MTN Group has reported a full reversal of its financial fortunes, swinging from a loss of R10.9 billion in 2024 to a profit of R27.4 billion for the year ended December 2025, as a stabilisation of the Nigerian naira and a strong recovery in Ghana drove a broad-based earnings uplift across Africa’s largest mobile network operator.
The group closed the year with 307.2 million subscribers — surpassing the 300-million milestone it had set as a target under its Ambition 2025 strategy — after connecting 16.3 million net new customers during the period.
The scale of the turnaround at the earnings line is significant. Basic earnings per share rose 314.5% to 1,113 cents, whilst reported headline earnings per share surged 1,058% to 1,274 cents. Of the R27.4 billion profit after tax, R20.3 billion was attributable to the equity holders of the parent company. The board declared a final dividend of 500 cents per share — up from 345 cents a year earlier — reflecting a 45% increase in the payout as the group moved to restore shareholder returns after a difficult two-year stretch driven largely by currency headwinds in its largest market.
Group service revenue grew 22.9% on a reported basis to R218.5 billion, up from R177.8 billion in 2024, with constant currency growth of 22.7%. Data revenue rose 37.7% to R101.5 billion, and fintech revenue increased 30%. The performance was driven primarily by MTN Nigeria and MTN Ghana, which delivered service revenue growth of 54.9% and 35.9% respectively in constant currency terms. MTN Nigeria’s turnaround was anchored by a 50% mobile tariff adjustment approved by Nigerian regulators in January 2025 — the first meaningful price increase the sector had received in over a decade — combined with the naira’s relative stabilisation after two years of severe devaluation that had wiped out much of the unit’s rand-denominated contribution to group earnings.
MTN Nigeria’s recovery was structural as well as currency-driven. The Nigerian unit returned to positive retained earnings and positive net equity during 2025, resolving a balance sheet position that had been a source of material concern for group investors. MTN Nigeria posted a profit after tax of N1.11 trillion for the year, reversing a N399.4 billion loss in 2024, on total revenue of N5.2 trillion. The unit’s capital expenditure excluding leases more than doubled to N1 trillion as the group accelerated network investment following the tariff approval, whilst free cash flow rose 215.5% to N1.2 trillion. The restoration of dividend capacity at the Nigerian subsidiary was a pivotal development for the group, enabling cash upstream that had been blocked for the better part of two years.
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MTN Ghana mirrored the Nigerian recovery, with the cedi’s strength against the rand amplifying the unit’s contribution in MTN’s reporting currency. Both markets received accelerated capital investment as part of the group’s R38.5 billion total capex deployment for the year, directed at expanding capacity, coverage and network quality across the portfolio. MTN South Africa, by contrast, remained the group’s most notable underperformer. Domestic service revenue grew just 2% as the prepaid segment faced intensified competition, and the group has acknowledged that restoring the South African operation’s growth trajectory — particularly in prepaid — is a priority for the year ahead. Other markets, including Uganda, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire and Zambia, maintained solid momentum and contributed to the breadth of the group’s recovery.
Looking ahead, MTN has outlined its Ambition 2030 strategy, which organises the group around three principal platforms: Connectivity, Fintech and Digital Infrastructure. The framework is designed to capture the structural demand for data adoption and financial inclusion that management believes will define the next phase of Africa’s economic development. MTN’s mobile money platform, MoMo, ended the year with 69.5 million monthly active customers, up 10%, having processed 23.3 billion transactions worth $500.3 billion — a 37.6% increase in transaction value that underscores the scale of the fintech opportunity the group is positioned to monetise across markets where formal banking infrastructure remains limited.
CEO Ralph Mupita acknowledged that improved macroeconomic conditions had been a significant tailwind in 2025, but cautioned that geopolitical developments — including conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine — introduce uncertainty into the group’s forward planning. Energy supply disruptions, foreign exchange volatility and inflationary pressure in MTN’s operating markets are identified as the primary transmission channels through which those risks could affect performance. The group has stated that if geopolitical pressures escalate and are sustained, they may adversely affect its operating environment and medium-term guidance — a caveat that reflects both the geographic breadth of MTN’s exposure and the degree to which the 2025 recovery was itself a function of macroeconomic conditions moving in its favour.
BEFORE YOU GO – MTN Breaks Barriers: Africa’s First to hit 300 Million Users