Scancom PLC (MTN Ghana) will pay a dividend of 17.5 pesewas per share to shareholders effective April 12, 2024. The total dividend for the 2023 financial year will be 22.5 pesewas per share, including the interim dividend of 5.0 pesewas per share paid on 8 September 2023.? MTN Ghana made this known to shareholders at the Sixth Annual General Meeting of the Company in Accra on Accra. Dr Ishmael Yamson, the Board Chairman of MTN Ghana said it was because of the exceptional business performance, and the strength of the cashflow position and projections. The total dividend amount of GH?3.0 billion is equivalent to 74.8 per cent of the company's profit after tax (GH?4.0 billion) and represents a 37.2 per cent increase in dividend payout per share. He said despite the economic challenges faced by the country, the Company had continued to demonstrate discipline in executing its strategic goals for 2023. He said MTN Ghana's financial report for 2023 showed a robust performance with a strong total revenue growt h of 34.6.per cent compared to the previous year.? 'The growth was achieved through targeted business strategies that led to an increase in Voice, Data, and Mobile Money revenues,' he added. The Chairman said as part of the company's commitment to disciplined execution, the management team?executed the expense efficiency programme proactively to control costs, maintain profitability and ensure business growth. Dr Yamson said as a result, Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization (EBITDA) grew by an outstanding 40.2 per cent year-on-year, and the EBITDA margin also increased by 2.3 percentage points from 56.1 per cent in 2022 to 58.4 per cent. He said profits after tax grew by 39.4 per cent year on year, and earnings per share increased by 29.5 per cent year on year. These impressive results demonstrate the company's commitment to driving sustainable business growth in challenging times. 'MTN has remained unwavering in its commitment to better the lives of people in Ghana by support ing various environmental, social, and economic initiatives,' he added. He said in addition to investing heavily in their network and technology in an environmentally sustainable way, the company dedicated GH?39.8 million towards projects related to healthcare, education, and economic empowerment in 2023 through the MTN Ghana Foundation.? He said this was a testament to their vision of creating a better future for all Ghanaians and bringing about positive change to uplift communities. MTN Ghana remained a development partner to the government through their contribution to the fiscal and socio-economic development of the country. He said in 2023, the Company paid GH?5.9 billion in direct and indirect taxes and GH?O.4 billion in fees, levies, and other payments to Governmental agencies. 'Combined, this represented 47.1% of MTN's total revenue paid to the Government for the 2023 financial year,' he added. Mr Selorm Adadevoh, the outgoing Chief Executive Officer of MTN Ghana, said management remained focus ed on pursuing its Ambition 2025 goals, which aimed for growth, cost efficiencies and creating shared value for stakeholders. He said the growth could be attributed to well-executed commercial strategies and the focused investment in maintaining high network quality, expanding coverage, and delivering a good experience to their customers, as well as achieving progress in their pricing initiatives across the business. He said the national SIM re-registration exercise resulted in a 6.3 per cent year-on-year decrease in their subscriber base. 'Despite the challenges presented and the potential implications on the business, our unwavering commitment to providing high-quality services to attract new customers and retain existing ones helped partially to mitigate the full impact of the national SIM re-registration exercise on the business,' he said. He said in 2023, they invested a total of GH?4.1 billion in capital expenditure to modernize their infrastructure, enhance their IT systems and expand their network capacity and coverage across the country. 'As part of these efforts, we deployed 350 2G, 353 3G, and 350 4G sites, supporting 99.3 per cent 4G population coverage,' he added. The CEO said voice revenue recorded a 9.0 per cent year-on-year growth to GH?3.6 billion supported by customer value management initiatives, which offered bundles and packages that met the diverse needs of our customers. He said the company's commitment to improving network coverage and the quality of service, along with pricing initiatives, had been instrumental in the growth of voice. The contribution of voice to total service revenue declined from 33.1 per cent to 26.8?per cent as customer behaviour evolved in line with global trends. Source: Ghana News Agency