JOHANNESBURG, Aug 19 (Reuters) – MTN Group swung to a half-year loss on Monday as Africa’s biggest telecom operator grappled with the devaluation of the Nigerian naira and operational challenges in Sudan.

The company reported a loss before tax of 9 billion rand in the six-month period ended June 30, compared with a restated profit of 8.3 billion rand a year earlier.

“The further devaluation in the naira against the U.S. dollar… and the ongoing conflict in Sudan had the most significant impact on reported results,” CEO Ralph Mupita said.

MTN Group, which has 288 million customers across 18 markets in Africa, said its group service revenue decreased 20.8% to 85.3 billion rand. In constant currency, group service revenue, which excludes device and SIM card revenue, rose 12.1%.

The company’s service revenue from South Africa surpassed that of MTN Nigeria MTNN.LG, its biggest market by revenue, and rose 3.3% to 21.1 billion rand.

Revenue from the company’s Nigeria operations tumbled 52.9% to 20.5 billion rand, while on a constant currency basis it increased 32.4%.

Nigeria has suffered chronic dollar shortages in recent months that have forced authorities to devalue the naira twice in less than a year, as part of the new government’s measures to stabilise the currency and attract investment.

MTN Group, which anticipates paying a minimum ordinary final dividend of 330 cents per share for fiscal 2024, is making inroads in raising 25 billion rand by next year from non-core asset sales and reducing its ownership in its businesses, Mupita said on a post-earnings call.

The company has already raised 21.7 billion rand so far from non-core asset sales and should reach its target of raising 25 billion rand by next year, Mupita added.

The telecom operator reduced its stakes in MTN Ghana and MTN Uganda during the reporting period for a combined 1.7 billion rand.

There will be further stake sales in Ghana of about 2.1%, and in Cameroon, Ivory Coast and Nigeria, according to Mupita.

(Reporting by Nqobile Dludla; Editing by Tom Hogue, Sherry Jacob-Phillips and Shounak Dasgupta)