South Africa-based Vodacom Group has reported consolidated revenues of ZAR66.93 billion (USD7.98 billion) for the twelve months ended 31 March 2012, up 9.4% year-on-year. Vodacom’s domestic unit, Vodacom South Africa, accounted for ZAR48.43 billion of the company’s sales (up 4.4% y-o-y), with the firm’s international operations accounting for ZAR10.14 billion (up 27.5% y-o-y). Group EBITDA for the period grew 10.5% to ZAR22.76 billion, whilst net profit climbed 27.9% to ZAR10.20 billion. Meanwhile, CAPEX for the twelve-month period increased 37.3% on an annual basis, to ZAR8.66 billion.
In operational terms, Vodacom South Africa remains the firm’s largest unit by subscribers, with 28.941 million ‘active’ customers reported at the end of March, of which figure 23.312 million are pre-paid users. Elsewhere, Vodacom units in Tanzania, Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique and Lesotho all increased their active subscriber bases in the twelve months ended 31 March. Tanzania grew its subscriber base to 9.665 million users, whilst Mozambique weighed in with 2.784 million customers and Democratic Republic of Congo contributed 5.643 million. Finally, Lesotho grew its mobile base to 802,000.
Vodacom CEO Pieter Uys commented: ‘Our first year of trading as the new red Vodacom has been a big success. [2011 saw Vodacom re-branded in line with the red and white colour scheme used by parent company Vodafone, which secured a controlling stake in Vodacom in May 2009.] Our customer base has expanded 30% to 48 million [and] we have invested ZAR8.7 billion in our networks … Perhaps more importantly, we have seen strong delivery in the areas driving growth into the future – data and the International businesses. Combined, these accounted for 87% of the growth in group service revenue. We added five million active data customers, taking the total to 15 million and supporting data revenue growth of 27%. The international customer base has now reached 19 million, an increase of 36%, and this segment has passed the important milestone of generating positive free cash flow. Overall, the team delivered a very solid performance and the platforms for growth are well established.’