MTN Nigeria CFO Modupe Kadri spends $760,000 to buy more shares in a vote of confidence in the telecom giant

Modupe Kadri, chief financial officer of MTN Nigeria Communications Plc, has acquired 1,313,732 ordinary shares in the company worth N1.03 billion ($751,277 at $1 to N1,371) in a personal transaction that analysts say sends an unambiguous signal about the executive's confidence in the telecom giant's trajectory.

The transaction, disclosed in a regulatory filing with the Nigerian Exchange Limited, showed Kadri bought the shares at an average price of N782.39 ($0.57) per share across multiple tranches on the open market. The purchases ranged in price from N755.10 ($0.55) to N798.50 ($0.58) per share, with the bulk of the buying concentrated between N770 ($0.56) and N798.10 ($0.58).

Kadri, who also serves as an executive director of MTN Nigeria, is the person inside the organisation with the clearest line of sight to the balance sheet. A purchase of N1.03 billion ($751,277) at current market prices is widely read in the Nigerian investment community as a strong insider signal, the CFO deploying personal capital at levels he evidently believes undervalue the company's intrinsic worth.

MTN Nigeria's share price opened 2026 at N511 ($0.37) and has since rallied 56.6 percent year-to-date to trade at approximately N800 ($0.58), with the stock reaching a 52-week high of N915 ($0.67) on May 4. The company's market capitalisation stands at approximately N16.8 trillion ($12.3 billion), making it the third largest on the NGX by that measure.

The stock's recovery has been driven by strong fundamental performance. MTN Nigeria posted a profit after tax of N355.5 billion ($259.3 million) in the first quarter of 2026, a 166 percent surge year-on-year, as the company regained momentum following a difficult period shaped by naira devaluation, rising energy costs and foreign exchange volatility that had weighed heavily on its reported earnings in 2023 and 2024. The rebound reflects a combination of tariff adjustments, aggressive cost management and the growing contribution of MTN Nigeria's digital and fintech revenue streams, which have expanded rapidly alongside the company's core voice and data business.

MTN Nigeria is the country's largest mobile operator by subscribers and one of the biggest businesses on the Nigerian Exchange, sitting on the bourse's Premium Board alongside Dangote Cement, Airtel Africa and a small number of other heavyweight listings. Its South African parent, MTN Group, led by Group CEO Ralph Mupita, has consistently described Nigeria as its most important single market, a position that makes the Nigerian subsidiary's recovery from its FX-driven losses of recent years one of the more closely watched corporate stories across Sub-Saharan Africa's telecoms sector.

Kadri's share purchase follows a broader pattern of insider buying at major Nigerian corporates that has accompanied the NGX's strong performance in 2026, as executives at several listed companies have moved to increase personal exposure to stocks they manage at a moment when improving macroeconomic conditions, a steadier naira and rising corporate earnings have lifted confidence across the market.