MTN Group Ltd. said Ahmad Farroukh, the chief executive officer of the wireless carrier’s South African unit, has resigned amid strikes and declining sales in the company’s second-biggest market.
“This was a difficult decision to take for Ahmad, but unavoidable due to personal and family reasons,” MTN CEO Sifiso Dabengwa said in an e-mailed statement on Monday, without giving further detail. The resignation is effective July 31, the company said.
MTN, based in Johannesburg, has been battling labor union-led strikes over pay and bonuses in its home market, where sales have declined due to competition and price cuts imposed by regulators. South Africa is the company’s second-biggest unit in terms of subscriber numbers, after Nigeria.
The shares traded 2.8 percent lower at 227 rand as of 3:06 p.m. in Johannesburg, compared with a 1.6 percent fall in the FTSE/JSE Africa Top 40 Index. MTN is Africa’s biggest mobile-phone company, with more than 229 million customers in 22 countries in Africa, Asia and the Middle East.
A successor to Farroukh will be announced as soon as a new appointment is finalized, MTN said. Farroukh has held various positions including chief operating executive and Nigeria CEO since joining MTN in 2006.
Source: Bloomberg
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