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.
Basic EPS of course included the impairment of the Gateway asset (turns out it was a BAD idea) of 3.4 billion ZAR back then, expectations are for another 1.5 billion ZAR charge this time around. Ouch. But still, basic EPS is expected to double from the 282 cents clocked last time. So, expect somewhere in the region of 570 cents per share at the top end of the range, for basic EPS. And for HEPS expect somewhere around 650 cents per share. The stock closed at 80 ZAR a share, up nearly two percent on the day, so the market clearly liked the news.