Vodacom Group has announced a 19.4% decline in its half-year earnings, attributing the downturn to losses from its Ethiopia venture and the impact of foreign currency depreciation.
The company, which launched Safaricom Ethiopia last year in partnership with Kenya’s Safaricom, had invested heavily in the country, banking on its large population to drive future growth.
However, the Ethiopian operations faced challenges due to currency reforms, which dampened profits.
Despite these setbacks, Safaricom Ethiopia saw a 47.1% year-on-year increase in its customer base, now reaching 6.1 million.
For the six months ending September 30, Vodacom’s headline earnings per share (HEPS) fell to 18.57 cents, down from 22.59 cents in the previous year.
Group service revenue also dropped by 1.2%, totalling $3.06 billion, due to the negative effects of currency devaluation.
However, on a normalised basis, the company’s service revenue showed a more positive performance, growing by 9.9%. The company declared an interim dividend of 1.50 dollars per share, which marked a 6.6% decrease from the 1.85 dollars declared during the same period last year.
