exchange on 5 September 2018.
Subscribers increased by 12.7 percent Year on Year to 20.1 million (13.6 percent Year on Year to 17.8 million). The number of active data subscribers in the same period was 6.4 million. MTN Mobile Money (MoMo) continued its positive momentum, adding 17.8 percent more active MoMo subscribers from December 2017 to 8.4 million, supported by consistent service delivery across all channels.
MTN Ghana listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) on 5 September 2018 with the largest number of Ghanaian shareholders among all listed companies at 127 826. At the end of December 2018, MTN Ghana’s market capitalization was GHc 9.7 billion, making it the third largest primary listed company on the GSE.
By Joshua W. Amlanu
