COMPANY NEWS IN BRIEF

Vodacom spends record R5.8bn on SA networkSouth Africa's largest mobile operator Vodacom, which has been battling power challenges and the effects of rising inflation, says it spent a record R5.8 billion on its local network in its half year, including on batteries, as it sought to ensure a more resilient network for customers.The firm said it had now spent more than R2 billion on batteries alone for the past two years, and its network spend, along with new products, helped underpin a 4.9% in revenue to R41.2 billion in its largest market during its half-year.However, group headline earnings per share fell 9.5% to R4.57 in the six months to end-September, with the firm taking a hit from launching mobile services in Ethiopia, as well as higher finance costs as its debt climbed.Vodacom CEO Shameel Joosub said the network investment came "at a time when the country experienced record levels of power outages" and put measures to absorb the pressures faced by customers."Vodacom has attempted to absorb considerable inflationary costs from the dramatic increase in energy costs as far as possible," said Joosub.To counter the effect of the country's energy crisis, Vodacom is piloting a programme that would see it source its electricity from renewable independent power producers and also add the power to the national grid.Measures such as battery deployment to towers to support network resilience during load shedding contributed to increased group total expenses by 13% to R33.7 billion.-Fin24Prosus gives up stake in social media siteProsus gave up its stake in Russia’s largest social network for nothing, walking away from a company run by an executive under US sanctions. VK sold the shares acquired from the Dutch e-commerce company to its management team at market price in a deal valued at 24.8 billion rubles (R7 billion), VK said in a statement Thursday.Prosus, which owned a 27% stake in VK, said in March it would write off US$769 million (R10 billion) following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Trading of VK’s shares in London was suspended and its Chief Executive Officer Vladimir Kiriyenko was sanctioned by the US Treasury. He’s the son of one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s top aides, Sergei Kiriyenko, and VK is controlled by companies affiliated with Gazprom PJSC, the state-owned gas giant. Prosus sold its largest Russian asset, the classified app Avito, for 151 billion rubles last month. VK has more than 49 million daily users in Russia and has expanded its dominance in the market as the government targeted foreign social media platforms during an internet crackdown.-Fin24

COMPANY NEWS IN BRIEF

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Namibian Sun 2023-02-08

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COMPANY NEWS IN BRIEF

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Namibian Sun 2023-02-08

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