According to a report via Fin24, MTN had confirmed that its mobile network’s shares on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) had been suspended. The report revealed that the telecom giant’s shares were suspended on 02 November, 2015.
Chris Maroleng, the executive for group corporate affairs at MTN Group, told Fin24 by telephonic interview that trading in the company’s shares had been suspended.
“We take note of the JSE’s decision to suspend MTN’s shares,” he said according to Fin24.
The JSE, in its own announcement, confirmed the suspension of MTN shares at midday on Monday.
“The JSE has halted trading in MTN Group Limited shares pending an announcement from the company,” said the stock exchange.
In the report it states that MTN’s share price has been under pressure in the last week after it confirmed last week that it’s been fined $5.2bn by Nigerian regulators for allegedly not disconnecting up to five million unregistered SIM cards.
The Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) said unregistered SIM cards “pose a grave security risk to the country” and used the recent kidnapping of the former finance minister, Chief Olu Falae, as an example of this risk. It said the kidnappers used MTN SIM cards and MTN was unable to provide any registration data for those SIMs.
The halt in trading also came after MTN’s share price fell by around 8% in trade on Monday amid an unconfirmed report by Lagos-based Vanguard on Monday morning said that MTN had agreed to pay the $5.2bn to Nigerian regulators in staggered payments.
Update:
According to Fin24, Mobile network MTN resumed trading on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) on Monday afternoon after trade in its shares were suspended in the morning.
Darryl Linington
