{"id":29583,"date":"2013-01-13T23:12:44","date_gmt":"2013-01-13T21:12:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=29583"},"modified":"2013-01-13T23:17:48","modified_gmt":"2013-01-13T21:17:48","slug":"foreigners-eye-mtn-and-vodacom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/mobile\/29583\/foreigners-eye-mtn-and-vodacom\/","title":{"rendered":"Foreigners eye MTN and Vodacom"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mobile operators MTN<\/a> and Vodacom<\/a> are attracting the eyes of foreign-based investors looking to fill their baskets with emerging market stocks.<\/p>\n

This the view of Irnest Kaplan<\/a>, MD of Kaplan Equities<\/a>, who says that both mobile operators offer attractive dividend yields.<\/p>\n

Vodacom\u2019s dividend yield is at approximately 5.5%, but its share price has improved from R91.13 to a current price of approximately R122 – and a record high of R129.83 (4 January) over the past year.<\/p>\n

The group\u2019s share price has more than doubled over the past five years, from a low of R55.11.<\/p>\n

Similarly, MTN has a dividend yield of 4.1%, and has seen its shares rise to approximately R176 from R135.41 over the past year. MTN achieved a record best price of R181.77 on 9 January.<\/p>\n

Both companies have also committed to an enticing dividend payout policy in recent years, of between 70%-90%.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe numbers are attractive to offshore investors in the US and UK who are saying we need more emerging market exposure,\u201d said Kaplan, who added that rival telecom operators in developed markets are struggling in comparison due to saturated markets and the state of the global economy.<\/p>\n

Upward trend<\/strong><\/p>\n

When questioned if both Vodacom and MTN can continue the upside trend in 2013, Kaplan said: \u201cI don\u2019t think they have shot the upside. I think both companies will carry on with the trend.”<\/p>\n

He said that investors, both locally and abroad, see a compelling case for the liquidity of both MTN and Vodacom.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is still above average growth for mobile in Africa,\u201d the analyst said, noting the continued adoption of smartphones on the continent.<\/p>\n

MTN is Africa’s leading telecommunications provider, operating in 21 countries across the region, while Vodacom, with subsidiary companies in Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique and Lesotho.<\/p>\n

Vodacm has recently expressed a desire to revisit the African market more aggressively in 2013 and beyond.<\/p>\n

Related articles<\/h3>\n

Vodacom shares slip on profit taking<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

MTN shares to hit R200 in 2013?<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Vodacom LTE expansion on track<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Vodacom LTE tested, and it\u2019s fast<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Vodacom launches LTE in South Africa<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MTN and Vodacom are attracting the eye of foreign based investors looking to fill their baskets with emerging market stocks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":29722,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[26,1529,28,27],"class_list":["post-29583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mobile","tag-headline","tag-irnest-kaplan","tag-mtn","tag-vodacom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29583","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29583"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29583\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29724,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29583\/revisions\/29724"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}