Vodacom's next results will come with a very large headline number, and the company has already said where most of it comes from. In a trading statement released after the market closed on Wednesday, 28 October, it said earnings per share for the six months to September will be between 272% and 279% higher than a year earlier. A trading statement is the early warning JSE companies must give once they are reasonably sure profit will move by at least 20%. The full results are due on or about 10 November.
The R23.2 billion Safaricom gain
Most of that jump never passes through a till. On 30 June Vodacom completed a deal for an effective 20% more of Safaricom, the Kenyan mobile operator, giving it control, and the stake it already held then had to be revalued. That remeasurement produced a one-off, tax-neutral gain of R23.2 billion, or 1,199 cents a share.
Headline earnings per share leave gains like that out, and on that measure Vodacom expects growth of between 22% and 27%. It says the results will be consistent with its medium-term growth ambitions. The shares jumped 2.45% early on Thursday before settling back to little changed.
The deal itself is still before Kenya's courts. The High Court ruled in September on a petition challenging parts of it, Vodacom appealed, and the Court of Appeal chose to fast-track the appeal while the shares and the purchase money stay where they are.
Vodacom's advertising moves to Publicis
Separately, Vodacom South Africa is changing advertising agencies. From 1 January 2027, Publicis Groupe Africa becomes its creative and production partner in place of Ogilvy, following a competitive pitch, The Media Online reported. Andisa Ntsubane, who runs brand and marketing at Vodacom, said the appointment supports its move from a telecoms provider into a broader technology company.
It is a large account to lose. Media monitoring company Ornico estimates Vodacom spent about R355 million on advertising in the second half of 2025 alone, roughly half of what the four big mobile operators spent between them, Moneyweb reported. The value of the creative contract itself has not been disclosed.
Ogilvy has lost this one before. It first took over Vodacom's advertising in 2015, lost it to VMLY&R after a tender in 2020, and won it back in 2024 after an eight-month pitch. Moneyweb links this latest move to Vodafone, Vodacom's majority shareholder, which appointed Publicis in December 2025 to lead a transformation of its global brand creative work. So the account that came back just over two years ago leaves again in January.
