MTN Group has finalised its exit from Jumia , a Pan – African e – commerce platform , selling its 18 . 9 per cent stakes and raking in R 2 . 3 bn ($ 138 m ) from the deal .
The Group President and CEO , Ralph Mupita , made this known in the company ’ s third – quarter financial report released on Friday.
The company had early last year hinted at its plan to raise about $ 600 m from a private sale of its shares in Jumia .
The telecoms group’ s also reported increased earnings , which were boosted by the strong performance of its operations in South Africa and Nigeria.
MTN CEO said its Nigerian unit had declared and paid its final dividend for 2019 , as well as its interim 2020 dividend , totalling R 5 . 4 bn as of September 2020 .
According to Mupita , there are delays in the repatriation of the cash to the group in Q 3 due to challenges scarcity of foreign currency in Nigeria.
Mupita expressed optimism that the availability of dollars would improve in the last quarter of the year and upstreaming of dividends would resume .
He said overall data traffic had remained at elevated levels , although it had eased from the peaks .
He noted that voice traffic and revenue , which initially came under significant pressure , had recovered and the fintech revenue had increased month – on- month .
Comparing the September 2020 level for the group’ s data traffic against April 2020 , Mupita said the level of activity was 10 .2 per cent higher , and up 8 . 9 per cent QoQ in Q 3 .
