MTN Nigeria Plc experienced a significant 10 per cent increase in market capitalisation at the close of the trading session, following a wave of positive investor sentiment.
This surge came a day after the telecommunications company announced it had successfully renegotiated the binding commercial terms of its existing infrastructure sharing and master lease agreements with IHS and ATC Nigeria.
The market’s favorable response to this announcement led to a substantial gain for MTN Nigeria’s investors, with the company’s market capitalization rising by approximately N378bn as of the close of trading on August 8, 2024.
According to data reviewed by NewsNGR, MTN Nigeria’s shares closed at N198 per share, bringing its market capitalization to N4.16trn on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NGX).
This marks a notable increase from the previous day’s closing figures of N180 per share and a market capitalization of N3.78tn, reflecting a gain of N378bn or 10 per cent.
The company had announced that it has revised the terms of its contract with IHS to significantly reduce the U.S. dollar-indexed component of the leases, now tying it to a discounted U.S.
As a result, the majority of the leases will now be naira-based, with a cap set on the naira CPI escalator component.
In a notice to the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) signed by the Company Secretary, Uto Ukpanah, MTN Nigeria also stated that the renegotiated terms eliminate technology-based pricing, allowing for payments related to new upgrades to be determined by tower space and power requirements.
Additionally, MTN Nigeria has reached a mutual agreement with ATC Nigeria Wireless Infrastructure Solutions Limited and IHS concerning the approximately 2,500 sites that were transitioned from the IHS portfolio to ATC.
The overall market performance indicated continued strength in Nigerian equities, with the benchmark index rising by 105 basis points to close at 98,116.27 points, putting the index on track for a weekly gain.
The positive performance was largely driven by buying activity in MTNN (+10.00 per cent), GTCO (+2.22 per cent), and ZENITHBANK (+2.70 per cent), despite declines in WAPCO (-0.54 per cent) and DANGSUGAR (-1.88 per cent).
As a result, the year-to-date (YTD) return increased to 31.22 per cent, while the market capitalization gained N577.72bn, closing at N55.71trn.
An analysis of the day’s market activities revealed that trade turnover was higher compared to the previous session, with the value of transactions increasing by 18.45 per cent.
A total of 791.78 million shares valued at N15.13bn were exchanged across 9,059 deals.
NEM maintained its position at the top of the volume chart with 187.51m units traded, while GTCO led the value chart for the second consecutive session with deals worth N5.06bn.