MTN Shares Rally as Jumia Surges in New York

• MTN Shares Rally as Jumia Surges in New York

MTN’s shares have risen about 16% so far in April, it’s best monthly performance in almost three years, as the value of the mobile operator’s stake in e-commerce business Jumia has nearly tripled in just three days.

Jumia, which operates online fashion retailer Zando in SA, listed 13.5-million American depositary receipts at $14.50 each in New York on Friday April 12. By the close of trade on Tuesday, Jumia’s shares were valued at $43.04, an increase of 197%.

This means MTN’s roughly 30% stake in the company has swollen to about $1bn (R14bn), or about R7.40 a share.

MTN’s share price, which was dented by regulatory troubles in Nigeria in the second half of 2018, has risen from R97.50 to R103.39 so far this week.

This is the first time the network operator’s shares have crossed the R100 mark since August 2018, when Nigeria’s central bank demanded that it return $8.1bn in dividends, sending its stock crashing to below R70 by mid-September.

As part of its plans to sell non-core assets over the next three years, MTN is expected to exit its Jumia stake.