By Loni Prinsloo.
MTN Group revamped its South Africa management to spur growth after the unit lost ground to the Nigerian business, which is now the biggest revenue contributor to the continent’s largest mobile-phone operator by sales.
The wireless carrier appointed Ferdi Moolman to succeed Charles Molapisi as the company’s South Africa chief executive officer and named Yolanda Cuba as deputy CEO, according to a statement on Monday. It’s also expanding the role of Chief Financial Officer Tsholofelo Molefe to include mergers and acquisitions.
Revenue from the Nigerian business, which reported a loss in the first half of last year, jumped 37.5% to R28.4 billion ($1.6 billion) in the six months to June 30, while sales at its South African unit dropped 3.7%. The company has set a target of three years to revive growth in the nation, Group CEO Ralph Mupita said.
“We would like to see improved performance in commercial, and we need to step up prepaid and postpaid,” Mupita said at a briefing. “We want a much more resilient balance sheet. All in all, we expect to get that done in two to three years.”
The company reported a net income of R9.75 billion in the six months to June 30, according to the statement. It had reported a loss of R7.39 billion in the same period last year because of currency depreciations in Nigeria and Ghana.
MTN said it has also streamlined the focus of the group to build three platforms including connectivity, fintech and digital infrastructure.
“We have been running a strategy of decoupling some of the digital infrastructure assets,” Mupita said. “The process of carve-outs, we will continue to progress with that as part of our strategy.”