Vodacom Group has recently announced an interim dividend of 415cps, reaching up to 9.2% and the result covers the last 6 months that ended Wednesday, September 30, 2020. This got backed up by earnings from its integrated companies and the Safaricom dividend receipt.
Vodacom’s revenue was up 7.8% to R47.8 billion while operating profit for the previous increased 12.3% to R14.5 billion. The company added 4.1 million customers which means it now serves a combined 120 million customers across all its operations.
Vodacom CEO Shameel Joosub revealed that data usage surged 86% in South Africa as connectivity demands changed with a need to work, entertain and educate from home.
To cope with the increased demand for data, Vodacom increased its network infrastructure spend over the six-month to R5.0 billion in South Africa.
A few of the highlights from Vodacom’s results for the last six months include:
- Group revenue up 7.8% to R47.8 billion, underpinned by service revenue growth of 7.0%.
- South Africa service revenue grew 7.1%, driven by an acceleration in customer service revenue in the second quarter.
- Added 4.1 million customers, to serve a combined 120 million customers across the Group, including Safaricom.
- Total financial services customers, including Safaricom, up 13.9% or 6.7 million to 54.8 million.
- Earnings per share up 15.6% and headline earnings per share up 15.7%, boosted by a one-off deferred tax rate adjustment of R0.7 billion in the period.
- Free cash flow up 92.1% to R5.3 billion, reflects growth in cash generated from operations and the timing of the Safaricom dividend receipt.
- Declared an interim dividend of 415cps up 9.2%, supported by headline earnings growth from our consolidated companies and the Safaricom dividend receipt.
“Looking forward, we remain cautious about the pace of economic recovery across our markets as disposable income will remain under pressure as a result of unemployment and depressed economic activity,” said Joosub.
“Still, we remain steadfast in our quest to entrench Vodacom Group as a leading pan-African technology company.”
