Vodacom’s revenue jumped by 25.6% in its latest interim period, supported by its acquisition of Safaricom, but legal hurdles still remain in the deal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The mobile service provider saw its revenue increase from R81.6 billion to R102.5 billion in the six months ended 30 September 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The largest contributor to this was service revenue, which amounted to R85.1 billion in the latest interim period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The company’s operating profit surged by nearly 157% to R52 billion, up from R20.2 billion in the prior comparable period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The strong financial results also translated into investor gains, with earnings per share rising by over 200% to 1,779 cents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While earnings per share was strong, Headline Earnings Per Share (HEPS) did not carry the same momentum, increasing by 25.7% year-on-year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One major aid for Vodacom in the six months ended 30 September was the acquisition of Safaricom, Kenya’s largest mobile network operator. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Vodacom increased its stake in the Kenyan telecoms giant earlier this year, from 35% to 55%, giving it majority control over the company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Vodacom CEO Shameel Joosub said the acquisition was “a defining milestone in Vodacom’s evolution”, which would help boost the company’s earnings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The Safaricom transaction further enhances our earnings profile, broadens our exposure to attractive high-growth markets and materially increases the contribution from financial services and digital businesses,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Joosub also commented on the company’s customer growth, saying it reinforces the belief that the company has room to continue growing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The momentum we are seeing across customer growth, smartphone adoption, financial services and beyond mobile services reinforces our confidence in the significant opportunity ahead,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the six months ended 30 September 2026, Vodacom increased its client base to over 250 million, with the group’s goal of reaching 275 million clients by 2030.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
| <\/td> | Six months ended 30 September 2026<\/strong><\/td>| Six months ended 30 September 2025<\/strong><\/td> | Change %<\/strong><\/td><\/tr> | Revenue<\/td> | R102.5 billion<\/td> | R81.6 billion<\/td> | 25.6%<\/td><\/tr> | Operating profit<\/td> | R52 billion<\/td> | R20.2 billion<\/td> | 156.9%<\/td><\/tr> | EBITDA<\/td> | R42.7 billion<\/td> | R30.5 billion<\/td> | 40%<\/td><\/tr> | Headline earnings attributable to shareholders<\/td> | R11.3 billion<\/td> | R9 billion<\/td> | 25.6%<\/td><\/tr> | HEPS (cents)<\/td> | 587<\/td> | 467<\/td> | 25.7%<\/td><\/tr> | Interim dividend (cents)<\/td> | 355<\/td> | 330<\/td> | 7.6%<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n | Legal troubles<\/h2>\n\n\n\nWhile the Safaricom deal was previously approved, it has faced several legal challenges, including a decision by the Kenyan High Court declaring it void.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After the sale was initially approved, it was brought to the Kenyan High Court, which ruled on 15 September 2026 that the acquisition should be reversed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Following the decision, Vodacom applied for leave to appeal, which was granted, and the court opted to fast-track the appeal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the interim, the Appeals Court said the prevailing status quo should be maintained, meaning Vodacom would continue to own its majority stake in Safaricom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “On 13 October 2026, the Court of Appeal in Nairobi decided to fast-track the appeal and ordered that the prevailing status quo be maintained pending its determination,” Vodacom said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “As a result, Vodacom remains the registered holder of the Safaricom shares acquired from the Government of Kenya (GoK) and the related purchase consideration will be preserved pending the hearing of the appeal.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Safaricom acquisition was costly for Vodacom, with approximately R153.4 billion in total invested capital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The transaction contributed to an increase in the group’s net debt, which rose by R78.8 billion year-on-year to R135.6 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Group reported net debt increased by R78.8 billion year-on-year to R135.6 billion as a result of the Safaricom transaction,” Vodacom said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “The acquisition was funded through R35 billion of debt, R9 billion of which was financed through preference shares.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Vodacom has seen strong financial growth over the last six months, aided by its acquisition of Safaricom\u2014which is now under court review.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":793389,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"posted","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"2120054357462860061","_sma_facebook_post_id":"191437357620492_2267909154029483","_sma_instagram_post_id":"18144011629618913","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[5246,27078,27],"class_list":["post-883506","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-telecommunications","tag-safaricom","tag-shameel-joosubs","tag-vodacom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/883506","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\/131"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=883506"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/883506\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":883531,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/883506\/revisions\/883531"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/793389"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=883506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=883506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=883506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}} |