Staff Writer
Mobile Telecommunications Limited (MTC) on Wednesday announced that it will finally list on the Namibian Stock Exchange (NSX) before the 5th of September 2021 after its initial plans were derailed by the outbreak of COVID-19.
This comes as government approved the process in November 2017.
According to its initially announced timelines, MTC was expected to be listed on the bourse by July last year, after having submitted its listing application to the Namibian Stock Exchange (NSX) in February 2020. The opening date for its public offer was set for March 2020 and closing in June 2020.
“We are moving ahead with the listing and we have a deadline of 5 September to list after receiving approval for the changes from our initial timelines due to COVID-19,” MTC Chief Executive Officer, Dr Licky Erastus said.
“We will become the first public enterprise to successfully list in the country.”
Government which owns the company through the Namibia Post and Telecommunication Holdings, plans to retain a controlling 51 percent stake in MTC when the mobile operator is listed on the local bourse.
Information gathered indicates that only 49 percent of the company’s shares will be up for grabs when the company’s Initial Public Offering (IPO) opens.
The Government Institutions Pension Fund (GIPF), which has previously shown interest in buying into the company will be allotted a 20 percent stake in the mobile operator as an institutional investor, with MTC staff also expected to be allocated shares under an employee benefit scheme.
It is not clear exactly how much will be made available to the Namibian public. Preliminary indications hint that at least 20 percent will be made available.
This comes as the company recorded N$2.7 billion in revenue for the 2019/2020 financial year, while active subscribers closed the period at 2,575 million, from 2,524 million last year.
Net Profit After Tax declined by 3.09 percent during the period under review to N$772.4 million from N$797 million prior year, a position attributed to an increase in tax rates.
A growth in prepaid customer revenue attributed to new product offerings such the new Multiple Aweh, and Taamba products, and an increased trend in data traffic, saw its Earnings Before, Interest, Taxes, Depreciations and Amortizations record an increase of N$1 397.1 billion, compared to last year’s 1 345 billion.
“Despite challenges from external environments such as Covid-19 restrictions, unavailability of power and slow approval of fibre installation, currency depreciation against the US$, the company has managed to record Capital Expenditure increase by 5 percent to N$ 535 million. Most of this expenditure was on network expansion projects such as 081Every1 and Capacity 2020.”
The company declared a total of N$ 977.8 million in dividends to government, of which N$611 million was paid in December 2019, and N$ 366.8 million in June 2020.
