Vodacom full-year net profit up 30% to end-March

Vodacom has announced that its full year revenues to end-March 2013 rose by 4.5 per cent to reach ZAR59.34 billion (US$6.3 billion), mainly driven by growth in Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Mozambique.

Excluding the sale of Gateway Carrier Services and foreign currency impact, revenue was up 5.3 per cent.

Continued demand for data services pushed data revenue up 22.2 per cent to ZAR10 billion, now contributing 16.8 per cent of Group service revenue up from 14 per cent a year ago.

Net profits rose by just under 30 per cent to ZAR13.2 billion, while Vodacom’s customer base rose to 51.7 million, from 47.8 million a year earlier.

The company, which is 65% owned by Vodafone ended the financial year with net debt of ZAR8 billion (US$850 million).

Looking ahead, the company said that over the medium-term (three years) it aims to deliver low single digit service revenue growth and mid to high single digit EBITDA growth.