Vodacom results in a nutshell

Vodacom released its interim results for the six months ended 30 September 2022, which showed an increase in revenue but a decrease in profit.

Vodacom Group revenue increased 7.7% to R53.7 billion, bolstered by group service revenue growth of 7.2%.

There was muted EBITDA growth of 0.6% to R20.2 billion, impacted by one-off factors and higher energy and network costs.

Financial services customers were up 10.2% to 63.1 million, and financial services revenue increased from R3.704 billion to R4.414 billion year-on-year.

Headline earnings per share declined 9.5%, impacted by start-up losses in Ethiopia and higher finance costs as interest rates normalised to pre-Covid levels.

Net debt to EBITDA at 1.1 times, reflecting spectrum acquisition in South Africa and elevated network investment.

Vodacom CEO Shameel Joosub said their resilient revenue performance in the first quarter continued into the second quarter.

He said there were inflationary pressures and elevated living costs in markets where Vodacom operates.

“Vodacom has attempted to absorb considerable inflationary costs from the dramatic increase in energy costs as far as possible,” Joosub said.

“These efforts, coupled with start-up costs in Ethiopia, contributed to a 9.3% decline in earnings per share.”

Vodacom added 3.0 million customers over the last six months, which means the mobile operator now has 132.6 million customers.

In South Africa, Vodacom invested R5.8 billion in its network – the most in a six-month period. In the past two years, it invested over R2.0 billion in batteries to combat load-shedding.

Vodacom also reached an agreement with Eskom to source its electricity from renewable independent power producers and contribute this into the national grid.