Company News in Brief

MTN Group reports 33% rise in Q1 core profitSouth Africa's MTN Group on Monday, reported a 33% jump in first-quarter core profit due to strong service revenue growth, lower device cost of sales in its domestic market and a more stable macroeconomic environment.Group earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) jumped 33% on a constant-currency basis in the first quarter ended March 31, and reflects a 5.3 percentage point increase in margin to 44.1%, MTN said, without giving the value of EBITDA.Group service revenue increased 10.4% overall in the quarter, or by 19.8% in constant currency. That was buoyed by 40.4% growth in MTN Nigeria (MTNN.LG), opens new tab and 39.5% in MTN Ghana. MTN South Africa continued to navigate competitive challenges, most notably in the prepaid segment, with service revenue up by 2.6%.-REUTERS Eswatini Kingdom plans $275m wealth fundThe southern African Kingdom of Eswatini plans to start a sovereign wealth fund of around 5 billion emalangeni ($275 million) this year to help channel money into areas including manufacturing and agriculture, its finance minister said. Legislation for the fund, drawn up with the Commonwealth’s help, is in draft form and likely to be finalised in the next three months, Neal Rijkenberg said. “It is something that we are really focusing on and driving very hard to get. So we need it to be perfect,” he said in an interview.The fund will likely pool together government assets — such as certain state-owned companies, land, shares in banks and insurance companies and stakes in mines, the minister said.It will focus on building wealth for future generations and growing the economy, Rijkenberg said. “We are hoping the wealth fund can be quite strategic in trying to crowd in private-sector investments into manufacturing production, agroprocessing, agriculture, those kinds of industries.”-BLOMMBERG Fitch says Gabon averted default, regional bond swap not distressed exchangeGabon's recent swap of regional market bonds and bills did not amount to a distressed debt exchange, which means the country avoided a default, rating company Fitch said on Thursday.Fitch, which rates Gabon CCC, eight notches below investment grade, said the exercise trims 2025 repayments by the equivalent of 1.4% of GDP this year, and 0.8% in 2026. "The limited scale of the exchange relative to Gabon's financing needs means it was not designed to avert a traditional payment default," said the Fitch report. The government said on April 28 that around 10 financial institutions had agreed to extend the maturities on 592 billion CFA francs ($1.03 billion) of treasury bills.Fitch downgraded Gabon's rating to CCC in January based on heightened liquidity strains. The country raised money in a private placement of U.S. foreign debt in February of this year at a yield of 12.7%, the highest ever for an African Eurobond issuance.Fitch estimates the budget gap will widen if Brent crude futures average $65 a barrel, below the country's fiscal breakeven of roughly $85."We believe Gabon is likely to return to an IMF programme in 2025, following the presidential election," Fitch said. "Nonetheless, Gabon’s record of obtaining planned funding from external lenders is poor, which has in the past contributed to the sovereign’s persistent liquidity issues."-REUTERS

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