MTN said on Monday it expected to see a 20 per cent improvement in earnings per share in its 2018 financial performance compared with 2017.
Headline earnings per share is a key profit measure in South Africa that strips out one-off items, according to Reuters.
Africa’s biggest mobile phone operator reported headline earnings per share of 182 cents and attributable earnings per share of 246 cents in 2017 financial year.
Following the announcement, MTN shares recovered some earlier losses to stand at 87.60 rands per share, down 0.57 per cent, at 0924 GMT.
The Nigerian unit of the company was hit by $8.1bn repatriation demand by the Central Bank of Nigeria based on illegally issued Certificates and Capital Importation.
The matter was settled with the Nigerian authorities and the telecoms company paid $53m (N19.2bn) payment.
Analysts predicted that the dispute would affect fourth-quarter earnings of the Nigeria unit.
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