Africa Digest News

MTN Group continues to demonstrate strong momentum in its digital transformation, with robust financial performance across key markets and a strategic restructuring of its fintech operations.

In Nigeria, MTN has transferred a 60% majority stake in its two key fintech subsidiaries, MoMo Payment Service Bank (MoMo PSB) and Y’ello Digital Financial Services (YDFS), to MTN Group for ₦152 billion, while retaining a 40% ownership stake.

This internal restructuring centralises strategic control of the fintech business at the Group level, positioning mobile money and digital financial services as a core, continent-wide infrastructure platform rather than fragmented country-level operations.

Nigeria’s Fintech Restructuring

The transaction covers MTN Nigeria’s two primary fintech engines:

• MoMo Payment Service Bank (MoMo PSB): The licensed mobile money bank offering wallets, transfers, and payments.
• Y’ello Digital Financial Services (YDFS): The broader digital finance and fintech infrastructure layer.

Under the new structure, MTN Group Fintech will hold 60% ownership, while MTN Nigeria retains 40%.

The ₦152 billion transaction injects significant capital into the fintech entities, enabling accelerated scaling and product development.

This move is not an exit from fintech but a strategic repositioning. It addresses structural limitations of the Payment Service Bank licence in Nigeria (which restricts higher-margin activities such as lending) and provides stronger group-level capital support and strategic direction.

Group-Wide Financial Performance in 2025

MTN Group delivered solid results for the full year 2025:

• Service Revenue: Rose 22.7% to R218.5 billion.
• EBITDA: Increased 36.8% to R98.5 billion, with the EBITDA margin expanding to 44.5%.
• Operational Efficiencies: Realised R3.6 billion in expense savings for the year, contributing to cumulative savings of R7.4 billion through the group’s efficiency programme.

Growth was driven by strong performance in data and fintech segments:

• Data Revenue: Grew 36.4% (in constant currency), supported by rising smartphone penetration, network expansion, and increased data consumption. Active data subscribers reached 172.6 million, with network traffic up 27%.
• Fintech Revenue: Increased 23.2%, backed by 69.5 million monthly active MoMo users and transaction volumes of 23.3 billion, with a total transaction value exceeding US$500 billion.

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Nigeria and Ghana remained key growth engines, delivering service revenue growth of 54.9% and 35.9%, respectively (in local currency).

MTN Ghana Q1 2026 Performance

MTN Ghana (Scancom PLC), together with its newly separated fintech subsidiary Mobile Money Fintech Ltd (MMFL), delivered robust results for the first quarter ended 31 March 2026. On a pro-forma basis:

• Service Revenue: Increased 35.7% year-on-year to GHS 7.3 billion.
• EBITDA: Rose 42.9% to GHS 4.5 billion, with the EBITDA margin expanding by 3.1 percentage points to 61.2%.
• Profit After Tax: Grew 46.8% to GHS 2.5 billion.
• Earnings Per Share: Also increased 46.8% to GHS 0.187.

Key operational highlights included:

• Data revenue surged 52.3% to GHS 4.3 billion, supported by a 16.0% increase in active data subscribers to 20.6 million and a 63.4% rise in data traffic.
• Mobile Money revenue grew 28.4% to GHS 1.7 billion, with active users reaching 18.0 million.
• Digital revenue more than doubled (+107.1%) to GHS 170.1 million.
• Voice revenue declined modestly by 3.7% to GHS 916 million, reflecting the ongoing shift toward data and digital services.
• Total mobile subscribers increased by 9.4% to 32.0 million.

MTN Ghana also declared a first-quarter dividend of GHS 0.06 per share (GHS 0.03 from Scancom PLC and GHS 0.03 from MMFL), with the ex-dividend date set for 3 June 2026 and payment scheduled for 18 June 2026.

Strategic Implications

These developments illustrate MTN’s clear strategic direction: evolving from a traditional mobile network operator into a leading digital services and financial infrastructure provider across Africa.

The centralisation of fintech control at the group level, combined with strong revenue growth in data and mobile money, provides a solid foundation for the group’s Ambition 2030 strategy.

Looking Ahead

MTN Group is strengthening its fintech strategy through internal restructuring and robust operational performance.

The transfer of majority stakes in its Nigerian fintech subsidiaries to the Group level for ₦152 billion, alongside strong 2025 results and MTN Ghana’s solid Q1 2026 performance, demonstrates disciplined execution and a clear focus on fintech as a core growth engine.

As of April 2026, these moves position MTN to compete more effectively in Africa’s evolving digital financial services landscape while maintaining strong momentum in connectivity and digital services.

For the most current financial details or strategic updates, refer to official announcements from MTN Group.

MTN Group Overview

MTN Group operates across Africa and the Middle East with multiple subsidiaries.

MTN Group subsidiaries
Key operating companies include:

• MTN Nigeria
• MTN South Africa
• MTN Ghana
• MTN Uganda
• MTN Rwanda
• MTN Zambia
• MTN Cameroon

These subsidiaries provide mobile, data, fintech (MoMo), and enterprise services.

MTN Group Investor Relations
Investor information is available via the MTN IR portal, covering financial results, annual reports, share performance, and strategy updates.

MTN Group stock
MTN Group is listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) under ticker MTN, with additional listings on other African exchanges.