MTN Group has warned investors to expect a sharp drop in first-half earnings. The telecom giant blames a material impairment on its stake in Iran’s Irancell, as war and sanctions continue to squeeze value out of the investment.
In a trading statement released Tuesday, the Johannesburg-based company said earnings per share for the six months ended June 30 likely fell between 20 percent and 30 percent. That is compared with the same period last year. MTN pointed directly to a writedown tied to its 49 percent minority stake in Irancell, Iran’s second-largest mobile operator, as the main driver of the decline.
MTN said the impairment reflects the toll of geopolitical and economic conditions, as well as the war in Iran during the period. That language points to the fallout from the US and Israeli strikes on Iran earlier this year. The company also disclosed that the gap between its basic earnings per share and headline earnings per share came largely from impairments of 213 cents linked to the Iran operations.
Still, MTN’s underlying business appears to be holding up well. The group expects adjusted headline earnings per share of between 7.75 rand and 8.08 rand. That is an improvement from 6.57 rand a year earlier, once the Iran impairment is stripped out. Strong subscriber and revenue growth in Nigeria and Ghana helped offset the damage from the writedown. Even so, the headline number spooked the market, and MTN shares fell to a four month low after the announcement.
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Iran has long been one of the thorniest parts of MTN’s international footprint. The company’s Irancell stake was once among its most profitable foreign investments. But years of US sanctions, currency depreciation, and restricted access to global banking channels have steadily eroded its value. MTN now describes the investment as a frozen asset. It keeps generating money on paper, yet the company cannot move any of that money out of the country. In 2025 alone, MTN’s share of Irancell profits reportedly totaled around 136 million dollars. None of it could leave Iran.
Group chief executive Ralph Mupita has described the situation as a dead end. He has said MTN spent years trying to find a way out of its Iran exposure without success. Interested buyers from the Middle East reportedly walked away from potential deals too, citing the same sanctions that trapped MTN’s money in place. Analysts have also warned that even if sanctions ease eventually, years of inflation and currency losses may have already eaten into the business’s underlying value.
For now, MTN continues to reposition itself as an Africa focused digital and fintech platform. It is leaning on its mobile money arm and core telecom operations across the continent to fund growth while it searches for a resolution to its Iran problem. The company plans to release its full first-half results on August 24. Investors will then get a clearer picture of how the Iran impairment weighed against gains elsewhere in its portfolio.
