The group CEO of MTN Group, Ralph Mupita, Senior Vice President for Markets Ebenezer Asante, and three other individuals hold much more MTN shares than required by group policy, according to the company’s 2024 integrated annual report, which was released on Tuesday.
According to TechCentral, in order to “align shareholder and executive interests,” the company’s policy mandates that its executives purchase and keep shares at a level commensurate with their yearly fixed bonuses.
It stated that as of December 20, 2023, Mupita had 1.12 million shares held both directly and through American depository receipts (ADRs), which was 11.1 times his fixed yearly compensation.
In the current currency of MTN shares, which are valued at R90.37 ($4.87), and MTN ADRs, which are valued at US$4.83, Mupita’s personal stake in the company is about R101 million ($5.4 million+)
The multiple that results, 11.1 times his annual fixed package (AFP), is far greater than the 2.5 times that the group personal shareholding policy requires.
Ebenezer Asante additionally owns eight million shares, which is twice the amount allowed by legislation and multiple times his AFP for the 2023 fiscal year (via Scancom Ghana, indirectly).
The following are other CEOs’ assets, as disclosed in the annual report (again, as of December 31, 2023):
Chief operating officer Jens Schulte-Bockum: 188 355 shares for a multiple of 2.8x AFP, above the 1.5x required; Nigeria CEO Karl Toriola: 2.11 million shares for a multiple of 3.1x AFP, above the 1.5x required; Chief financial officer Tsholofelo Molefe: 119 967 shares for a multiple of 2.1x AFP, above the 1.75x required; and South Africa CEO Charles Molapisi: 52 600 shares for a multiple of 1.1x, below the 1.5x required.
Therefore, only the CEO of MTN South Africa owns shares below what is permitted for him to own out of the six executives whose compensation was disclosed. Five out of them have gone above their allotted amount.
“MTN clarified that the target value of shareholding is established at the outset and fixed for a five-year period.”
Every year, an executive must accumulate a least of one-fifth, or 20%, of their total objective value. The computations take into account both direct and indirect shareholding in MTN Group, MTN Nigeria, and Scancom Ghana,” the statement stated.
