MTN South Africa’s Shares Sink In By 13%

 Shares in MTN Group have slumped more than 13 per cent, the company said on Friday in Johannesburg. In a statement, MTN said the expected fall in profit was due to under performance in Nigeria.

It said that the underperformance was because it faced a 3.9 billion dollars fine for failing to cut off more than five million SIM card users by the set date. Africa’s biggest mobile phone company said it was still in talks with regulators about the final size of the penalty.

“There remains some uncertainty as to the final quantum (amount) of the Nigerian fine, should an out of court settlement be reached,” the company said.

MTN was handed a 5.2 billion dollars penalty in October, prompting weeks of lobbying that led to a 25 per cent reduction to 3.9 billion dollars. But the company was still not prepared to pay the lower fine which equates to more than twice MTN’s annual average capital spending over the past five years.