Accra, Ghana//-MTN Ghana has encouraged local investors both institutional and individual investors, to increase their investments as it seeks to localise more.
The telecom giant has reported a reduction of its localisation position, from 25.0% to 23.2% as of H1 2023, according to the company’s first half-year (H1) performance report.
After that, several shareholders, including MTN Group, opted for Scrip dividends totalling 945.7 million shares.
The MTN Group said it is committed to localizing further to have more Ghanaians owning the shares of MTN Ghana and wants to get to 30 per cent, which is the target it is committed to.
The Chief Finance Officer (CFO) for MTN Ghana, Mrs Antoinette Kwofie who made the call in an interview, explained that the company had made progress by achieving the 23.2% as of June 2023.
So, we have another 6.8% of shares to localise. We are therefore calling on institutional investors like Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) and other individual investors to come for the remaining 6.8%, she said.
Mrs Kwofie said: “For our final dividend 2022 which we paid in June 2023, we gave all shareholders an option to opt for a script dividend which was to take their dividend in shares or cash.
So, we had individual investors signed up to take their dividend in cash thereby increasing their stake in the business.
So, it is not just for institutional investors. Even for individual investors, they were included in this bracket”.
Responding, the Director General of SSNIT, Dr John Ofori-Tenkorang, said the Trust may buy the remaining shares if they had access to funds.
He said: “When we have excess funds, we will deploy. I think myself and my deputies won’t find it difficult to convince the board of SSNIT to invest more in MTN Ghana. Because the track record of MTN shows”.
Just recently MTN Ghana presented a cheque of GH₵34,581,713.52 to the SSNIT in Accra as dividends for the year ended 2022.
The dividends paid to SSNIT covered the 2022 final dividend and the interim 2023 dividend.
This followed the approval of a final dividend of 12.4 pesewas per share for the 12 months ended 31st December 2022 at the leading mobile network operator’s fifth Annual General Meeting held in Accra on Tuesday, 30 May 2023.
This brought the total dividend for the 2022 financial year to 16.4 pesewas per share following the interim dividend of 4.0 pesewas per share paid on 22 September 2022.
This represented 70.6% of profit after tax and a 42.6% Year-over-Year (YoY) increase in dividend per share paid in 2022 over 2021.
Since the listing in 2018, MTN has delivered on its market guidance on revenue growth, margins, and an above 60% dividend payout.
Over the period, the telco has paid out an average of about 73% of its profits after taxes. This translates to a cumulative dividend payment of 51.9 pesewas per share.
SSNIT has been with MTN Ghana since its listing in 2018. As the telecom giant’s largest Ghanaian shareholder, SSNIT has been the beneficiary of MTN Ghana’s dividends.
Since listing, MTN Ghana has paid a total of GH₵103.1 million in dividends to SSNIT, including the GH₵34,581,713.52 that was paid recently.
