Shareholders of MTN Nigeria Communication Plc have declared a N174.44 billion final dividend.
Gatekeepers News reports that the payment of N174.44 billion final dividend translates to N8.75 per share dividend.
According to reports, this brought the total dividends paid by the company for the year ended December 31, 2021, to N13.12 per share as it had earlier declared N4.55 per share interim dividend in July 2021.
The shareholders gave the approval at the company’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Lagos Southwest Nigeria.
Chairman, MTN Nigeria, Dr Ernest Ndukwe, while addressing shareholders at the meeting, said that having successfully undertaken its public offer that opened its shareholding to Nigerians, the company now intends to diversify its shareholders’ base through a series of offers that would effectively reduce MTN Group’s shareholding in Nigeria’s subsidiary to 65 per cent over time.
Ndukwe said, “There was no better way for us to commemorate our 20th anniversary than by giving more Nigerians the opportunity to participate in our future success, in line with our Ambition 2025 commitment to shared value. To do this, we launched an offer for the sale of 575 million shares held by the MTN Group in MTN Nigeria Communications Plc (the “Company”) in November 2021.
“The successful public offer was the beginning of a new phase in MTN Nigeria’s journey. We intend to further diversify our shareholder base through a series of offers that will reduce the MTN Group’s shareholding in the Company to 65 per cent over time. This will provide more opportunities for Nigerians to participate.”
He added that the company recorded improved performance across all key financial metrics last year despite the impact of reduced enrolment of new subscribers due to the restrictions associated with the National Identification Number (NIN) SIM data verification exercise throughout 2021.
