Vodacom Shares Rise After Dividend Boost

By Najat Kantouar

Shares in Vodacom Group rose after the telecommunications company hiked its final dividend for fiscal 2026, reported higher earnings due to international growth, and lifted a long-term target for customer numbers.

In morning trading, shares were up 4.1% at 152.18 South African rand, taking their year-to-date gain to 7.7%.

The South Africa-based telecommunications company--which is majority-owned by Vodafone Group--raised its final dividend for the year ended March 31 by 21% to 4.05 rand a share. This took its full-year dividend to 7.35 rand a share, beating analysts' expectations of 7.09 rand a share, according to consensus estimates provided by FactSet.

Vodacom Group's net profit rose to 20.65 billion rand ($1.26 billion) from 16.60 billion rand the year prior.

Revenue rose to 167.65 billion rand from 152.23 billion rand, with growth driven by Egypt and the group's international business. Analysts had expected revenue of 167.53 billion rand, according to the FactSet-provided consensus.

Service revenue--a closely-watched metric in the industry--grew 11% to 133.56 billion rand.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization increased 13% on a reported basis to 62.63 billion rand, while the corresponding margin grew to 37.4% from 36.5%.

Vodacom added 26 million customers in the fiscal year compared with its annual target of 10 million customers, ending the year with 237.3 million customers. It lifted its 2030 customer-number target to 275 million from 260 million.

The company intends to update its 2030 goals after its recent deal to buy a 20% stake in Kenya's Safaricom, which gave it majority ownership, Vodacom Chief Executive Shameel Joosub said.

Looking ahead, macroeconomic uncertainty is likely to persist, Joosub added.

Write to Najat Kantouar at najat.kantouar@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 11, 2026 05:47 ET (09:47 GMT)