SOUTH African telecoms group M-Cell is expected to lift annual headline earnings per share by a third when it reports on Wednesday, with investors looking out for prospects for M-Cell’s new Nigerian operations. Analysts polled by Multex forecast headline EPS – which strip out exceptional items and their tax effects — of 67 cents in the year to end-March 2001 from 50.7 cents last time. M-Cell is expected to lift its dividend by a third to 11 cents. South Africa’s second largest mobile operator MTN, now wholly owned by M-Cell, won a licence in Africa’s most populous nation in January. Analysts expect revenue to jump to R8,2-8,4-billion from R6-billion, with earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) up at around R2,6-billion from R2,02-billion. This would give an EBITDA margin of around 32%. M-Cell is expected to face increasing interest costs related to the setting up of its Nigerian operations. A rise in M-Cell’s share capital in the year to March 2001, to acquire an outstanding stake in MTN, would also dilute earnings per share. – Reuters
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