MTECH LISTS ON THE NIGERIAN STOCK EXCHANGE

Lagos, Nigeria, June 2009

MTech Communications, the leading mobile Value Added Services (VAS) company in Nigeria, was listed  on the Nigerian Stock Exchange on Tuesday the 9th of June 2009 by introduction. MTech Communications PLC, on Tuesday, 9th June, listed 4,966,666,668 ordinary shares of 50 kobo each by introduction at N2.50k per share on The Nigerian Stock Exchange.

MTech is the market leader in the VAS segment of the telecoms industry which is focused on developing products and services that mobile networks offer to their customers to get more utility from their mobile phones. Some of the services which MTech powers for the mobile operators include  MTN Funtones, MTN Caller Tunes, Zain Central station and Glo Magic Plus. MTech also provides SMS voting on TV shows like Nigerian Breweries’ StarQuest and works with media organizations like CoolFM and HITV to deliver interactivity services.

The company has experienced steady growth since its inception in 2001 when it launched MTN’s mobile internet service. Since then MTech has developed platforms to deliver mobile content for the four leading digital mobile operators in Nigeria and through partnerships with mobile operators, MTech provides services to over 70 million subscribers across Africa.

As at December, 2008, MTech had commenced operations in Ghana, Kenya, Uganda, and Cote D’Ivoire. Its key operator partners outside Nigeria include MTN Ghana, MTN Cote D’Ivoire, Zain Ghana, MTN Uganda, Safaricom Kenya and Celtel Kenya amongst others.

The company’s last audited accounts of 2007 show the company’s revenues at N600m with Gross Profit of N398m and profit after tax of N116m. According to Mr Chika Nwobi, founding CEO of the MTech, “we plan to continue growing the business over the next 5 years by expanding to more markets in Africa and the Middle East as well as by developing new services to roll out into the fast growing telecoms market in Africa.”

The Chairman of MTech, Mrs Sheri Williams, said “our focus over the last three years was on breaking into new African markets. Having successfully entered the West and East African sub-region we are poised to turn the lessons learned into a competitive advantage and roll-out our services into yet more countries in order to increase our market share in Africa while maintaining Nigeria as our idea and innovation hub”.

Mr Patrick Quarcoo is Managing Director of Radio Africa, owners of the leading group of radio stations in Kenya is also a director/investor in MTech’s East African subsidiary. He said “MTech has set itself apart in its ability to develop and launch services ahead of its competitors both in Nigeria and now also in Kenya. The company recently won a large contract with East African Breweries competing against 5 other Kenyan companies. We are proud to be part of the MTech story” .

In Ghana, MTech was selected by TV3 the largest TV network to provide audience interactivity solutions for its programs. The Marketing Manager, Adwoa Otchere, said “We have been very impressed with the integrity of MTech’s service delivery. They deliver what they commit to and I think that Nigerians should be proud of the impression they are creating in Ghana for Nigerian businesses.”  

Snapshots from the event