South Africa’s MTN to swing to H1 loss on Nigeria fine

* MTN said on June 10 it had agreed to pay a heavily reduced fine of 330 billion naira ($1.2 billion), or a third of the initial penalty, in a settlement with Nigeria for missing a deadline to deactivate more than 5 million unregistered SIM cards.

* MTN, Africa’s biggest mobile phone group, said its headline loss was expected to come in a range of 285 cents to 255 cents per share in the six months to end-June.

* In total, the net effect of the Nigerian fine on the current period was a negative impact of 474 cents per share.

* Underlying operational results for half-year 2016 were further affected by under-performance of MTN Nigeria

* Earnings were further negatively impacted by foreign exchange losses of 135 cents per share.

* Relatively weaker operational performance of MTN South Africa, which is expected to report a decline in EBITDA margin, impacted by a marked increase in the sale of lower-margin handsets during half-year 2016. Source text for Eikon: Further company coverage: an 20 billion naira this year, which will help lift its return on equity to 8.5 percent from 8.1 percent in the first half.