The Senegalese telecoms operator Expresso is 100% owned by Sudatel. Its current share capital is 5 billion CFA francs.
The telecommunications company Expresso Senegal SA (ESN) has decided to increase its share capital to 20.8 billion CFA francs ($33.4 million), compared to 5 billion CFA francs currently. The capital increase will be carried out by the issue of 1,586,530 new shares of 10,000 FCFA each. The subscription period will be open from October 20 to November 10, 2023.
“ The subscription for new shares is reserved in preference to holders of existing shares, registered in the company’s share registers, at the rate of one preferential subscription right per existing share. The new shares may be subscribed to on an irreducible basis and on a reducible basis ,” explains the company.
Expresso, which is 100% owned by Sudanese state-owned Sudatel, did not disclose the reason behind the increase in its share capital. However, this could allow it to raise additional funds to invest in new infrastructure, expand its network coverage, invest in technologies such as 4G and 5G… This could also allow it to improve its financial health, strengthen confidence of its shareholders and investors.
This initiative should give Expresso the means to accelerate its growth and be more competitive in the Senegalese telecoms market. According to the latest statistics from the Telecommunications and Postal Regulatory Authority (ARTP), Expresso controls 17.18% of the national mobile telephone subscriber base. It therefore comes third behind Orange and Free which control 56.68% and 23.89% market shares respectively. The rest of the market is shared between Promobile (2.25%) and Hayo (0.002%).