MTN Uganda pays out Shs105.4bn dividend to shareholders

MTN Uganda has paid out a final dividend of Shs105.4 billion to its shareholders, for the year ending December 2021.

According to MTN, the dividend which is the first since the telecom was listed on Uganda Securities Exchanges (USE), was paid to 21,452 shareholders at Shs4.706 per share.

“All dividend payments have been subjected to withholding tax in accordance with the Income Tax Act. All Ugandan individuals are subject to a 10% withholding tax while East African individuals and Companies including Ugandan companies, are subject to a 15% withholding tax.” the telecom company noted.

Meanwhile, National Social Security Fund (NSSF), which is the second-largest institutional shareholder with a stake of 8.84%, earned a dividend of Shs9.3 billion for the same period.

Handing over a dummy cheque for the final dividend earnings for the period December 6 to 31, 2021 to Richard Byarugaba the managing director of the NSSF, MTN’s Chief Finance Officer, Andrew Bugembe highlighted the company’s commitment to its shareholders.

“MTN Uganda is committed to returning great value to all its shareholders, and therefore today, we are delighted to be living out to this commitment to our shareholders having taken a step to invest in MTN Uganda,” Bugembe said.

Bugembe further noted that MTN Uganda’s policy is to pay dividends three times a year in June, September, and December at a minimum of 60% of profit after tax hinged on the company operational performance.

The managing director NSSF, Byarugaba, applauded the telecom company for it’s great performance.

“The dividend declared and paid by MTN Uganda is impressive and grows investor confidence in the company. We have also seen the company deliver impressive subscriber growth since the IPO (mobile subscribers – 10.7% to 15.7M), as well as double-digit growth in key segments (data and mobile money) which bodes well for the future performance of the company.” Byarugaba said.

The telecom company has revealed that it targets to pay out 75-80% of the profit made as dividends for the year 2022.