Against a backdrop of fragile consumer demand and volatile currencies across its footprint, Vodacom Group opened its new financial year with steady gains and a strategic step-change: first-quarter (Q1) revenue rose 5.9% to R42.4 billion and the company closed the acquisition of a stake in Safaricom, cementing its push for scale in East Africa.
For the quarter to 30 June 2026, group service revenue increased 6.3% to R34.3 billion, with normalised growth—stripping out currency swings and one-off effects—running faster at 12.6%. Egypt and the financial services portfolio were standouts, offsetting a more modest 2.0% service revenue rise in South Africa. Management also flagged an 11.4% normalised lift in total revenue, underscoring that underlying demand for data and mobile money outpaced the reported numbers dampened by weaker exchange rates.
The completion of the Safaricom transaction is the more far-reaching development. It enlarges Vodacom’s exposure to East Africa’s fast-growing data and mobile money ecosystems, where user adoption curves remain steep and cash digitisation is still gaining ground. The deal adds heft to the group’s financial services engine—anchored by M-Pesa and app-based wallets—and deepens diversification away from South Africa, where load-shedding costs, competition and consumer strain continue to cap momentum. The bigger regional footprint also raises execution stakes: integrating governance, aligning product roadmaps and managing cross-border capital allocation will be in sharper focus.
What changes next is the balance of growth drivers within the group. Investors should watch for disclosure on how Safaricom will be reflected in Vodacom’s numbers, the trajectory of financial services revenue as the enlarged platform scales, and whether South Africa can re-accelerate through network quality, pricing discipline and cost control. Currency translation will remain a swing factor; clearer guidance on capital spending, synergy capture and any updates to dividend policy will signal how management intends to convert the new scale into durable cash generation.
For more detail, read the full announcement.