Telkom South Africa has announced its financial results for the twelve months ended 31 March 2015 (FY2015), reporting a marginal 1.2% year-on-year growth in operating revenues, which increased to ZAR31.675 billion (USD2.52 billion), up from ZAR31.288 billion reported in the corresponding period of fiscal 2014. The development was attributed to growth in data revenues (up 4.5% y-o-y) and customer premises equipment sales and rental (up 23.7%), which was partly offset by 4.0% annual decrease in voice and subscriptions to ZAR15.589 billion at 31 March 2015.
Meanwhile, EBITDA increased by 15.1% to ZAR8.978 billion, while net debt reached ZAR151 million, a 92.8% improvement in the twelve months to end-March 2015. Further, Telkom recorded profit after tax of ZAR2.889 billion, significantly lower than the ZAR3.590 billion reported in FY2014. The slump was partly driven by a ZAR2.169 billion curtailment gain on its Post-Retirement Medical Aid (PRMA) plan, which was generated in FY2014.
In operational terms, the group reported a total of 2.187 million mobile subscribers at end-March 2015, up 21.2% from 1.804 million in the year-ago period. Meanwhile, Telkom’s ADSL base grew by 7.9% to pass the one million subscriber milestone in the twelve months under review, while fixed access lines dropped to 3.439 million, down by 4.9% y-o-y.
Telkom Group CEO Sipho Maseko said: ‘We expect the challenging operating environment of the year under review to prevail in the year ahead, compounded by increasing competitive pressures and regulatory interventions. Our response will be to maintain good cost discipline and a careful and considered approach to capex, and to make good use of our strong balance sheet by taking advantage of any new opportunities for growth.’