By Adria Calatayud

Vodacom Group Ltd. said Monday that net profit for the first half of fiscal 2021 rose, as it reinstated its medium-term targets.

The South Africa-based telecommunications company made a net profit for the six months to Sept. 30 of 9.03 billion South African rand ($582.3 million) compared with ZAR7.83 billion for the same period last year.

Operating profit for the first half rose 12% to ZAR14.47 billion, Vodacom said.

Revenue for the first half climbed to ZAR47.84 billion from ZAR44.39 billion a year before. Service revenue grew 7%, driven by an acceleration in customer-service revenue in South Africa in the second quarter.

The company added 4.1 million customers in the period, taking its total to 120 million.

The board declared an interim dividend of ZAR4.15 a share, up 9.2% on year.

Vodacom said the economic outlook for its markets remains uncertain due to the coronavirus pandemic, but that it expects it to improve into fiscal 2022. This allowed the company to reinstate medium-term targets for mid-single-digit growth in service revenue and in operating profit on average over the next three years.

For fiscal 2021, Vodacom said operating-profit growth is expected to trend below its medium-term target, but that rand weakness would provide an uplift to profit growth.

Write to Adria Calatayud at adria.calatayud@dowjones.com

Corrections & Amplifications

This article was corrected at 0637 GMT to reflect that Vodacom Group made a net profit for the six months to Sept. 30 of 9.03 billion South African rand. The original version of this article incorrectly said the company made a profit of 9.03 million South African rand.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

11-16-20 0120ET