MTN trading update

MTN released a trading update on Friday after the market closed, and I must admit, it looked really good at face value. For a company that falls into an industry that is supposedly ex-growth, remember all those numbskulls who were talking about the mobile companies being there. Perhaps in a developed world context where you have a really good fixed line infrastructure, do not get me started on Telkom. MTN are releasing their results this Wednesday, and accordingly have to let Mr. Market know if their results are going to be better or worse by at least 20 percent. And they are, much more actually, here goes:

"Shareholders are advised that MTN expects an increase of between 41.8% and 46.8% in Adjusted headline earnings per share ("Adjusted HEPS") for the year ended 31 December 2011 when compared against the previously reported corresponding period. Attributable earnings per share are expected to increase by between 41.7% and 46.7%, and Basic HEPS to increase by between 37.9% and 42.9% for the same period against those reported for the previous corresponding period."

The prior year, 2010, adjusted HEPS clocked 909.1 cents, but that excluded the Zakhele scheme. Including the once off charge, adjusted HEPS was 747 cents back then with basic HEPS registered 776.2 cents. With the gains above expected, the 2011 adjusted HEPS should be 1078 cents in the middle of that range. Basic HEPS in the middle of the range should be 1089 cents per share. I expect the dividend to be higher too. Somewhere around 700 cents for the full year would be very generous. We wait for Wednesday to see when all will be revealed.