Top Kenyan investors earn $314,000 MTN Uganda dividend

Top Kenyan investors in MTN Uganda earned Ksh44.7 million (Ush1.22 billion - $314,788) in dividends in the financial year ended December 2023, when the telco reported a 21.4 percent profit jump to Ksh18 billion (Ush493 billion - $126.8 million) in the period.

For the 2023 financial year, MTN Uganda is paying shareholders a total dividend of Ush18 (Ksh0.66) per share, representing an increase of 13.2 percent from the 2022 payout of Ush15.90 (Ksh0.58) per share.

The telco listed on the Uganda Securities Exchange in 2021 in an initial public offering (IPO) that was open to Kenyans, allowing several institutional and individual investors to take up shares in the company.

State-owned National Social Security Fund is the largest Kenyan shareholder in MTN Uganda, with a holding of 39.81 million shares—according to records as of December 2022—which entitles it to a dividend of Ksh26.14 million ($184,084).

Billionaire investor Baloobhai Patel, with 15.7 million shares, and the Central Bank of Kenya Pension Fund (12.4 million shares) are the other Kenyan investors appearing on the telco’s list of top 20 owners. These holdings entitle Mr Patel to a dividend payout of Ksh10.34 million, and the CBK Pension Fund to Ksh8.17 million.

MTN Uganda makes its dividend distribution via a series of quarterly interim payouts, meaning that the investors already banked the bulk of their dues in the first three quarters of the financial year.

The last quarterly payout of Ush6.40 (Ksh0.23) per share will be made on June 21, 2024, to investors who will be on the company’s books as of May 29.

The listing of MTN Uganda, and later Airtel Uganda in 2023, was done after a directive by the Uganda Communications Commission to foreign-owned telcos to reserve at least 20 percent of shares for locals and East Africans to spur local ownership of the telecoms industry.

Before its IPO, MTN Uganda was owned by MTN Group (96.01 percent) and businessman Charles Mbire (3.98 percent).

Following the IPO, MTN Group’s stake fell to 83.04 percent, meaning it ceded 12.97 percent to other investors, while Mr. Mbire’s stake now stands at four percent.