Huge earnings boost for Telkom

Telkom expects at least a 300% increase in its basic earnings following the sale of its tower and mast business, Swiftnet.

In a trading update for the year ended 31 March 2025, Telkom said that a reasonable degree of certainty exists that basic earnings will increase by a minimum of 300%.

This will see the basic earnings per share rise from 385.5 cents per share in FY24 to a minimum of 1,542 cents per share.

Headline earnings per share, discounting one-off items, are also expected to rise by a minimum of 10% from 376 cents per share to a minimum of 413 cents per share.

Telkom said that it was able to close out the sale of tower business Swiftnet on 27 March 2025. The provisional consideration received in cash amounted to R6.575 billion.

Swiftnet owned roughly 3,900 commercially available towers and masts in South Africa, and was sold to a consortium Actis (70%) and BEE-partner Royal Bafokeng Holdings (30%).

Telkom said that the massive increase in reported earnings is primarily due to the profit made on the sale of Swiftnet, a non-recurring item impacting the current year’s results.

The group said it would issue another trading statement once a reasonable degree of certainty exists regarding the likely range for total operations BEPS and HEPS.

The group’s annual results announcement for FY2025 is expected to be released on SENS on 10 June 2025.