Vodacom Group’s revenue grew 6.3 percent to ZAR 86.4 billion in the year ended 31 March, while normalised growth, excluding currency translation effects, was 7.8 percent. Group service revenue increased 3.4 percent to ZAR 70.6 billion and was up 5.1 percent on an adjusted basis. Net profit rose 18.6 percent to ZAR 15.56 billion, boosted by the Safaricom acquisition and a profit from the sale of Helios Towers Tanzania.
EBITDA rose by 5.3 percent to ZAR 32.89 billion, and operating profit increased 11.5 percent to ZAR 24.25 billion. The group added 7.0 million customers during the year, including 4.5 million in South Africa and 2.5 million in the International operations, while Safaricom added 1.4 million customers, bringing the total number of customers to over 103 million across the group.
The group invested ZAR 11.6 billion during the year to expand coverage and improve network quality, including ZAR 8.9 billion in South Africa.
Kenya’s Safaricom contributed ZAR 1.5 billion profit for the eight months since acquisition, after deducting the amortisation of fair valued assets and before minority interest. Headline earnings per share remained constant at ZAR 9.23 per share, impacted by shares issued to acquire the Safaricom stake. The board declared a final dividend per share of ZAR 4.25.
Vodacom said the International operations continue to improve, with normalised service revenue growth of 7.4 percent or 0.3 percent on a reported basis. Tanzania continued to execute on its strategy, delivering good revenue and customer growth despite a highly competitive environment. Mozambique and Lesotho delivered strong results supported by good execution in monetising growing demand in data and M-Pesa, while performance in the DRC has improved as the currency and economic environment began stabilising in the second half of the year.
The group added 2.5 million customers at the International operations during the year, growing the total base 8.6 percent to 32.2 million. This was supported by good customer growth in the DRC, up 13.8 percent, recovering to levels seen prior to the disconnections done in 2016 in compliance with customer registration requirements, while Mozambique grew customers by 18.7 percent.
Group data revenue also grew strongly by 12.0 percent, and M-Pesa revenue was up 19.6 percent to ZAR 2.3 billion, contributing 13.8 percent of International service revenue. The combined mobile money customer base, including Safaricom, grew 11.5 percent in the past year and now exceeds 32.3 million.
Vodacom said it was encouraged by these developments and reaffirmed three-year targets for mid-single digit service revenue growth, mid-to-high single digit EBIT growth and capital intensity at 12-14 percent of revenue.
