* Adjusted headline EPS at 909.1 cents vs 754.3 cents
* Mobile customers up 22 percent to 141.6 million
* Hikes dividend payout ratio to 55 percent (Adds CEO comments, analyst, background)
By Gugulakhe Lourie
JOHANNESBURG, March 9 (Reuters) - South Africa's MTN Group posted a 20 percent rise in full-year profit on Wednesday and sharply increased its dividend payout.
MTN, Africa's largest mobile operator, has been buoyed as rising disposable incomes spur demand for mobile telephones in Africa and the Middle East.
MTN has said it aims to increase its payouts to shareholders, as it sees fewer opportunities for big-ticket acquisitions in Africa and elsewhere.
The company said it would pay a total dividend of 500 cents for the year, more than double the 192 cents it paid out a year earlier.
"This dividend payout was very positive, but not spectacular," said Ziyad Joosub, an analyst at JP Morgan.
"We believe this is only the first step towards a more generous cash return policy in future years, which could include extraordinary dividend distributions and share buybacks, because the company is cash flush."
Shares of MTN, the largest company with a primary listing in Johannesburg, surged 3.5 percent to 130.15 rand, outperforming a 0.7 percent rise in the blue-chip Top-40 index.
INTERNATIONAL OPERATIONS
In an interview with Reuters, outgoing CEO Phuthuma Nhleko dashed speculation the company could eventually spin off its international operations.
"Under no circumstances will we entertain where MTN International is either separated or not controlled by the MTN Group," he said.
"That for us is just not a negotiable."
MTN, which operates mobile phone networks across Africa and the Middle East, said its total users grew 22 percent to 141.6 million.
It expects users to increase by 12 percent this year.
Nigeria and Iran both recorded growth of around 25 percent, while South Africa logged an increase of 17 percent.
Consultancy Bain & Company said in a study last week that 68 percent of Africa's population will have mobile phones in 2014, compared with 45 percent in 2009.
While mobile phone operators in fast-growing Africa avoided the brunt of the global economic crisis, they are faced with stiff competition and even swings in commodity prices, key to the health of some major African markets.
India's Bharti Airtel, in particular, has been ramping up pressure on competitors such as MTN through a price war.
MTN said adjusted headline earnings per share totalled 909.1 cents for the year to end-December 2010, up 20 percent from 754 cents in 2009, and at the top end of its own forecasts for an increase of between 18 and 23 percent.
Headline EPS is the main gauge of profit in South Africa, and excludes certain one-time items.
Revenue rose 2.5 percent to 114.7 billion rand. (Reporting by Gugulakhe Lourie; Editing by David Dolan and Jane Merriman)
($1=6.914 Rand)