Vodacom expects its first-half earnings to be as much as 45% higher, the telecommunication giant said on Friday.
In a trading statement ahead of the release of its financial statements on November 10, the group said the results were expected to be consistent with its Vision 2030 double-digit earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (ebitda) growth ambition.
Headline earnings per share (HEPS) for the six months to end-September are expected to increase 40%-45% to a range of 494c-512c.
Earnings per share (EPS) are expected to rise by a similar percentage range.
“The results will be further supported by other favourable movements below the ebitda line on the income statement, including the lapping of the prior year one-off impacts,” it said.
The “one-off impacts,” which related to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Ethiopia, amounted to 55c per share.
Vodacom’s Vision 2030 targets include growing its customer base to 260-million and its financial services customer base to 120-million.
Business Day reported previously that Vodacom posted higher revenue for the first quarter, boosted by good growth in the contract segment in SA and a strong contribution from Egypt.
Group revenue for the quarter ended June grew 10.6% to R40bn on a reported basis and by 12.7% on a normalised basis.
Service revenue growth accelerated 13.8% to R32.26bn on a normalised basis tracking favourably against the group’s medium-term target.
At the time of the release of the first-quarter results, CEO Shameel Joosub said the encouraging trends from Vodacom’s first-quarter performance supported the confidence it communicated in May when it upgraded its financial targets, signalling that the organisation was poised for stronger growth in the medium term.
“These trends include strong revenue and service revenue growth in rand terms, a healthier performance trajectory by our international business, good growth in the contract segment and beyond-mobile services in SA and another all-round excellent performance by Egypt,” he said.
Vodacom’s share price closed up 0.75% at R140.04 on Friday, taking its year-to-date gains to 37.4%.
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