South Africa’s MTN Group has set aside around $600 million to cover the potential settlement of a fine in Nigeria, the firm said on Thursday, as it posted a more than 50 percent drop in annual profit.
MTN is in talks with Nigerian authorities to reduce a $3.9 billion fine imposed last year for failing to cut off unregistered SIM card users, Reuters reported.
It said headline earnings per share (EPS) came in at 746 cents in the year to end-December compared with 1,536 cents a year earlier.
Headline EPS is the main profit measure in South Africa that strips out certain one-off items.
