Research archive for VOD

And on that note, let us speak the English that we know and look at a Vodacom trading statement that has been released this morning. Looks excellent at face value. However, this is comparing against a period where there were negative once off charges. But that is the way that it rolls, once offs are exactly that. Results for the year to end March are expected on the 20th of May. And when they arrive, it will show that HEPS will be between 20 to 25 percent more than the 709 cents reported last year. Between 850 to 886 cents, more or less for the full year. So that is good, right? Yes. I suspect that the market will have expected something around here, if not a little less, an upside surprise is always a good thing. More importantly, the yield at current prices is around 7.5 percent. Yowsers. That is excellent.

This morning we received a trading statement from Vodacom for the quarter ended 31 December 2012. Group revenue was up 1.7% but within this sales number there were lots of moving parts. Group data grew 23.3% while data customers grew by 33.8% to 18.5 million. People sure are lapping up those smartphones. The international operations grew 22% whilst group customers grew 12.2% to 51 million. Of those customers, 30.6 million are from South Africa where clients grew 11.7%.

Vodacom released their interim results this morning for the period to end September 30. Ex growth, remember that? We always maintained that the mobile markets next big move would be to data, so I am happy to say that thus far we are right. In the results commentary there is a lot of emphasis placed on exactly that, growing data off what is still a relatively low base. And as they point out, competition was fierce, costs were above inflation, but they still managed to increase margins. Unlike in the developed world, we are going to experience another ARPU growth cycle, that is driven by higher wages for all of their users. Well, that is the way that I read it anyhow.

Vodacom released a trading update yesterday. There will be for a little while the impact of STC (secondary tax on companies) having been replaced by dividend taxation and as such earnings will look inflated. This is the case here, and Vodacom point out that STC paid for the six months to end September 2011 was 417 million ZAR. So, naturally that will not be an expense this time around. The company expects HEPS to be between 20 to 25 percent higher than the 324 cents reported this time last year.

Vodacom have released a trading statement this morning, for the period to end 30 June 2012. Subscribers have topped 50 million across the whole group, that is an increase of nearly 30 percent over the year. In South Africa the number of subscribers jumped to 31 million and grew by the same click. Operations outside of South Africa (Lesotho, Tanzania, the DRC and Mozambique) increased to 19 million folks. There was a big jump in M-Pesa (mobile payments) numbers in Tanzania, up to 3.6 million users, a monster gain of 120 percent. Group data revenue contributed 16.6 percent of overall revenue, whilst overall revenue gained 9.3 percent.

Vodacom have announced this morning that there is going to be a change in directorship at the very top, Pieter Uys is stepping down after having been at the company for two decades, and the Group CEO position will be assumed by Shameel Joosub, who rejoins Vodacom. Joosub of course, if you had been following has been working for parent group Vodafone in Spain. Nice, must have been fun there. Joosub knows the Vodacom business well, he has extensive experience and has lived through the business roll outs. I suspect that this news is about neutral, the appointment would have been by Vodafone with consultation with some of their other big shareholders, including Government and the PIC, the "other" shareholders of size and scale. The free float realistically of Vodacom is much smaller than you think, with around 84 percent in "safe" hands. The price at the get go is unchanged.

As promised yesterday we will look at the Vodacom results from yesterday, we ran short of time again. Time. Not enough of it, or perhaps I should just compromise sleep in favour of more mileage on the computer. I would probably be an almighty pain in the posterior with a lack of sleep. Making Russian bears with sore heads look more friendly than what they are. Leave that for the moment, let us focus on these numbers from the number one mobile phone company in South Africa. The shareholding in the company has undergone pretty big changes over time, at the moment the shareholder base consists of the Vodafone Group (65%), the South African government (just less than 14 percent) and the Government Employees pension fund (just less than 5.5 percent). So, comfortably over 80 percent of the company is in hands that I guess are not really sellers anytime soon.

We saw a Vodacom trading statement after the bell yesterday, these are for the full year numbers to March 2012, which are expected to be released on the 21st of May. Basic EPS is expected to be 20 to 25 percent better than the prior years 561 cents, so expect the range to be between 673 to 701 cents per share. Headline earnings per share are expected to be between 5 and 10 percent higher to be between 689 to 722 cents. Nice, that looks like decent enough growth for a company that was supposedly "ex-growth" with a mature market here in South Africa. This is the shift from voice to data, albeit at lower margins, people are going to consume a whole lot more data on their newer and fancier handsets. Even at the lower end, phones are going to become smarter. But is the stock expensive at one hundred and seven and a half Rands? Let us explore this later. Byron always tells me that an iPhone consumes three times more data than comparable smart phone users. Either the iPhone is more intensive in terms of data usage, or/and easier to use.

Yesterday we had a very impressive trading update from Vodacom. They really are making great inroads into the markets they have at their disposal. Let's delve straight into the numbers that cover the quarter ending 31 December 2011. Group revenue was up 12.2% driven by a record 27.3% increase in customers to 52.9 million. Wow that is a massive increase. I thought the market was fully penetrated? Obviously not. These guys can be marketing geniuses and because mobiles have become such a normal way of life and part of your status, special handset promotions and summer deals have really been successful in bringing new subscribers. Let's be honest, mobile communication is an absolute priority.

This morning we see the first mobile provider in South Africa, Vodacom, release results for their first half. HEPS increased nearly seven percent to 323.5 cents per share, the dividend was a whopping 260 cents, which was a 44 percent plus increase. Yip, that is the way that we are moving, all free cash back to shareholders. What a surprise. Or not, that is the whole idea being alongside a giant shareholder, think Anglo and Kumba, think Barclays and ABSA, I was about to say think ArcelorMittal, the local business alongside the global business, scrap that idea. So, that is the good thing that you get being alongside a majority shareholder, comfort that you have a sizeable global operation looking out for you, and that all free cash will be extracted. Those are generally good things.

Vodacom came out with a very impressive trading update this morning managing to increase group revenue by 8.1% for the quarter. I must admit the trading update is very detailed. Almost looks like a results presentation. We were commenting in the office about how well Pieter Uys is doing. He has a different style to other CEO's making himself extremely visible and getting very much involved on the ground level. He seems like the type of guy you could approach about personal issues and he really would care. Well done to him.

Loads of results this morning, let us try and get through all of them. First, most important Vodacom have released their full year numbers to March 2011. Just to remind people, if this business was a person, they would be eligible to vote for the first time this year (from date of registration in 1993). And at the close Friday had a market capitalisation of just shy of 119 billion Rand, which places it 12th on the listed entities, twice the size of South African insurance giant Sanlam which was founded in 1918. Upstart, 75 years their junior and twice their size. These are reasons we often give for why the future is almost always brighter than you think, there are always transformative industries that overtake older businesses. And transform the older businesses often for the better.

Vodacom released a trading update which suggested that headline earnings per share should be higher by between 25 to 30 percent on the 510 cents recorded at the full year stage last year. March is their year end.

There was the local unit of Vodafone, Vodacom finally doing the whole rebranding exercise, adopting the logo and changing the banner to red. Byron said it looked a bit like ABSA. I thought that was about right, the biggest shareholder, a global brand, should impose their logo and brand on the local market. An exercise that is going to cost somewhere in the region of 200 million Rand, that is a pretty hefty price tag. Not exactly a big secret, the rebranding exercise, someone had seen the red on the top of the Ponte tower a week or ten days ago. I wonder how much Vodacom pay for the usage of one of Jozi's most recognizable landmarks, that will put the rebranding exercise into context. I must admit, I like it. One brand.

Vodacom came out with an impressive looking trading statement for the quarter ending 31 December. Group revenue was up 5.6% with a South African revenue increase of 4.7%. What was very interesting to see and one of the reasons we remain heavily invested in the sector was a 36.2% increase in data revenue. Data now constitutes 11% of South African revenue and is obviously growing fast. CEO Pieter Uys was very happy with this fantastic growth calling data the "star performer" and citing growth in mobile connect cards and increases in smartphone clients as the main drivers for the growth. Vodacom now have 8.7 million data users which constitute 36.2% of active customers so there is still room for further growth.