Vodacom, majority-owned by United Kingdom-based Vodafone said headline earnings per share rose by 1.3% to 857 cents in the year ended March 31 from 846 cents a year earlier.

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It declared a final dividend of 335 cents per share.

"Given significant currency volatility, I am particularly impressed with the strong finish the group produced in the last six months, supporting the confidence we communicated in November last year that the organisation is poised for a stronger second-half performance," Chief Executive Officer Shameel Joosub said.

Group service revenue dipped 0.1% in Rand terms to R120.7 billion ($6.69 billion).

However, it was up 11.2% on a normalised basis, beating the company's medium-term target on strong service revenue growth from its rest of Africa operations which includes Egypt, Lesotho, Kenya and Ethiopia.

Normalised basis calculation adjusts for foreign currency fluctuations, hyperinflation accounting and excludes the impact of mergers, acquisitions and disposals.

Vodacom partly owns Kenya's Safaricom which is a major shareholder in the Ethiopian business.

Vodacom's earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization fell 1.1% to R55.5 billion ($3,08 billion), but grew 7.8% on a normalised basis.

--Reuters--