MTN Nigeria, the first of MTN Group’s businesses to report first-half results, has delivered a strong performance, with profit rising more than 70%.The group on Friday reported that despite a complex trading environment, it added 4.9-million subscribers in the six months to end-June, taking its subscriber base to 92.2-million. Active data users increased by 2.5-million to 55.7-million.The group’s revenue was 26% higher at 2.99-trillion naira (about R36.26bn), with service revenue the main contributor at 2.97-trillion naira. Growth in service revenue, at 25.9%, was ahead of the group’s medium-term guidance of at least low-20% growth.MTN Nigeria said growth moderated in the second quarter, primarily reflecting the full annualisation of prior price adjustments and, to a lesser extent, the temporary suspension of its airtime and data credit service, which affected fintech revenue, which declined by 7.2%.However, the underlying mobile money business continued to progress, with revenue rising by about 132% and active wallets increasing by 1.3-million to 5-million. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (ebitda) grew 39.2% to 1.7-trillion naira with the ebitda margin up 5.3 percentage points to 55.9%, it said.Profit after tax was up 70.6% to 707.5-billion naira, with EPS up by a similar margin to 33.7 naira.CEO Karl Toriola said the group had delivered a strong first-half performance, with sustained commercial momentum, improved profitability and robust cash generation. “This reflects the resilience of demand for our services, disciplined execution across the business and continued focus on efficiency in a challenging operating environment,” he said.Despite the challenges posed by elevated geopolitical tension affecting global energy markets and inflationary trends, the naira was stronger and relatively more stable during the first half, which helped moderate some cost pressures. The company invested 620.5-billion naira in capex, excluding leases, to strengthen the network and support growth opportunities. Free cash flow increased by 73.9% to 712.7-billion naira, reflecting strong earnings, disciplined capital allocation and improved operating cash generation.The board declared an interim dividend of 26 naira per share.The group continued with its plans to progress the structural separation of the fintech business following shareholder approval, subject to regulatory approvals. Once completed, the transaction is expected to improve balance sheet flexibility, reduce future funding obligations and allow MTN Nigeria to retain meaningful exposure to long-term fintech growth, Toriola said.“We enter the second half with confidence in Nigeria’s long-term structural growth opportunity, underpinned by rising data demand, further headroom for smartphone adoption, underpenetrated home broadband, accelerating enterprise digitalisation and the long-term potential of fintech as execution improves,” he said.The group will continue to invest in expanding network capacity, coverage and platform capabilities to meet the growing demand for connectivity and digital services, while maintaining a disciplined approach to capital allocation and returns. While the temporary suspension of the company’s airtime and data credit service weighed on fintech performance in the latest quarter, operations have recommenced and activity levels are expected to ramp up through the second half, supporting a stronger contribution from the fintech business over the remainder of the year. The group will continue to monitor developments in its operating environment, particularly energy costs, inflation, forex conditions, pricing behaviour and customer affordability. Business Day