Group operating revenue up 3.0% to R43.0 billion.
Mobile services revenue increases 54.4%
Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) declined 8.7% to R10 330 billion impacted by a 22% decline in high margin fixed voice revenue
Headline earnings per share (HEPS) declined 30.2% to 504.6. cents
Capital expenditure up 1.1% to R7.8 billion
Strong turnaround in free cash flow from negative R1.3 billion in the first half to R2.0 billion for the full year
Net debt to EBITDA ratio improved at 0.7 times
Final ordinary dividend of
The mobile business continues to gain scale and remains the fastest-growing mobile business in
'Our Group revenue performance represents how ongoing investment - particularly in mobile, IT and masts and towers - enables
Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) declined 8.7% to R10.3 billion largely impacted by the decline in high margin fixed voice revenues as well as an increase in costs related to mobile business growth. The margin pressure was minimised by the company's relentless focus on cost containment with operating expenditure growing below inflation.
In line with global trends, fixed voice revenue continues to decline, with the group actively migrating customers from legacy systems to newer technologies to protect revenues and improve customer experience. The group invested in the migration of customers to LTE and fibre however, a 22.2% decline in fixed-voice revenue has impacted group revenue growth as we work to reach the revenue inflection point of new technologies at lower margins.
The mobile business remains profitable with its EBITDA margin improving from 1.4% to 14.9% over the past three years.
Headline earnings per share declined 30.2% to
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Capital investments totalled R7.8 billion in the period, with capital expenditure in the mobile business up 22.1% to R3.7 billion. The accelerated investment in the packet optical transport network, amongst others, will future-proof the core network.
Over the past few years,
Gyro contributed positively to the group through a 6.9% increase in revenue as demand for external leases of masts and towers increased.
BCX's external IT business grew 1.8% despite the challenging economic environment. The performance was supported by the drive to grow industry-specific owned Intellectual Proprietary (IP).
Net debt excluding the impact of IFRS 16 decreased to R7.3 billion while cash balances increased to R4.7 billion. The growth in borrowings of R1.7bn is in line with
The board declared a final ordinary dividend of
ENDS
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