By Joe Hoppe


Vodacom Group said Friday that first-quarter revenue rose 37%, particularly driven by strong local-currency service revenue growth in recent acquisition Vodafone Egypt.

The South Africa-based telecommunications company--which is majority owned by the U.K.'s Vodafone Group--said revenue for the three months ended June 30 was 35.7 billion South African rand ($2.99 billion), compared with ZAR26.05 billion for the same period in 2022. This largely reflects the acquisition of Vodafone Egypt, where revenue generated by financial services more than doubled, and successful Ramadan and summer campaigns.

Service revenue--a closely-watched metric in the telecom sector--grew 44%, or 9.8% excluding Vodafone Egypt, to ZAR28.98 billion, with a 3.9% rise in South Africa and a 24% rise in international operations.

Vodafone Egypt, which was consolidated from Dec. 8, contributed more than ZAR6.8 billion to group service revenues.

Financial-services revenue increased 46% on year to ZAR3.0 billion from ZAR2.1 billion.

"Looking ahead, we are fully cognisant of the financial constraints on customers caused by global economic uncertainty and increased inflation. We remain committed to delivering innovations that enhance the value we deliver to customers and helping to alleviate cost of living pressures," Chief Executive Shameel Joosub said.


Write to Joe Hoppe at joseph.hoppe@wsj.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

07-21-23 0139ET