Telkom's share price was flat in early morning trade today, despite the company's much anticipated launch of its mobile offering, 8ta.
Telkom's shares were slightly lower by 0.19%, or 7c, to R37.33 just before 11.30am this morning. However, the JSE's all share index was also tracking lower in early morning trade, after shedding 141 points. Telkom's stock closed slightly lower on Thursday, losing 0.4%, or 15c, on the end to end at R37.40.
Its 52-week high was almost a year ago when shares hit R45.83 on 23 October 2009, which was after Vodacom was unbundled from the group. Telkom's stock hit a 52-week low on 22 January this year, when the share price closed at R32.79.
Vodacom listed on the JSE as a separate company after the unbundling on 18 May last year. Before the cellular operator - SA's largest - was unbundled, Telkom's shares were trading at over R50. The company's stock closed at R57.33 on 14 May.
Telkom's shares reached their highest level in five years on 17 October 2007 - almost three years ago - when the stock closed at R92.96.
The telecoms company's revenue from continuing operations, which stripped out Vodacom as it was being unbundled, was R35.9 billion. Vodacom's total revenue for the 2009 year was R55.2 billion.
Chris Gilmour, Absa Investments analyst, says the fact that Telkom's shares did not leap on the back of the 8ta launch indicates the market is sceptical of the offering, and is waiting for the company to prove itself.
Irnest Kaplan, MD of Kaplan Equity Analysts, adds that the launch is not a major surprise to the market, as Telkom's entry into the mobile arena had been expected for some time. As a result, it will not change investors' short-term views of the stock, although some of Telkom's offerings are interesting, he notes.
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