Africa’s biggest telecom company, MTN has unveiled a new logo ahead of a major rebrand that will happen on 27 February, according to a report by Mybroadband.
The logo has been submitted to the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC) for approval and can be seen outside MTN’s offices near the 14th Avenue offramp to the N1 freeway in Johannesburg.
The new logo sees ‘MTN’ written in normal block letters and in blue with an oval of the same colour around it. The company’s old tagline ‘“Everywhere you go’ is now replaced with ‘Yello’ with the same style of writing as ‘MTN’. The Yellow background seems to be a lighter shade of yellow than the older logo, but it cannot be 100% confirmed as of yet.
Nompilo Morafo, MTN chief sustainability and corporate affairs officer, said the new look aligns with the group’s evolution from a telecommunications company to a technology company.
“Our commitment and focus to accelerate Africa’s progress sees MTN revealing a refreshed brand identity and campaign from 27 February,” said Morafo.
The rebrand will be group-wide, and not just outside MTN’s Johannesburg headquarters, according to Mybroadband’s report. The application to CIPC can be seen in a PDF document, confirming the upcoming rebrand.
Meanwhile, MTN has warned shareholders to expect a decrease in earnings per share between 15% and 25% when it reports its annual results in March.
The Johannesburg Stock Exchange requires that companies publish a trading statement as soon as they are reasonably sure their financial results will differ by at least 20% from the prior reporting period.
MTN said its earnings per share would be between R1.42 and R2.37 lower than in 2020.
The company explained that its earnings per share includes the following impairment losses:
- MTN Yemen — R0.64 (compared to R0.61 in 2020)
- MTN Syria — R2.62 (2020: R0.00)
- ATC Uganda and ATC Ghana fair value gains — R0.99 (2020: R3.41)
While MTN warned of an earnings per share knock, it also said it expected an increase in the headline earnings per share of 25% to 35%.
Headline earnings include only operational, trading, and capital investment activities and exclude profits or losses associated with the sale or termination of discontinued operations.
MTN said its headline earnings would be between R1.87 and R2.62 higher than in 2020.
It explained that headline earnings include the negative impacts of several non-operational and once-off items:
- Hyperinflation excluding impairments — R0.42
- Foreign exchange losses — R1.11
Other non-operational items — R0.30 - Notable donations related to Covid–19 support for the Africa Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Coalition Against COVID (CACOVID) task force in Nigeria — R0.24
MTN said it expects to report its annual results on or around 8 March 2022.
