When MTN pays dividends to its shareholders on June 21, 2024, businessman Charles Mbire will earn enough money to buy at least three prime plots (100*100) in Naguru.
If he decides to look further away from Kampala, he will be in position to buy 20 plots (100*100) in places like Kira and Ssonde.
Mbire will get an estimated payout of Shs 5,632,000,000 for his 4% shareholding in Uganda’s biggest telecom company. His shareholding is said to be worth an estimated $60 million.
MTN announced last week that it had made a profit after tax of Shs 493 billion for the year that ended December 2023, a 21% increase from 406 billion it made in the same period last year.
Following the stellar performance, the company announced that it will pay out dividends at Shs 6.4 per share. MTN said the total number of ordinary shares in issue as of March 5, 2024 was 22,389,044,239.
Mbire’s 4% shareholding in MTN translates into 880 million ordinary shares. Therefore, if he is to earn Shs 6.4 per share in June, he will walk away with a total of Shs 5.6 billion.
Of course, the payment is subject to tax and other fees meaning he could earn slightly less. Even if he earned a net of Shs 5 billion after taxes, Mbire would be in position to buy at least three prime plots in Naguru each costing at least Shs 1.5 billion.
Swift rise
In the late 1990s, Mbire worked as a special assistant/ aide to Salim Saleh.
During parliamentary investigations into the closure of Greenland Bank in 1999, Dr Suleiman Kiggundu, the former managing director of the bank told MPs that he had met Gen Salim Saleh (who was trying to convince Greenland to invest in UCB) in the company of his aide, “ a one Charles Mbire.”
Mbire later branched out into business.
