Mobile telecommunications giant, MTN has said it expects to report a loss in basic headline earnings per share and basic earnings per share for Financial Year, 2016.
The expected decline in the headline earnings per share, HEPS and earnings per share, EPS is mainly as a result of regulatory fine imposed on MTN Nigeria in 2016.
MTN was fined $5.2 billion by the Federal Government of Nigeria through the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) for not meeting the deadline set up by the Mobile network operators (MNOs) for disconnecting the Subscribers Identification Modules (SIM) with improper registration.
Reuters reports that the Nigerian fine is expected to have an estimated negative impact of approximately 474 cents on HEPS and EPS, respectively.
This is not good news for MTN shareholders who will be faced with declining share values.
Recall that in previous year comparable period, MTN reported HEPS of 1,204 cents and EPS of 746 cents.
The 2016 financial year results are further expected to be negatively impacted by under-performance of MTN Nigeria and MTN South Africa in first half of the year under review.
