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MTN Nigeria has reported a dramatic reversal in fortunes, swinging from a loss of ₦400.4-billion (R4.7-billion) in 2024 to a profit after tax of ₦1.1-trillion (R12.9-billion) for the year ended 31 December 2025, as a more stable naira and surging data demand powered a recovery across the business.
The result — a 377.9% improvement — allowed the company to resume dividend payments, with the board proposing a final dividend of ₦15/share, bringing the total payout for the year to ₦20/share.
Service revenue rose 55.1% to ₦5.2-trillion, while Ebitda — earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation — more than doubled to ₦2.7-trillion, lifting the Ebitda margin by 13.6 percentage points to 52.7%.
CEO Karl Toriola said 2025 marked a “significant turning point” for the business. “We returned to profitability, generated stronger free cash flow and restored positive retained earnings and shareholders’ funds,” he said.
The turnaround was underpinned by a sharp improvement in Nigeria’s macroeconomic environment. The naira strengthened to ₦1 436/US$ by year-end from ₦1 535/$ a year earlier, while headline inflation declined to 15.2%.
In 2024, severe naira depreciation had saddled MTN Nigeria with a foreign exchange loss of ₦925.4-billion. That swung to a gain of ₦90.3-billion in 2025, driven by the full settlement of outstanding letters of credit and a reduction in foreign currency loans to $105-million from US$146-million.
Data overtakes voice
The improvement in the foreign exchange position was central to the balance sheet recovery. Shareholders’ equity moved from negative ₦458-billion to positive ₦548.7-billion, while retained earnings swung from negative N607.5-billion to positive N400.4-billion.
Data was the standout performer, with revenue surging 74.5% to ₦2.78-trillion and overtaking voice as MTN Nigeria’s largest revenue stream. Active data users grew 11.6% to 53.2 million, while data traffic on the network increased by 34%. Voice revenue rose 42.1% to ₦1.85-trillion, while fintech revenue jumped 79.7% to ₦191.3-billion.
Read: MTN to buy back its own cellular towers in R35-billion deal
MTN Nigeria more than doubled its network investment to ₦1-trillion (excluding leases), up from N443.5-billion in 2024, resulting in a capex intensity ratio of 19.3%. The company expanded 4G population coverage by 2.1 percentage points to 84.6% and grew its home broadband subscriber base to 4.2 million.
Despite the elevated investment and significant debt repayments — including N434-billion in facilities — free cash flow reached N1.2-trillion, up 215.5%. The company closed the year with a positive net cash position of ₦104.8-billion, compared to negative ₦719.5-billion a year earlier.
Total subscribers rose 7.9% to 87.3 million, while MoMo mobile money wallets grew 30.8% to 3.7 million.
Looking ahead, MTN Nigeria maintained its medium-term service revenue growth target of “at least the low 20%” range and raised its Ebitda margin guidance from 53-55% to the “mid to high 50%” range. The guidance assumes average inflation in the mid-teens and exchange rates in the N1 400-1 700/$ range. — (c) 2026 NewsCentral Media
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