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Introduction & Market Context
MTN Nigeria Communications Ltd (MTNN) delivered exceptional financial results for the first half of 2025, demonstrating robust growth across all business segments despite challenging macroeconomic conditions. The company’s presentation, delivered on July 29, 2025, highlighted how strategic price adjustments and disciplined execution have driven substantial revenue growth and margin expansion.
Operating in a gradually improving economic environment, MTN Nigeria benefited from easing inflation, which declined to 22.2% in June while averaging 23.5% for H1 2025. The Nigerian naira remained relatively stable at N1,530/US$ at the end of June 2025, compared to N1,535/US$ in December 2024, with improved foreign exchange liquidity supported by foreign portfolio investments and central bank interventions.
As shown in the following slide detailing the operating context, regulatory developments have been largely favorable, with authorities approving price adjustments while emphasizing service quality improvements:
Quarterly Performance Highlights
MTN Nigeria reported extraordinary growth across all key financial metrics for H1 2025. Service revenue increased by 54.6% to N2.4 trillion, while EBITDA more than doubled, rising 119.5% to N1.2 trillion. The EBITDA margin expanded by 15 percentage points to reach 50.6%, and profit after tax surged by 179.9% to N414.9 billion.
The company’s key financial highlights demonstrate the scale of this performance improvement:
The strong financial results were underpinned by solid subscriber growth and increased usage. Total (EPA:TTEF) subscribers reached 84.7 million, a 4.7% increase from December 2024, while active data subscribers grew by 6.9% to 51 million. Data usage per active user increased by 21.1% year-over-year to 13.2 GB in H1 2025.
This commercial momentum is clearly illustrated in the following slide, which shows the growth trajectory across voice and data segments:
Detailed Financial Analysis
MTN Nigeria’s revenue growth was broad-based across all segments. Voice revenue, which remains a significant contributor, increased by 40.3% to N887.1 billion. Data revenue emerged as the largest revenue segment, growing by an impressive 69.2% to N1.2 trillion, reflecting the ongoing digital transformation in Nigeria.
The company’s fintech business also showed strong momentum, with revenue increasing by 71.8% to N83.2 billion. While active MoMo wallets declined slightly by 3.6% from December 2024 to 2.7 million, customer deposits (float) grew dramatically by 373.7% to N18.0 billion, indicating increased engagement from high-value customers.
The following slide provides a detailed breakdown of the fintech business performance:
The company’s revenue growth, combined with disciplined cost management, has driven significant margin expansion. Operating expenses grew by just 14.8% to N847.5 billion, substantially below the revenue growth rate of 54.6%. This operational leverage resulted in the EBITDA margin expanding to 50.6%.
The following slide illustrates how revenue growth and cost efficiency have driven margin recovery:
Capital Structure Improvements
MTN Nigeria has made significant progress in strengthening its balance sheet. Net debt decreased by 22.2% from N719.5 billion in December 2024 to N560.0 billion by June 2025. The company maintains a healthy financial position with an interest coverage ratio of 12.8x (well above the minimum requirement of 5x) and a net debt to EBITDA ratio of just 0.3x (well below the maximum threshold of 2.5x).
The company’s capital structure shows a slight shift toward short-term and naira-denominated debt, which may help reduce foreign exchange risk:
Strategic Initiatives & Forward Guidance
Looking ahead, MTN Nigeria has outlined five strategic priorities for FY 2025: accelerating service revenue growth, achieving home broadband leadership, accelerating network investments, driving fintech growth, and improving expense efficiency.
The company has upgraded its guidance for FY 2025, now expecting service revenue growth of at least "low-50%" and an EBITDA margin of at least "low-50%." Capital expenditure intensity is projected to be in the "upper teens" for FY 2025. For the medium term (FY26-28), MTN Nigeria expects service revenue growth of at least "low-20%" and an EBITDA margin of 53-55%.
Management also confirmed they remain on track to restore the balance sheet to a positive net asset position by the end of Q3 2025, a significant milestone for the company:
MTN Nigeria’s stock closed at N480 on August 1, 2025, up 1.69% following the presentation. The shares are trading near their 52-week high of N495, reflecting investor confidence in the company’s growth trajectory and improved financial health.
With its strong H1 2025 performance, strategic focus on high-growth segments like data and fintech, and improving capital structure, MTN Nigeria appears well-positioned to capitalize on Nigeria’s digital transformation and deliver continued value to shareholders.
Full presentation:
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