JSE-listed Vodacom has maintained its policy of paying out 90% of headline earnings to shares in dividends to shareholders for the year to February.
The group, which this morning published its results for the year to March, reported group revenue up 4.5% to R70 billion, while service revenue only gained 2.9% - stripping out currency fluctuations - to R59 billion.
It said it ended the year with free cash of R12 billion, an 11.1% increase year-on-year, while headline earnings gained 23% to 872c a share.
CEO Shameel Joosub says Vodacom delivered a solid performance in the year to March, growing subscribers to 51.7 million, despite weak economic conditions and tough competition.
CFO Ivan Dittrich says the dividend policy is unchanged, and that at least 90% of headline earnings per share will be returned to shareholders. The total dividend for the end of the year amounts to 785c a share, with 355c of this being declared in the first half of the year.
Taking into account the number of shares in issue, this amounts to a total payout of R11.4 billion for the full year, of which R6.4 billion was paid in the first half.
Joosub says: "I'm pleased that we've been able to provide healthy shareholder returns while simultaneously also investing heavily to maintain our network and commercial advantage." The operator spent R9.5 billion on capital expenditure during the year.
However, after a change in the way dividends were taxed last April, after secondary company tax was replaced with withholding dividends, shareholders will see 15% of their dividend being paid over, by Vodacom, to the taxman.
Last year, the group paid out R10.6 billion in dividends.
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