MTN Nigeria Communications Plc has announced that its profit before tax jumped by 54.01 per cent to N215.12bn in the first half of this year, compared to the corresponding period in 2020, despite a reduction in its mobile subscriber base.

MTN disclosed on Friday that its mobile subscribers declined by 7.6 million to 68.9 million during the period as a result of the regulatory restrictions on new SIM sales and activations by the Federal Government.

Its data subscribers rose by 12.10 per cent to 32.50 million, according to its unaudited financial statements.

The company’s total revenue increased by 24.01 per cent from N638.08bn in H1 2020 to N791.26bn in H1 2021 due to the rise in voice (13.11 per cent), data subscription (48.29 per cent), digital sales (61.81 per cent), enterprise turnover (35.62 per cent), and fintech business (48.21 per cent) revenues.

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Its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation rose by 27.56 per cent to N417.21 per cent, with EBITDA margin put at 52.73 per cent.

MTN Nigeria’s cash flow improved by 19.60 per cent to N230.77bn from N192.99bn in H1 2020.

“In the first half of 2021, we made good progress strengthening the resilience of the business, managing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and enhancing support to our people, customers and other stakeholders,” the Chief Executive Officer, Karl Toriola, said in the report.

He said the board of directors had approved an interim dividend of N4.55 kobo per share to be paid out of distributable net income.

“This represents a growth of 30 per cent over N3.50 kobo per share paid in H1 2020,” he added.