By Sabela Ojea

MTN Group Ltd. said Monday that pretax profit for its Nigerian business was lower in 2019, and that it is optimistic for 2020 after increasing its active data subscribers and 4G coverage.

The South African telecommunications company said that its unit in Nigeria made a pretax profit for 2019 of 290.1 billion Nigerian naira ($791.5 million) from NGN309.6 billion for the same period a year earlier.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization--one of the company's preferred metrics--rose to NGN629.9 billion from NGN524.4 billion, it said.

Earnings per share rose 39% to NGN9,900, it said.

The board proposed a total dividend for the year of 7.92 Nigerian kobo per share--in line with its dividend policy.

The company also said that is "acknowledges the outbreak of coronavirus world-wide and its potential impact" on the supply chain. It is now exploring multiple scenarios in order to mitigate the impact.

Regarding its dispute with the country's attorney general of federation on the adequacy of taxes and duties paid, it said that it has discontinued the legal action against the AGF following the transfer to the "relevant authorities."

"Despite a challenging operating environment, we continued to deliver double-digit growth in service revenue in line with our medium-term guidance," MTN Nigeria Chief Executive Ferdi Moolman said.

Write to sabela.ojea@wsj.com; @sabelaojeaguix

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 02, 2020 02:02 ET (07:02 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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