Last checked at 
* South Africa revenue recovers in 2nd half
* Postpones issuing medium-term guidance due to COVID-19
uncertainty
* Declares divind of 405 cents per share
(Adds details, shares and comments from media call)
By Nqobile Dludla
JOHANNESBURG, May 11 (Reuters) - South African mobile
operator Vodacom Group reported an 8.9% rise in annual
earnings on Monday and postponed issuing medium-term forecasts
due to the uncertain economic outlook as the effects of the
coronavirus pandemic continue to unfold.
"The past year has been characterised by strong customer
growth - we now connect 116 million customers across the group,
including Safaricom – and the benefits of prudent portfolio
diversification," Group Chief Executive Shameel Joosub said in a
statement.
In South Africa, growth in the second half of the year ended
March 31 more than offset the decline in service revenue during
the first, supported by an increase in data elasticity and usage
following sharp data price reductions announced in the first
quarter.
Vodacom also improved its fibre roll-out in the second half
of the year, more than doubling the total number of homes and
businesses connected to 61,427.
The increased data traffic, a 21.5% jump in financial
service revenue and a 6.7% rise in enterprise service revenue
led to service revenue in South Africa rising 2.3% in the year
ended March 31.
"The increase in the drivers of data growth gives us
confidence that we will continue to see elasticity to compensate
for the pricing transformation initiatives agreed with the
Competition Commission and implemented from 1 April 2020,"
Joosub said.
Last December the competition watchdog ordered Vodacom and
rival MTN to cut 30-day data prices after it found that
prices charged by the operators were much higher than those in
other African countries.
Vodacom is also banking on high data demand by customers
working and learning from home due to coronavirus restrictions,
to lift revenue.
Outside of South Africa, its international operations
continued to show strong growth, with an additional 4 million
customers and increased demand for data and financial services
under mobile money platform M-Pesa contributing to a 12.5%
increase in service revenue.
This led to group revenue rising by 4.8% to 90.7 billion
rand ($4.97 billion), with group service revenue up 5%.
Headline earnings per share (HEPS), the main profit measure
in South Africa, rose to 945 cents from 868 cents a year
earlier.
Vodacom, which is majority owned by Vodafone,
declared a final dividend of 405 cents per share.
At 0817 GMT, shares in Vodacom rose 2.38% to 126.40 rand.
The company said it will be postponing the issuance of
medium-term targets, "until such time that we have more clarity
on the economic outlook and the effect on our business and
operations over the medium term."
On a call with media, Joosub said Vodacom will prioritize
capital expenditure spend on network capacity to cope with
increased data and voice traffic as people work from home as
well as on batteries and back-up power for when power cuts
resume.
($1 = 18.2589 rand)
(Reporting by Nqobile Dludla; Editing by Kim Coghill and Louise
Heavens)
