Telstra increases share buyback after ‘strong’ result
Australia’s largest telecommunications company boosted earnings in the first half, increasing the size of its share buyback and signaling a possible recovery in full-year earnings.
Telstra reported net profit of $1.1 billion for the half-year ending December, up 9.4 per cent on the previous period.
Underlying earnings excluding depreciation also rose nearly five percent to $4.2 billion, following a small rise in total revenue to $11.8 billion; This was just below market expectations.
Chief executive Vicki Brady said the telco’s first-half result was strong and based on disciplined cost control and capital management.
“Importantly, our mobile phone business continued to perform well,” he said Thursday.
(James Ross/AAP PHOTOS)
Ms. Brady added that growth in the unit was driven by higher average revenue per user as more customers continued to choose its network.
Mobile services account for the majority of Telstra’s product revenue, rising 3.6 per cent in the half year to $5.8 billion.
The group’s core operating expenses fell 2.4 percent to $179 million, more than offsetting increased costs.
Telstra will also increase its current market share buyback from $1 billion to $1.25 billion after completing $637 million in the first half.
“The share buyback in the market is expected to support earnings and dividend per share growth and, together with the increased interim dividend, reflects the board’s and management’s confidence in our financial strength and outlook,” Ms. Brady said.
Telstra has tightened its 2025/26 full-year underlying earnings forecast to between $8.2bn and $8.4bn after delivering $8bn in the previous financial year.
Telstra shareholders will receive an interim dividend of 10.5 cents per share.
Australia’s Associated Press is the beating heart of Australian news. AAP is Australia’s only independent national news channel and has been providing accurate, reliable and fast-paced news content to the media industry, government and corporate sector for 85 years. We inform Australia.
