MTN Nigeria Communications Plc recorded a 272.2% increase in share-based compensation expenses to N65.18 billion for the nine months ended September 30, 2026, compared with N17.51 billion in the corresponding period of 2025.
The sharp increase was linked to the appreciation of the company’s share price and the resulting impact on employee incentive arrangements, according to its unaudited financial statements.
The development contributed to a substantial increase in personnel expenses with total employee costs rising by 96.5% to N186.80 billion from N95.05 billion a year earlier.
Share-based compensation alone accounted for approximately 34.9% of total employee costs during the period, compared with 18.4% in the corresponding period of 2025.
MTN Nigeria’s share price rose to N837 as of September 30, 2026 from N511 at the end of December 2025, representing an increase of 63.8%.
The appreciation lifted the company’s market capitalisation to N17.57 trillion from N10.73 trillion over the same period.
While the rally increased shareholder wealth, it also affected the accounting cost of employee incentive arrangements linked to the company’s equity valuation.
The financial statements showed that MTN Nigeria’s share-based payment liability more than doubled to N91.02 billion as of September 30, 2026, from N44.35 billion at the end of December 2025.
This represents an increase of N46.66 billion or approximately 105.2% over the nine-month period.
The company operates employee incentive arrangements involving both cash-settled and equity-settled share-based payments, with changes in the valuation of relevant awards affecting reported compensation expenses.
Consequently, movements in MTN Nigeria’s share price can influence personnel costs even where the underlying expenditure does not arise from conventional salary increases.
The company also recorded higher performance-related employee incentives during the period, adding to the increase in overall staff expenses.
Despite the sharp rise in employee costs, MTN Nigeria reported a 38.2% increase in operating profit to N1.99 trillion from N1.44 trillion in the corresponding period of 2025.
Revenue increased by 23.6% to N4.61 trillion from N3.73 trillion, while profit after tax rose by 55.3% to N1.17 trillion from N750.19 billion.
The figures indicate that the company’s earnings growth was sufficient to absorb the increase in employee-related expenses during the reporting period.
However, the expansion in share-based compensation highlights an important relationship between the company’s stock-market performance and its operating costs.
For investors, the development underscores how equity-linked remuneration arrangements can create additional expenses during periods of strong share-price appreciation, even as the same market performance increases the value of shareholders’ investments.