Africa’s largest landline producer, Telkom SA, recently reported a rise in a year’s earning as result of a result of an excellent performance from its mobile business and its enterprise division.
The rise in earnings was due to the completion of a turnaround plan with the purpose of reducing cost, and a better competition with other network providers. With its main focus on growth under the leadership of Chief Executive Sipho Maseko, it is obvious the plan is paying off.
Telkom has revealed that headline earnings per share for the year-ended March rose 12.4 percent to 731.4 cents from 650.9 in the comparable period last year.
“I am pleased with our solid performance, which was boosted by the integration of BCX (Business Connexion Group) and the robust performance of our Mobile business,” Maseko said in a statement.
Telkom bought BCX, a provider of information and communication technology for 2.6 billion rands ($202.48 million) in 2015, seven years after competition concerns scrapped its first bid.
“BCX remains a key growth platform for the group,” Maseko said.
Net operating revenue rose 7.9 percent to 31.9 billion rands, while mobile service revenue increased by 38.4 percent to 3.4 billion rands. Mobile active subscriber numbers grew by 47.7 percent to approximately 4 million.
“This was a result of an expansion in our network, extension of our distribution channels and the launch of innovative products,” Maseko said, referring to Telkom’s mobile arm, initially known as 8ta, launched in 2010.
The group declared an annual dividend of 422 cents per share, up 56.3 percent.
