Shareholders of MTN Ghana are to receive three pesewas per share in dividends from the telecom company.
The decision was taken by the directors of the company upon the publication of its financial statement for 2018.
However, the stock price of MTN has witnessed a drop of 6.67 percent, for the eight months of trading on the Ghana Stock Exchange.
The disclosures come ahead of the maiden Annual General Meeting of MTN scheduled for Tuesday [May 14, 2019] following its listing on the Ghana Stock Exchange.
The telecom company is the first within the industry to list on the stock market as part of regulatory requirements after the purchase of the 4G spectrum license.
Though the share price commenced trading at 75 pesewas in September 2018, it had dropped to 70 pesewas per share as at the close of trading on Friday [May 10, 2019].
A stock market analyst with UMB Stockbrokers, Kofi Busia Kyei explains that the development has been triggered by a general drop in performance of the local bourse.
“From the investors’ point of view, the performance of the stock has not been too good judging from the fact that the share price has lost about twelve percent from the beginning of the year and about 9 percent from year to day. But this is not because the company is not doing well rather the fact that the whole market has not been performing well,” he told Citi Business News.
The final dividend of three pesewas (GH¢0.03) per share translates into total dividend amount of 368.7 million cedis.
This also follows an initial interim dividend of two pesewas (GH¢0.02) per share, paid to post IPO shareholders of the company in 2018.
In Kofi Kyei’s view, this is the right time for investors to buy shares as trading activities are expected to rebound in the short term.
Commenting on what may dominate the AGM, Kofi Busia Kyei indicated that the event will like others be the appropriate forum for shareholders to seek all clarification on issues.
“The AGM will be a normal routine where the shareholders will be given the opportunity to question some of the decision that the company has made or is about to make in the future to ensure that the company is on the right path,” he remarked.
In 2018, MTN Group’s profit after tax increased by 5 percent.
The amount went up from 718.51 million cedis to 754.67 million cedis between 2017 and 2018.
