MTN Group is set to take a material impairment on its 49 percent stake in Iranian mobile operator Irancell, adding a new financial cost to an investment that has generated profits for the telecom group but has remained effectively inaccessible for years.
The impairment will weigh on MTN’s statutory earnings for the six months ended June, even as the group expects its underlying operating performance to improve.
In a trading statement ahead of its interim results, due on August 24, MTN said impairment losses related to its Iran operations were expected to amount to R2.13 per share, compared with R1.04 per share in the first half of 2025.
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The impairment is the main reason MTN expects earnings per share to decline by between 20 percent and 30 percent to a range of R3.77 to R4.31.
