Johannesburg – MTN Group said on Friday that it has exited its 18.9% stake in African online retailer Jumia, making R2.3 billion in net proceeds.
MTN said in a third-quarter update that it had also exited an 8% shareholding in MTN Zambia, realising R204 million.
MTN share closed up 4.11% at R57.79 on the JSE on Friday.
Jumia, the first unicorn in Africa, was listed on the New York Stock Exchange in April last year. after peaking at $49.77 (about R808) within its first week of trading, the stock fell below its initial public offering by August, trading at about $3, but it had recovered somewhat to $17.27 on Friday.
MTN’s results in the third-quarter were strong due to the performance of its larger operations in South Africa, Nigeria and Ghana, and good group-wide growth in subscriber numbers despite challenging trading conditions.
“As the Covid-19 pandemic has continued to impact lives and livelihoods across our markets, the group has demonstrated strong operational execution and resilience,” said MTN Group president and chief executive Ralph Mupita.
To meet the increase in data and digital usage, MTN had focused its investment on network capacity and modernising its IT systems, spending R16billion on this in the year to the end of the third quarter.
Mupita also said the group was focused on managing the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on it staff, customers, networks and the balance sheet and liquidity profile of the group.
