Telecommunications giant Vodacom on Monday posted an 18.9% year-on-year increase in headline earnings a share to 460c and a 19.4% year-on-year increase in earnings a share to 461c for the six months ended September 30.
This was attributed to the one-off R1.5-billion broad-based black economic-empowerment transaction undertaken in the first half of the prior financial year.
Vodacom’s group revenue increased by 3.9% to R44.3-billion in the period under review, supported by group service revenue growth of 4.2% to R36-billion.
Vodacom reported an improved second-quarter performance in South Africa and sustained growth of the International businesses, said Vodacom CEO Shameel Joosub.
Service revenue from the South African operations edged up 0.3%, owing to a turnaround in growth during the second quarter, as the reduction in out-of-bundle revenue was offset by improved data elasticity and the completion of the full onboarding of Vodacom’s new roaming partner.
The international operations remained a star performer, delivering service revenue growth of 15.5%.
“We added 2.7-million customers in South Africa and our International operations, and 2.7-million in Safaricom during the period, to serve a combined 115-million customers across the group,” Joosub said.
Vodacom declared an interim dividend of 380c a share and a special dividend of 60c a share for the first half of the year.