Scancom PLC (MTN Ghana) has declared final dividend of 24 pesewas at the 7th Annual General Meeting of Shareholders of Scancom PLC (“MTN Ghana” or the “Company”) held at the Accra International Conference Centre, Accra on Thursday, March 27, 2025.
Presenting the 2024 annual report, the Board chairman, Ishmael Yamson, noted that despite the numerous macroeconomic challenges MTN Ghana encountered throughout the year, the company successfully demonstrated exceptional discipline in executing its strategic goals for 2024, culminating in a 34.5% YoY growth in service revenue.
“As a result of the performance of the company, the Board of Directors is pleased to recommend a final dividend payment of 24 pesewas per share to our shareholders for approval. If this is approved, the payment will take place on 16 April 2025.
“For the financial year 2024, the total dividend will be 30.5 pesewas per share, which includes an earlier payout of 6.5 pesewas per share made on 6 September 2024. The total dividend of GHS4.0 billion accounts for 80% of the company’s profit after tax, which was GHS5.0 billion in 2024. This also shows a significant increase of 35.6% in the dividend per share compared to 2023.”
Ishmael Yamson
Mr Yamson stated that this accomplishment reflects the hard work and dedication of the management and staff, who have continuously adapted to changing circumstances and upheld its core values. “Additionally, the unwavering support from our esteemed partners has played a crucial role in this achievement.”
“Together, we have not only navigated obstacles but have also positioned ourselves for future growth and innovation. Your commitment to excellence is truly commendable, and I look forward to building on this success this year.”
Ishmael Yamson
The Board Chairman meanwhile, noted that this impressive increase he said can be attributed to a combination of strategic initiatives aimed at enhancing customer engagement and expanding service offerings. Notably, revenues from Data, Mobile Money and Digital saw significant growth.
“As part of our commitment to responsible management, our team took steps to carefully manage expenses and keep costs in check, especially in a high inflationary environment. This effort helped us increase our earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) by an impressive 31.3% compared to 2023.
“However, we did see a slight dip in our EBITDA margin, dropping by 1.3 percentage points from 58.4% in 2023 to 57.1%. Despite the marginal dip in EBITDA margin, our profit after tax rose by 26.3% from the previous year. These strong results highlight our dedication to achieving sustainable growth for the business, even in the face of difficult circumstances.”
Ishmael Yamson
Ghana’s Macroeconomic Landscape In 2024
Mr Stephen Blewett, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), on his part, reiterated that in 2024, Ghana’s macroeconomic landscape was predominantly shaped by the challenges of high inflation and the persistent depreciation of the Ghana cedi. He added that while the inflation rates showed some improvement in comparison to the previous year, they remained elevated, averaging 22.9% compared to a staggering 40.3% in 2023.
“By December 2024, the inflation rate had risen to 23.8%, reflecting a notable increase of 2.3 percentage points from the September rate of 21.5%. This surge in inflation was primarily driven by escalating prices across agricultural-related goods and services, compounded by rising energy costs and rising production costs. Additionally, the Ghana cedi’s continued depreciation further aggravated the economic situation, resulting in a year-to-date decline of 19.2% against the US dollar.”
Mr Stephen Blewett
On the operational performance, Mr Stephen Blewett noted that MTN Ghana reported an impressive 34.5% year-on-year increase in service revenue, which exceeded our guidance of high twenties growth for 2024. He explained that this mid-thirties rise in service revenue was largely driven by a significant uptick in itsdata services, Mobile Money (MoMo) services, and a diverse range of digital services.
“The growth reflects not only the increasing demand from our customer base but also our strategic investments aimed at enhancing 4G connectivity, thereby improving customer acquisition and overall engagement. In our commitment to network excellence, we invested GHS3.1 billion in ex-lease capex within the year to maintain high network quality, expand geographic coverage, and upgrade our technology infrastructure.
“This investment encompassed the modernization of our IT systems, enabling us to handle rising data traffic more efficiently. Notably, we achieved substantial milestones in our technology modernization initiatives, successfully completing upgrades and technology swaps across the Greater Accra region, which played a crucial role in our service delivery enhancements. These strategic investments have paid off, culminating in MTN Ghana earning the top position in Net Promoter Score (NPS) within the telecommunications sector.”
Mr Stephen Blewett
Robust Year-On-Year Growth
Additionally, the customer base has seen robust growth of 6.5% year-on-year, now totaling an impressive 28.5 million customers. Data services Data revenue saw significant growth, increasing by 53.8% year-on-year to GHS9.0 billion. This impressive increase was primarily fueled by significant enhancements in network connectivity, which facilitated a 13.7% rise in active data subscribers, bringing the total active users to approximately 17.5 million.
Additionally, there was a 19.0% growth in the average megabytes consumed per active user each month, rising to an average of 10.2GB, indicating a deeper reliance on data services for daily activities.
The growing demand for data services was bolstered by a series of strategic commercial initiatives, including targeted bundles, marketing campaigns, and promotional offers that encouraged user participation. Investments in state-of-the-art network infrastructure, particularly in expanding 4G-plus technologies, aimed at delivering high-speed data services, were pivotal for both residential and mobile users.
Mobile Money Services
Mobile Money revenue continued to showcase robust growth with a year-on-year increase of 54.4%, reaching a total of GHS4.4 billion. This impressive performance was supported by a 12.8% rise in active subscribers, highlighting effective user acquisition and retention strategies. Additionally, a strategic revision of the fee structure played a significant role in boosting revenue.
The platform experienced significant growth in transactional activities by 17.4% year-on-year. Withdrawal revenue increased by 45.2% year-on-year, while transfer revenue also rose significantly by 44.6%, indicating heightened customer activity and a shift towards more seamless money movement.
The advanced services segment was the standout performer during this financial period, achieving an impressive growth rate of 82.8%. This significant increase was mainly driven by the success of payment solutions and innovative lending products, which meet the changing needs of users looking for tailored digital financial options.
As a result of these strong results, MoMo’s contribution to total service revenue increased by 3.2 percentage points, rising from 21.7% in the previous year to 24.9%. This increase signifies the growing importance of MoMo in our revenue diversification journey and highlights its potential for future growth.
Voice Services
The CEO disclosed that voice revenue decreased by 0.9% year-on-year to GHS3.5 billion. This decline is largely due to a significant shift in customer behavior from traditional phone calls to Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services. This transition has been fueled by rising data usage and the growing adoption of smartphones.
“Despite the decline in voice revenue, our dedication to providing a customer-focused value proposition, CVM initiatives and other portfolio optimization initiatives resulted in a 13.5% year-on-year increase in usage, as measured by minutes of use (MoU). The growth in usage highlights our ability to engage customers more effectively, however, the revenue impact of this was tempered by the shift from high effective price per minute to lower effective price propositions.”
Mr Stephen Blewett
As a result of these trends, the proportion of voice revenue compared to total service revenue declined from 26.8% to 19.7%. This change suggests that consumers are increasingly leaning towards data services and mobile financial services, which are becoming essential parts of our revenue portfolio.
Digital services Digital revenue experienced strong growth, with a year-on-year increase of 66.1%, culminating in a total of GHS228.2 million.
“This impressive performance was boosted by an 11.7% rise in active subscribers, reflecting our successful strategies for expanding our customer base. The increased engagement with our diverse range of products and services resulted in significant enhancements in revenue streams, particularly from video content, gaming subscriptions, and ring-back tones.
“The uptick in user numbers can be largely credited to our relentless efforts to enhance customer experience, such as personalized service offerings and streamlined user interfaces. Consequently, the share of digital revenue to total service revenue experienced increased from 1.0% in the previous year to 1.3%.”
Mr Stephen Blewett
Mr Blewett stated that inflation remained high throughout the year, contributing to a substantial year-on-year increase of 38.9% in total costs, which reached GHS7.7 billion. This significant rise in total cost was further impacted by the depreciation of the Ghana cedi and the base effects of the management fee not charged in the previous year, which affected the year-on-year comparison.
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