Telecoms shares growth over the last 12 months

Over the past 12 months, MTN and Vocacom have shown significant growth in their listed share prices – while encumbent operator, Telkom, reveals an overall decline in the past year.

Companies’ share prices often go up and down with the ebb and flow of operating in the market – dipping on bad-news days – or amidst specualtion – and rising up when prospects look good for investors.

However, when measured over time, the overall increase or decline of a company’s share price tells a greater tale of the current state of the company – and the trend its operations are setting in the market.

* Share price taken from 01/03/2011 | source: Bloomberg

Telkom down

Telkom’s share price has shown a gradual decline over the past 12 months, with the downward slump hitting after its 52-week high in July 2011.

Most recently, the encumbent operator has been in the spotlight with a court case surrounding anti-competitive behaviour – which caused investors to sell stock in the company.

From its opening in February, to date, Telkom’s shares have declined 10.7%

MTN fights 

MTN still enjoys the position of biggest listed telecoms company on the JSE (in terms of market capital) but has had its share price negatively affected in recent months, causing a decline from the highs hit late 2011.

Most notably, Nigeria, MTN’s largest territory in terms of subscribers, experienced civil unrest and political issues, causing MTN’s shares to drop – while an ongoing legal probe into MTN’s position in Iran – another large market for the group – caused a similar slump.

From its opening in February, to date, MTN’s shares have remained fairly stable, declining only 0.8%.

Vodacom up strong

The trend of Vodacom’s share rise can be seen in active effect, with the company’s highest point being hit fairly recently – on the 15 February 2012 – and the company’s shares seeing continued growth in February.

Despite reporting record customer growth, and a 12.2% rise in group revenue for the quarter ended December 2011, the company never experienced an investor spike; however, the company did enjoy an investor boost in the wake of Telkom’s competition tribunal hearing, earlier this month (February 2012).

From its opening in February, to date, Vodacom’s shares have increased 4.8%.

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