Shameel Joosub, Vodacom Group CEO commented:

The strong momentum delivered in the first quarter accelerated through the second quarter, resulting in one of Vodacom's strongest six-month performances to date. We exceeded our medium-term growth target on service revenue, EBITDA, and operating free cash flow, while also reaching the milestone of serving a quarter of a billion customers across Africa. The results reflect the success of our strategy to build a larger, more diversified and faster-growing business that delivers growth at scale today with an even greater runway for future growth.

The period also marked a defining milestone in Vodacom's evolution, with our shareholding in Safaricom increasing to a 55% holding. The Safaricom transaction further enhances our earnings profile, broadens our exposure to attractive high-growth markets and materially increases the contribution from financial services and digital businesses. While the High Court in Kenya recently declared the acquisition null and void, an expedited appeal is underway and the Court of Appeal (Nairobi) has ordered that the status quo be maintained, meaning we remain the registered shareholder of the shares pending the outcome of the appeal. Our confidence in the strategic rationale of the transaction remains unchanged, with Safaricom accounted for as a subsidiary of the Group from 30 June 2026.

We continue to make good progress against our Vision 2030 strategy. The momentum we are seeing across customer growth, smartphone adoption, financial services and beyond mobile services reinforces our confidence in the significant opportunity ahead. Connecting people remains one of the most powerful catalysts for economic and social progress. Over the last twelve months we added 26 million customers, taking our customer base to a record 250 million and moving us closer to our Vision 2030 ambition of serving 275 million customers.

As our reach continues to expand, so too does our opportunity to connect more people to digital services, financial inclusion and the benefits of a rapidly digitising economy. We remain focused on closing the digital divide through sustained investment in network infrastructure, smartphone affordability and digital access. Over the last twelve months, we connected a further 19 million smartphones, extending the reach of our digital ecosystem and creating new opportunities to monetise data, financial services and digital platforms.

Group revenue of R102.5 billion was up 25.6% reflecting the consolidation of Safaricom from the second quarter. Service revenue grew 29.4% to R85.1 billion. On a pro-forma basis, which includes Safaricom in the comparative period, service revenue growth of 13.3% trended above our medium-term target and reflects strong commercial momentum across our portfolio. Excellent growth from all markets, particularly Kenya, Egypt, Tanzania, DRC and Lesotho, was supported by a recovery in the prepaid market in South Africa. Group EBITDA increased by 40.0%. Pro-forma EBITDA growth of 18.0%^ was ahead of our guidance range and reflected operational leverage and broad-based portfolio strength.

Financial services remain one of the most compelling elements of the Vodacom investment case and increasingly one of the Group's most important growth drivers. The combination of Vodacom and Safaricom creates one of the continent's largest FinTech platforms, with pro-forma financial services revenue of  R43.1 billion (US$2.6 billion) over the last twelve months. Over the same period, customers used our financial services platforms to access and initiate more than US$575.5 billion in transaction value, demonstrating our commitment to financial inclusion through accessible, affordable pricing. We increased our financial services customer base by 15.0% to 108 million. These platforms are expanding access to formal financial services, enabling economic participation for millions of people and businesses, and helping to drive greater financial inclusion and digital transformation across Africa.

Together with financial services, our fixed, digital and IoT services - which we refer to as beyond mobile - now contribute 27.4% of Group service revenue. Following the Safaricom transaction we increased this ambition from 30% to more than 32% by 2030.  Alongside the growth of digital services, IoT and cloud solutions, our fibre footprint expanded to 4.1 million homes passed via Maziv in South Africa and Safaricom Kenya.

These interim results demonstrate our ability to translate service revenue growth into stronger earnings and operating cash flow generation at an excellent return on capital employed (ROCE). Headline earnings per share (HEPS) rose by 25.7% and ROCE over the last twelve months remained stable at 26.5%. The Board has declared an interim dividend of 355 cents per share (cps), up 7.6%, which reflects our revised payout policy and balances a commitment to deleveraging the Group’s balance sheet with enhanced growth prospects.

We continue to invest with discipline behind the infrastructure and platforms that will drive Vodacom's next phase of growth. Our R13.3 billion investment in the half-expanded network capacity enhanced customer experience and supported rising adoption of data, financial services, digital platforms and fixed connectivity. These investments are strengthening the quality and resilience of our growth by broadening the ways we serve customers and monetise our scale. Over the last twelve months, we have built 3 388 new 4G and 4 328 new 5G sites across the Group.

Regional performance was led by outstanding results from Egypt and Safaricom, continued momentum across our International business portfolio and a resilient contribution from South Africa. Egypt is a key growth engine of the Group, delivering local-currency service revenue growth of 36.3% and EBITDA growth of 31.3%. Safaricom delivered service revenue growth of 13.1% and EBITDA growth of 27.5%, as Ethiopia nears EBITDA break-even. Our International business maintained strong momentum, achieving normalised service revenue growth of 13.7%* and EBITDA growth of 15.9%*, underpinned by strong performances in Tanzania, DRC and Lesotho. In South Africa, we delivered on our commitment to return prepaid to growth, with higher data consumption underpinning a recovery in the segment. We combined this improved commercial performance with disciplined cost optimisation, expanding South Africa’s EBITDA margin to 37.4%, the highest level in several years.

As a purpose-led organisation, we believe technology has a powerful role to play in improving lives and expanding economic opportunity. Through our investments in financial inclusion, healthcare, education, digital skills and gender empowerment, we continue to deliver meaningful impact across our markets. During the period, m-mama facilitated its 250 000th life-saving emergency transport for pregnant women and newborns. Meanwhile, innovations such as Safaricom's ZIIDI Trader, a mobile platform for trading shares and corporate bonds, continued to broaden access to formal savings and investment solutions, with assets under management increasing 69.7% to R3.2 billion. We also continued to invest in future digital talent, with 117 graduates joining our Discover Graduate Programme, including 83 women. TechStart has now reached 614 559 young people cumulatively and awarded 151 289 certifications, supporting our ambition to train one million young people in coding and digital skills. During the period, Code Like a Girl trained a further 2 987 girls, bringing the programme's cumulative reach to 33 322 girls since inception. These achievements reflect our commitment to creating lasting social value while strengthening the foundations for sustainable long-term growth.

Reflecting on the half, these results represent more than a strong financial performance. They demonstrate Vodacom's continued evolution into a more diversified business, with broader earnings drivers, greater geographic balance and increasing exposure to attractive structural growth opportunities. This more balanced portfolio reduces concentration risk, enhances resilience through economic cycles and gives us greater flexibility to allocate capital to the highest-return opportunities across the Group. As we enter the second half, our focus is firmly on execution, accelerating operational leverage and realising the full value of our portfolio. Backed by strong market positions, scaled FinTech platforms, disciplined capital allocation and growing diversification, we are on track to deliver our medium-term guid