MTN Nigeria to pay shareholders N5 interim dividend this week

MTN Nigeria Plc is set to pay an interim dividend to shareholders this week amidst excitement from shareholders. This followed a bumper earnings harvest in the 9 months of financial year 2025, the telecom company board of directors announced a plan to share profit with shareholders in the form of a dividend. Daily Trust reports […]

MTN Nigeria Plc is set to pay an interim dividend to shareholders this week amidst excitement from shareholders.

This followed a bumper earnings harvest in the 9 months of financial year 2025, the telecom company board of directors announced a plan to share profit with shareholders in the form of a dividend.

Daily Trust reports that the telecommunication company has been on dividend holiday for two years over foreign exchange liabilities triggered by the naira depreciation.

The telecommunication company had posted a 245.7% year-on-year rise in profit after tax to N750.19 billion ($522.06 million) for the nine months ending September 2025, from a N514.9 billion ($358.34 million) loss in the same period last year, solidifying its return to profitability.

“An Interim Dividend of N5 per 2 kobo ordinary share has been approved by the Board of Directors of MTN Nigeria Communications Plc, subject to appropriate deduction of withholding tax”, MTN told the Nigerian Exchange.

The interim dividend will be paid to shareholders whose names appear in the Register of Members as at the close of business on 20 November 2025.

“On 28 November 2025, dividends will be paid electronically to shareholders whose names appear on the Register of Members as at 20 November 2025, and who have completed the e-dividend registration and mandated the Registrar to pay their dividends directly into their Bank accounts,” MTN said.

In the past two years, MTN and other companies have frozen dividend payouts over foreign exchange losses. Several companies involved in manufacturing and production also incurred losses.

The depreciation of the naira started in 2023 after the unification of the exchange rate, with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) putting an end to the multiple exchange rates, according to the policy of the Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration.

The exchange rate triggered inflation which negatively affected the cost of living in Nigeria as headline inflation hit an all-time high of 34 per cent before the consumer price index (CPI) was rebased which brought down inflation.

With stability in the macroeconomic environment, most of the companies are now returning to profitability as their nine months’ results indicated.

Okezie Boniface, leader of the Progressive Shareholders’ Association, expressed excitement that most companies are recovering from losses incurred in the previous years and they have now returned to profitability.

“This shows you that MTN has recovered from the previous loss and they now have a strong balance sheet,” he said.

 

 

 

Okezie noted that the MTN’s woe was worsened by the inadequate energy supply forcing it to wrong its various masts across the country on generators which costs a lot of money.

 

 

 

“When you look at the expenditure and the tax they pay to the government and their corporate social responsibility, it is enormous. For us it is good that MTN is back to profitability and the dividend has come to stay,” he said.