28 Jun 2017

It has been a good year for Botswana Telecommunications Corporation (BTC) as it declared dividends of 11.09 thebe per share amid a profitable environment.

This has come as welcomed news to the investors of the Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE) listed company following a loss of P371 million in 2016.

The company released its financial statement for the year ending March 2017, showing a profit of the year at P237 million, an increase of 164 per cent following a loss.

The results for the year show revenue growth of 8 per cent to P1.638 billion Pula.

Managing director, Mr Anthony Masunga said the strong financial performance was buoyed by increase in sales as well as reduction in operational costs.

He further said the increase was due to increases in fixed, data and mobile revenues.

Fixed telephony revenues increased by 4 per cent and it remains important to the company as it contributed 32 per cent to total revenue.

Data services revenues increased by 21 per cent with contribution to total revenues increasing from 26 per cent to 29 per cent.

Mobile revenues increased by 5 per cent and contributed 37 per cent to total revenues.

For the year under review, operational costs decreased by 26 per cent to P1.401 billion from P1.883 billion recorded in 2016.

There were no impairment adjustments during the year under review compared to the P522 million impairment recognised in the previous year.

Cost of sales also declined by 6 per cent.

The company has strong cash flows with cash and cash equivalents.

Cash balances increased by 32 per cent from P390 million to P516 million, boosted by the capital raised during listing of P250 million.

Cash generated from operations also increased by 32 per cent from P254 million to P335 million.

The company paid dividends amounting to P90 million during the year. ENDS