Vodacom Annual Report PDF
Vodacom Annual Report PDF
Vodacom Annual Report PDF
report
for the year ended 31 March 2015
EMPOWERING
everyone to be confidently connected
CONTENTS
Introduction
02 About this report
03 How we performed
04 What matters most to our stakeholders
06 Whats material in our markets OUR
BUSINESS
PG 08
08 CHAIRMANS STATEMENT
12 20 years of empowering
everyone to be confidently
connected
14 Who we are
16 How we do business
18 What we offer
HOW TO GET THE MOST OUT 20 The value we create
OF OUR INTEGRATED REPORT: 22 Who governs us
23 Who leads us
This icon tells you where you
can find related information in
our report.
For a list of all the regulatory
developments in our countries of
These icons will help you quickly
spot the areas where we are doing operation, go to our online report
well and where we can improve. on www.vodacom.com
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION
AVAILABLE ONLINE
PERFORMANCE Our contribution to public finances
Value-added statement
REVIEW Consolidated annual financial
statements
PG 62 Summarised company annual
financial statements
65 Operating results
77 Financial position and resources
80 Liquidity and capital resources
82 Five-year historic review
84 Summarised consolidated
financial statements
95 Business principles
96 Risk management report
100 Abridged corporate
governance report
106 Remuneration report
120 Assurance
120 Directors responsibility
statement
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION
121 Independent assurance
AVAILABLE ONLINE report
Social and Ethics
Committee report
Full corporate governance statement
Code of governance principles
(King III)
GRI content index
GOVERNANCE
REVIEW
ADMINISTRATION PG 95
PG 125
125 Share information
127 Non-IFRS information
128 Corporate information
129 Disclaimer
130 Glossary
134 Notice of annual general
meeting
141 Form of proxy
142 Notes to the form
of proxy
ABOUT
THIS REPORT
Thank you for reading Vodacom Group Limiteds integrated report for the year ended 31 March 2015.
Our report aims to provide our stakeholders with a concise, material, transparent and understandable
assessment of our governance, strategy, performance and prospects.
HOW WE
PERFORMED
2015 % change 2014 2013 2012 2011
Financial
Revenue (Rm) 77 333 2.1 75 711 69 917 66 929 61 197
Service revenue (Rm) 62 167 0.2 62 047 59 261 58 125 53 951
Data revenue as a % of service revenue (%) 26.7^ 24.8 21.4 16.9 14.1 11.9
EBITDA (Rm) 26 905 (1.5) 27 314 25 253 22 763 20 594
Opex1 as a % of service revenue (%) 27.3 8.0 25.0 23.7 23.8 24.2
Operating free cash flow (Rm) 14 003 (27.9) 19 410 18 158 16 934 14 837
Free cash flow (Rm) 7 763 (41.1) 13 185 12 136 10 921 8 757
Headline earnings per share (cents) 860 (4.0) 896 872 709 656
Dividend per share2 (cents) 775 (6.1) 825 785 710 460
Economic
Distributed to employees3 (Rm) 4 886 6.1 4 609 4 427 4 368 4 049
Distributed to governments through corporate taxation3 (Rm) 5 543 6.7 5 194 5 337 5 449 5 027
Distributed to providers of finance3 (Rm) 13 537 2.9 13 150 12 697 8 648 6 076
Broad-based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) score# (%) 87.73 (0.38) 88.11 78.40 75.77 70.84
Capital expenditure (capex) (Rm) 13 305 23.4 10 779 9 456 8 662 6 311
Social Employees
Number of employees 7 786 7.8 7 225 7 295 7 330 7 513
Engagement Index People Survey (%) 76.0^ 1.0 75.0~ 75.0 73.0 73.0
Employee turnover4 (%) 10.5 (0.7) 11.2 7.0 9.0 11.0
Women representation in senior management4 (%) 32.0 3.3 28.7 27.0 26.4 22.6
Black representation in senior management# (%) 53.0 4.1 48.9 49.1 45.0 42.0
Ratio of average basic salary of men to women# (times) 1.4 1.4 1.4 1.5 1.4
Total training spend (Rm) 130 68.8 77 56 68 71
Environment
Number of base station sites 16 242 13.4 14 326 12 835 11 595 10 705
Number of shared sites# 5 183 9.5 4 733 4 081 3 646 n/m
Access network electricity# (GWh) 255.0^ 18.9 214.4 206.6 189.4 195.8
Core network electricity (GWh) 62.0^ (10.5) 69.3 77.4 65.7 n/m
Building electricity# (GWh) 59.0^ (12.2) 67.2 60.2 81.2 101.8
Vehicle fuel (diesel and petrol)# (million litres) 1.6^ (5.9) 1.7 1.9 1.9 2.1
Network equipment and handsets reused or recycled (tonnes) 160 64.9 97 396 254 611
CO2 emissions5 (tonnes) 561 515 8.7 516 391 544 381 526 837 410 471
Notes:
1. Staff expenses, publicity and other operating expense, excluding trading 4. Excluding Vodacom Business Africa.
foreign exchange. 5. Total Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions (Greenhouse gas protocol).
2. Total dividend declared for the year. A final dividend of 400 cents per share # South Africa only.
was declared after year end. ^ These items were included as part of our assurance process this year.
3. Excludes staff expenses of R646 million (2014: R490 million; 2013: R310 million) Restated to exclude Tanzania base stations.
capitalised against property, plant and equipment. Includes R50 million Percentage point change.
(2014: R46 million; 2013: R78 million) relating to dividends declared to Forfeitable ~ Restated due to the change in the methodology.
Share Plan (FSP) participants. Refer to value-added statement online for detail.
04 Vodacom Group Limited Integrated Report for the year ended 31 March 2015
WHY ITS Our customers are central Our people are the heart Our relationships with As the providers of capital
to the sustainability of our and soul of our business. governments and regulators necessary to support our
IMPORTANT business. To build trust Their skills and involvement impact on our ability to growth, we engage with our
FOR US TO among our customers we determine our ability to contribute towards broader shareholders and investors
ENGAGE need to manage our core realise our vision to provide economic, social and to keep them up to date on
operational risks around the best network, best value environmental objectives. the financial performance
network performance and and best service, and to and overall sustainability of
privacy. With a number of fulfil our purpose of Vodacom.
new regulations impacting empowering everyone to be
our customers and our confidently connected.
relationships with them,
engagement also helps us
better manage
regulatory risk.
WHAT MATTERS Better value offerings. Career development. Facilitation of Future performance of
MOST TO THEM Faster data networks Improved knowledge socioeconomic growth. SA and International
and wider coverage. sharing across the Citizen and community business.
Making it simpler Group. centricity. Investing for growth.
and quicker to deal Simplicity and agility. Achieving national Risks and opportunities
with us. Engagement. broadband access in the markets we
Converged solutions Building skills in line objectives. operate in.
for business customers. with the future business Consumer protection and Transparent executive
Feedback on service- growth. quality of service. remuneration.
related issues. Being fairly remunerated Managing spectrum as a Dividend policy.
Privacy of information. for their service. national public resource. Sound corporate
Cost of communication. governance.
Developing a digital society,
including e-Government.
Underserviced and rural
communities.
Skills development and
employment.
WAYS WE Call centres, retail Internal website. Participation in consultations Investor roadshows.
ENGAGE outlets, online and Newsletters, internal and public forums. Investor days.
My Vodacom App. magazine and electronic Submission and Annual and interim
NPS feedback communication. engagement on draft reports.
interviews and focus National Consultative regulations and bills. SENS announcements.
groups. Committee Engagement through Monthly and quarterly
Facebook and Twitter. representation. industry consultative bodies. operational reviews with
Vodacom website. Anonymous employee Publication of policy our parent Vodafone.
hotline. engagement papers. Investor relations page
Leadership roadshows. Social upliftment on our website.
Team meetings. programmes and initiatives.
Performance Partnering on key
development process. programmes, with regards
to education, health and
security.
Link to
strategic priority
05
One of the most important ways Suppliers and contractors impact Empowering local economies As a stakeholder, the media plays a
we interact with our customers is on our ability to provide products builds trust in Vodacom. It also role in keeping Vodacom
through our business partners. As and deliver services, and are adds to the longer term viability stakeholders informed of business
custodians of our brand and required to comply with our of our markets by strengthening developments, new products and
reputation, how they engage and health and safety and ethical the socioeconomic context services and the impact of our
deliver service is critical to our procurement standards. Engaging in which we operate. Our business operations.
objective of excellent customer with them contributes to business communities also benefit from
service across all touch-points. continuity, viability and operational social and environmental
efficiency. innovations.
Fair treatment. Timely payment and Access to mobile services. Being informed of key activities
Top management fair terms. Access to basic services such and offerings.
involvement with customers. Improving health and as finance, health and Transparency.
A consistent customer safety standards. education.
experience. Partnering on environmental Investment in infrastructure.
Making it simpler and quicker solutions. Responsible expansion of
to deal with us. BBBEE compliance. infrastructure.
Annual business partner Supplier forums. Public participation where Face-to-face and telephonic
conference. Ongoing site visits. new base stations are engagement.
Bi-annual Franchise Audits. required. Interviews with the CEO and key
roadshows. Ongoing regular direct Vodacom Change the World executives.
Quarterly Franchisee Council engagements. volunteer programme. Media releases and product-
Committee meetings. Vodacom Foundation related publicity.
One-on-one business partnering with communities. Roundtables.
meetings. Product launches.
Site visits.
06 Vodacom Group Limited Integrated Report for the year ended 31 March 2015
WHATS MATERIAL
IN OUR MARKETS
CHAIRMANS
STATEMENT
PETER MOYO
Reflecting on the inroads Vodacom has made in democratising Considering the potential of mobile and particularly data services to
access to voice and data services over the last 20 years is create socioeconomic value, our cumulative contribution over the
instructive. What comes across in a review of the milestones over last 20 years cannot be underestimated. Furthermore, over the last
this time is how each subsequent generation of network five years, we have accelerated the rate of investment in our
technology was deployed much faster than the last, and how networks to a total of R48.5 billion.
Vodacom has sought to systematically offer better value to
customers. In combination, this has extended access to voice It is gratifying that this sustained level of investment and growth,
and data services to more people by driving coverage and its implication for the economic and social wellbeing of the
and affordability. countries in which we operate, has been achieved while at the
sametime creating significant value
Vodacoms investment in the reach, quality and forshareholders. The total
efficiency of our networks, which are our most shareholder return Vodacom has
important competitive advantages, has been in delivered, since listing in 2009,
the order of R70 billion over the last 20 years. of 261.0% is a mark of the
Adjusted for the time value of money, this prudent approach we take
equates to a staggering R104 billion. It is gratifying that to balancing sustained
business growth with
this sustained level of investment attractive returns,
and growth, and its implication for the and theeffective
economic and social wellbeing allocation of capital
this requires.
of the countries in which we operate,
has been achieved, while The Groups level of
investment has not
at the same time creating been curbed even inthe
significant value for shareholders. face of a challenging
operating context. In the last
year this has included slower
economic growth in all our
markets, constrained consumer
spending, electricity supply
constraints in South Africa, and civil
unrest in Lesotho and the DRC.
Furthermore industry dynamics such as MTR cuts and intensifying
competition have bitten into the Groups revenues. Another
feature has been the upward pressure on expenses, specifically
for imported equipment, handsets and IT services due to
the weaker rand, as well as the inflationary effects of higher
input costs.
Research shows the profound contribution that the mobile notwithstanding the concerted effort to identify and investigate
ecosystem makes to socioeconomic development. In its definitive assets on the continent that would be value accretive. The search
report for 2015, The Mobile Economy, the GSMA states: In 2014, for sensible acquisition targets that correspond to our strategic
the mobile industry generated 3.8% of global gross domestic goals continues.
product (GDP), a contribution that amounts to over US$3 trillion of
economic value [from its] direct, indirect and productivity impacts In pursuing our strategy, the Board is acutely aware of the
[before including its] broader socioeconomic effects. The report importance of regulatory certainty, which allows for proper planning
goes on to point out that in 2014, 1.8 billion people in developing in relation to policy requirements, and of ensuring enabling
markets were using mobile phones to access the internet. However, conditions for continued and accelerated investment. Conversely,
penetration remains low with mobile internet access at only 28% of the constraints to growth that delays in regulatory decision-making
the total population in developing nations, as opposed to about pose, require active and ongoing engagement with regulators.
60% in developed markets. It predicts that by 2020, mobile internet Group leadership continues to commit significant time and
penetration rates in developing markets will reach 45% of the attention to collaborating with regulators to find common ground
population, bringing the profound potential of the internet to where between the interests of our stakeholders and the intended aims of
it is most needed. regulation. A good example of this in South Africa was our input into
changing restrictive FICA requirements to enable more people to
One of the best examples of the socioeconomic value the industry access our mobile money transfer service, m-pesa. This has allowed
can create is the development of mobile financial services, which us to extend the significant social benefit m-pesa provides by giving
are delivering ever greater benefits to customers. New services under-banked individuals access to financial services.
include cross-border remittances, merchant payments and bulk
payments. The GSMA indicates that in December 2014, mobile On the other hand, the delay in allocating additional spectrum is
money users transacted a total of US$16.3 billion through becoming a serious constraint to our growth strategies. It is
717.2million transactions worldwide. Other mobile financial hampering our ability to continue meeting the rising demand for
services include mobile insurance, savings and credit, which is data services and to roll out LTE/4G optimally. Additional spectrum
extending access to these services to those outside the traditional would also allow us to alleviate the current strain on voice services
financial system. Mobile insurance services are in the early stages due to the interim measure of re-farming existing spectrum to
as the industry finds the right partnership and commercial models, support data services. As such, the delay is impeding the advance
but the potential is huge especially in developing markets. towards the South African Governments 2020 goal of broadband
for all as part of the National Development Plan.
The implication for Vodacom is clear investing in network capacity
enables us to offer more voice and data at lower prices to The key policy frameworks that will affect the allocation of
customers. The faster we roll out network coverage and get additional spectrum in South Africa are still being finalised. The
low-cost devices into the market, and develop new offerings such as Electronic Communications Act currently prescribes 30% direct
mobile financial services, the greater our impact on the Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) ownership as the pre-
socioeconomic wellbeing of the countries in which we operate. qualification criterion for spectrum or licensing applications.
To this end, the Group has clear strategies in place, with explicit Recently published spectrum regulations indicate that
three-year goals approved by the Board in respect of our customer, pre-qualification criteria are either 30% BEE ownership or
growth, operations, people and reputation priorities. Importantly, Level 4 or higher BBBEE status. However, until the process of
the growth priority is focused on diversifying our revenues, which is harmonisationhas been completed between the Department
critical as our traditional voice revenues come under pressure due ofTrade and Industrys revised BBBEE Codes and the ICT Sector
to pricing dynamics, intensifying competition and the shift to data Charter, it isunclear what the exact requirements will be and
services. It also involves monetising data demand growth through whatthe implications are for Vodacom in obtaining licences for
more affordable services and devices, growing our managed additional spectrum.
services offering in our enterprise business, accelerating our roll out
In the interim, the Board is pleased that the Group has managed
of fixed-line services, and developing new services.
toretain its Level 2 BBBEE contributor status. Developments in
In April 2014, we increased our equity holding in Vodacom Tanzania thisregard during the year included launching the Innovator Trust
from 65% to 82.2%, as part of our strategy to increase the to assist black entrepreneurs in the ICT sector to grow their
contribution of our International operations. We expect solid businesses. At 31March 2015, the Innovator Trust had acquired
growthfrom our International operations based on relatively low more than540000 YeboYethu shares (YeboYethu owns 3.44%
penetration rates and moderated but still healthy economic ofVodacom South Africa) and was supporting 18 small
growthrates in those countries. In this regard we are disappointed and mediumenterprises (SMEs) with a two-year business
that we have not managed to close any additional acquisitions, training programme.
10 Vodacom Group Limited Integrated Report for the year ended 31 March 2015
In pursuit of the Groups strategy, we are actively managing The bench strength of leadership is another critical success factor.
theattendant risks to our customers. The most material of these is The Board concentrates on succession planning on an ongoing
the increasing threat to information security that comes with basis rather than managing a specific succession event. We have
internet-based services. We continue to implement the world-class formed a clear view of the future requirements in respect of senior
policies and processes necessary to manage the risk to customers, management positions and continue to ensure that a pipeline of
as well as to comply with relevant legislation. Other key risks we talent is available. Furthermore, we continuously review the skills,
face include the health and safety of our people and service qualifications and independence of our Board members. In the year,
providers, and reducing the environmental footprint of our base the evaluation of the Board and its committees found them to be
stations. The Board is satisfied that the Group is managing these effective with no material concerns noted. Improvement areas in
risks effectively, the details of which are covered elsewhere in our the year ahead will include a greater focus on scenario planning and
integrated report and our supplementary reports online. on driving growth in our International operations.
In particular, we continue to monitor the Groups commitment to During the year, Yolanda Cuba stepped down as a non-executive
improving its safety performance and achieving zero fatalities. We are director to join Vodacom as an executive and we welcomed
pleased to report therefore that the Group had no employee fatalities Priscillah Mabelane as a non-executive director. My thanks are due
during the year. However, we regret that there were two fatalities in to my colleagues on the Board for their wise counsel over the last
our supplier network. Our suppliers are contractually obliged to year, and to the executive team for navigating what has been a
adhere to our six absolute rules on safety and the necessary steps transformative year for the Group.
were taken in respect of the suppliers concerned. We extend our
sympathy to the family, friends and colleagues of the deceased. What remains the same as it has been for 20 years is that Vodacoms
most valuable contribution to society is to empower people by
As we move forward, the Board remains committed to our connecting them to reliable and affordable voice and data services;
accelerated investment programme, notwithstanding the and in so doing to extend their positive impacts. We remain inspired
constraints. The efficient allocation of capital will continue to be to realise the profound potential of connectivity to drive economic
topof mind, as we seek to find the right balance between the growth and social development, in balance with the interests of all
investment needed to sustain the Groups ability to generate our stakeholders.
earnings in a highly dynamic environment, and continuing to deliver
attractive returns to shareholders through our dividend policy.
Delivering value to customers remains at the heart of our strategy
and our ability to grow long-term shareholder value. To align the
variable remuneration of management to the intent of the strategy,
short-term incentives for the 2016 financial year will be determined MP Moyo
according to the following measures and weightings: customer Chairman
experience (40%); service revenue (20%); EBITDA (20%) and
operating free cash flows (20%). This shows how central customer
experience is to our ongoing success.
11
Vodacom
extended 3G coverage to
96% of the South African
population by the close of the
financial year, and has continued
to drive voice and data coverage
in our International
operations, including
in remote areas.
12 Vodacom Group Limited Integrated Report for the year ended 31 March 2015
1993
OF EMPOWERING
EVERYONE TO BE
20 years
1994 1995 1996
CONFIDENTLY A record-breaking
rollout of the
Vodacom is granted a
GSM licence in Lesotho,
Were the first
in the world
CONNECTED network follows
with at least two
our first licence outside
South Africa.
to launch a
prepaid service.
base stations built
Vodacom sponsors the We switch on
every day.
South African national our network in
We officially switch rugby team, the Lesotho.
on our network. Springboks, winners
of the 1995 Rugby
World Cup.
R499PMX24
Smart S
s
1997 1998 1999 2000 2001
The South African Once-off R202
Launch
SIM & connection
Offers valid from 24 October 2014 - 6 January 2015
of prepaid We receive We launch We become the largest
Standard terms and conditions apply. Deals are subject to signing a 24-month Vodacom Contract. VAT inclusive. E&OE. Trade-in options are
available on selected new and Upgrade Contract deals only. Please go to vodacom.co.za for full terms and conditions.
2007 2008
Vodacom Tanzania Vodacom Business is launched, Vodacom South Africa announces its
launches 3G/HSDPA as part of our plan to reposition R7.5 billion BBBEE transaction, one of
services, making Vodacom as a leading provider the largest BBBEE transactions in the
Tanzania the second of converged information and local industry.
country in Africa, after communication solutions.
South Africa, to get
access to this high- Vodacom Tanzania introduces
speed data technology. m-pesa, Vodafones award-winning
money transfer service.
We announce an
unparalleled cut in data Vodacom South Africa is first to
rates of up to 61%. launch HSUPA.
2015
First to launch LTE/4G in Lesotho.
WHO WE ARE
Vodacom was founded in 1994 and is a leading From our roots in South Africa
African unified communications provider,
weve grown mobile operations
providing a wide range of services, including
to include networks in
mobile voice, messaging, data Tanzania, the DRC, Mozambique
and converged services to and Lesotho. In the current year, we
increased our shareholding in Tanzania
from 65% to 82.2%. We also offer business
managed services to enterprises in over
40 countries across Africa. Vodacom
customers. is majority-owned by Vodafone,
one of the worlds largest mobile
communications companies by
revenue. Were listed on the
JSE Limited and our head office
is in Midrand, South Africa.
Formal points of presence include Vodacom Informal points of presence include super dealers,
owned and franchise shops, service providers territory and data dealers, street vendors/freelancers
andprivate outlets, retailers that purchase directly and informal resellers.
from Vodacom and m-pesa agents.
2 801 67%
Lesotho
3 897 127%
9 734 10 048 Lesotho
Mozambique 142% 2% South Africa
9 872 107%
DRC
25 068 44%
Mozambique
35% 55 249
South Africa
3 001
143 295 DRC 49%
6% Tanzania 9 684 7%
Tanzania
year-on-year growth
15
Tanzania
Ownership 82%
Population: 52 million
Active customers: 12.2 million
Mobile penetration: 64%
ARPU1: TZS6 530
MOU2: 149
Licence expiry period: 2031
Market share4: 43.7%^
Coverage: 87%
NPS: 2nd
HOW WE DO
BUSINESS
Through our business model we sustain a high level of investment in the critical elements that enable us to
deliver value to our customers, sustain and grow our revenues and maximise our profits. This provides the
capital we need to reinvest in our business, and ensures we can continue creating value for all our stakeholders.
Revenue
CUSTOMERS The revenue we generate
Access to spectrum pending regulatory process. from our business activities
Maintaining BBBEE status to qualify for spectrum. Leveraging our critical enablers enables us to pay operating
and managing those factors costs and salaries to our
that could impact our ability employees. From the
remaining operating profit
to create value supports our
we pay finance costs to our
Access to spectrum to meet growth in data demand. business activities, which are debt providers. We then
Maintain network service during power outages. to provide leading voice, meet our obligations to tax
Higher equipment cost due to currency weakness. messaging, data and authorities.
Sustain network investment as our key differentiator. converged services to
Maintain network security protocols. our customers.
WHAT WE OFFER
Consumer
We have over 61 million customers on many different devices connected to our world-class networks, serviced through our various
distribution and service partners. Our core services are voice, messaging and data, which are all available on either contract or prepaid.
Contract gives you the convenience of paying for services after youve used them via monthly debit order, whereas prepaid lets you control
how much you spend upfront without being locked into a contract. Top Up is a hybrid between our contract and prepaid packages.
Our integrated plans give you talk, text and loads of internet. Our ultra-low-cost handsets (ULCHs) make it affordable for everyone to
get connected.
INTEGRATED
PLANS
VOICE Financial
m-pesa
Insurance
services Airtime Advance
m-pawa
Digital Entertainment
SERVICES content Advertising
services Vouchercloud
DATA
Vodacom online pages
Mobile broadband
Self-service Unstructured Supplementary
Service Data (USSD) self-help
Internet on your mobile
care option
My Vodacom App
Interactive Voice Response
MESSAGING
SMS
MMS
19
Business
Vodacom Business delivers total communication solutions to meet the needs of the public sector, and large, medium and small enterprises.
As a first-tier connectivity and network provider, and through our cloud facilities, the Enterprise Business Unit makes it possible to manage
bandwidth requirements seamlessly over guaranteed fixed-line and wireless connections. We also work with our customers to put together
a combination of services that meet their needs and support the security and integrity of their business, and help them to become more
efficient and save costs.
CONNECTIVITY
Fixed
s Mo
es bil
irel e
W
rvice Netw
e Se ork
n-sit
So
ata
O
ftw (Sa
dd
TY are aS)
an
RI
On
as a
oice
-sit
CU
SE
Service
e Se
Mobile v
ged Mobility
rvice
CLOUD
a Servic cture
e
Infrastr
Platform
in
BUSINESS HOSTED
Mana
-mach
MOBILITY SERVICES
SE
e
u
(Paa a Ser
(
CU
Iaa as
to
as
RI
ne-
S) vic
TY
S)
ch i
Ma
Man n
aged communicatio
Vo o
ice e
Vid
Messaging
and collaboration
UNIFIED COMMUNICATION
20 Vodacom Group Limited Integrated Report for the year ended 31 March 2015
THE VALUE
WE CREATE
Connecting people and enabling businesses are the Research has shown a direct correlation between the provision of
mobile voice and data services and economic growth. Increasing
main outcomes of the mobile and fixed network
access to our services by widening coverage and driving
services we offer. Communication improves quality affordability supports economic growth and job creation. This
of life, enables efficiency, connects supply and increases economic capacity and spending power, which in turn
demand, and supports the sharing of information supports socioeconomic development. Besides the direct economic
and data between individuals and businesses. and social value our core business creates, we create value for our
stakeholders in many different ways some of which are
highlighted below for the 2015 financial year.
WE WERE
The Vodacom Foundation continues to employ our technology RANKED
PG 57 For more information on to support education, health and safety initiatives. We spent
In the telecoms sector and
R95.5
the different ways in which we
ON CORPORATE SOCIAL INVESTMENT
contribute to society, refer to our third overall in the 2014
reputation strategy, and to our ACROSS THE GROUP IN 2015. Top Companies Reputation
public finances, transformation, million Index performed by Plus 94
committees and environmental Research.
reports on www.vodacom.com
22 Vodacom Group Limited Integrated Report for the year ended 31 March 2015
WHO GOVERNS US
Executive
Mthandazo Peter Moyo (52) directors
Chairman of the Board Serpil Timuray (45)
Appointed Chairman in Appointed in
May 2009 September 2012
Financial, corporate and Business leader
governance expertise Brand and distribution
Entrepreneurial flair knowledge
Government relations BOARD Operational expertise
experience
NS COMPOSITION NR
In
no depe ve
uti
David Hugh Brown Hatem Mohamed
n- n
dir exec dent c
(52) Galal Dowidar (45)
e
x rs
Appointed in ect uti
ors ve n-e cto Appointment in
January 2012
Corporate leadership
No dire February 2014
Diverse operational
experience experience
Financial expertise Extensive sector
Corporate governance knowledge
expertise Governance expertise
AR
Bafeleang Priscillah
Mabelane (41) Michael Joseph (69)
Appointed in May 2009
Appointed in
Understands innovation
December 2014
Strategy and business
Strategic leadership
expertise Board structure: leadership experience
Emerging markets
Financial expertise We have a unitary Board with expertise
Business leader
A 12 directors, the majority of
whom are non-executive directors.
Our Chairman is an independent
John William Lorimer
Thoko Martha non-executive director. Otty (51)
Mokgosi-Mwantembe
(53) Appointed in
Appointed in May 2009
A September 2012
Sound financial
Strategic marketing Audit, Risk and Compliance Committee governance background
focus
Extensive telecoms
Expertise in innovation R knowledge
ICT sector experience
Regional insight
NR Remuneration Committee
N Ronald Adrianus
Phillip Jabulani Wilhelmus
Moleketi (57) Nomination Committee Schellekens (51)
Appointed in Appointed in
November 2009 S February 2009
Corporate leadership Social and Ethics Committee Expertise in human
Understands public resources best practice
sector relations Understands corporate
Corporate and strategic best practice
leadership experience International operational
AS NRS experience
1. BP Mabelane was appointed to the Board on 1 December 2014, replacing YZ Cuba who resigned on 31 October 2014.
23
WHO LEADS US
CEO
EXECUTIVE Shameel Joosub (44)
Chief Executive Officer
COMMITTEE Joined Vodacom in
March 1994
FROM A COMMERCIAL PERSPECTIVE, HOW DID Weve migrated 78% of our contract customers to integrated
VODACOM PERFORM THIS YEAR? packages that include voice, data and SMSs, at a better value price
point. For our prepaid customers weve firmly established the
This has been one of the toughest years weve ever faced.
A Major MTR cuts, a weak economic environment, exchange
concept of value bundles, selling an average of 53 million voice
bundles per month in the fourth quarter. This pricing transformation
rate volatility and increased price competition all played a part. resulted in the average effective price per minute for voice falling
Thefirst half of the year was particularly challenging, but Im 17.7% year-on-year and our average effective price per MB of data
pleased to say that by the time we hit the fourth quarter there reducing 24.1%. This is in addition to even larger price reductions
wassolid evidence of forward momentum. During the year we last year.
increased our customer base by 7.2% to 61.6 million
and Group revenue increased 2.1%. Excluding the On top of the step change from pricing
impact of a 50% cut inMTRs in South Africa, transformation, the 50% cut in MTRs
Grouprevenue increased 4.8%. Importantly, had a huge impact taking out
Group data revenue increased 25.0%, with the R2.0billion in revenue and
number of Group active data customers R1.2billion in EBITDA. On the
increasing 15.9% to 26.5 million and M2M Our networks are our fundamental positive side, we have agreed
SIMs increasing 18.5% to 1.8million. point of differentiation. a three-year glide path for
MTRs, with the major
Weve invested and continue to invest, impact having been
more than our competitors to give us the taken this year.
widest coverage, the capacity to handle massive Interconnect
data growth, and the latest technology. revenue now
contributes less than
We believe that investing in our networks
5% of service revenue
contributes to the creation of shareholder in South Africa, so the
value, and Vodacom has delivered a impact going forward of
TSR of 261% since listing. further reductions in MTRs
will be significantly less.
Taking the price transformation
and step change in MTRs together,
we have in effect rebased the
business in South Africa and now have
a solid platform from which to grow.
Thats borne out by the improved performance in the fourth quarter.
increasing 3.4%. Headline earnings per share (HEPS) at 860cents While others might consider holding back on investment in this
were down 4.0%. Again, the improving trend in the latterpart of the difficult economic environment, we have deliberately done the
year was demonstrated by the fact that the first-half HEPS decline opposite. This is to make sure that we not only cater for the growth
of 5.5% reduced to a decline of 2.8% in thesecond-half. in data demand from existing customers, but also drive growth by
increasing the addressable market. In South Africa we extended
AND OPERATIONALLY? 3Gcoverage to 96% of the population and cover 35% of the
population with LTE/4G. In Lesotho, weve now gotdata coverage
We were handed a rough set of external factors this year
A andIm pleased to say that we weathered them well.
everywhere we have voice coverage. Weve developed a low-cost
base station solution in the DRC to get mobilecoverage into areas
Wevegot a number of cost control programmes running throughout that have quite literally been cut off until now. In each country we
the business and in particular, we achieved savings inpublicity, operate in,weve made sure our network sets us apart. And well
commissions, and transmission lease costs. In SouthAfrica, stripping continue todo so.
out the impact of MTRs and One-Offs1, operating expenses as a
percentage of service revenue was stable at 22.7% versus 22.3% SPEAKING OF DATA GROWTH, HOW LONG DO YOU
last year. Given the significant impact of higher electricity costs, THINK IT CAN CONTINUE AT CURRENT LEVELS?
increased fuel costs due to electricity supply interruptions, inflation,
rand volatility and increased site rental due to the network A The number of smartphones active on the network in
South Africa increased by 28.4% to 9.3 million, which equates
expansion, we had to work hard to achieve this. Similarly, in our
International operations, operating expenses as a percentage of to only 30% penetration. The level of smartphone usage in our
International operations is even lower, so there is still significant
service revenue (excluding One-Off1 expenses) increased marginally
untapped growth potential. On top of that, the average amount of
from 35.7% to 36.2%, which was a positive result given the
data used per smartphone is growing rapidly. InSouth Africa,
inflationary pressures in these markets as well.
average usage grew 37.9% to 342MB/month. Thisis low when
From a network operations perspective we had a good year, with compared to average usage of 819MB/month worldwide in 2014;
nomajor outages in any of our operations. In South Africa, uptime indeed, current usage in the USA now surpasses 2GB/month. This
improved to 99.4% and the dropped call incidence rate fell to isnt set to slow down any time soon, in fact Cisco predicts that
0.7%,which is less than half that of the next best competitor. average monthly usage worldwide will approach 4GB/month by
Thisisespecially impressive when bearing in mind that at the 2019. In short, were convinced that the investment were putting
same time weve been adding sites at an unprecedented rate and into our network including both new base stations and extensive
introducing new technologies such as LTE/4G and enhanced voice fibre backhaul is exactly the right thing to do and laysthe
services. On top of this, we completed the RAN swap, which reduces foundation for continued growth.
operational costs and gives us added flexibility when it comes to
adding new services in future. OTHER THAN NETWORK QUALITY AND REACH, HOW
ELSE CAN VODACOM DIFFERENTIATE ITSELF FROM
GIVEN THE PRESSURES IN THE YEAR, HAVE YOU OTHER NETWORKS?
DELIVERED ON YOUR NETWORK INVESTMENT
STRATEGY?
A Having the widest network coverage and fastest connections
attracts customers, but its important to back this up with
best-in-class customer service. A simple metric that we track is the
Our networks are our fundamental point of differentiation.
A Weve invested, and continue to invest, more than our
number of calls to our call centres, which thanks to the actions
weve taken is down 15% year-on-year in South Africa. This is
competitors to give us the widest coverage, the capacity to handle despite the increase in customers and in people using data for the
massive data growth, and the latest technology. We believe that first time. Weve achieved this by improving the proportion of
investing in our networks contributes to the creation of shareholder queries resolved by the first call to our call centre (known as first
value, and Vodacom has delivered a TSR of 261.0% since listing. In a call resolution), and also through providing other self-service
year that was anything but plain sailing commercially, we increased channels such as the My Vodacom App, which was comprehensively
network investment by 23.4% to R13.3 billion. This is an impressive revamped during the year. Not only do these initiatives give us an
number, a significant portion of which went into adding new base edge when it comes to customer care, they also reduce the cost
stations and to adding our own high capacity transmission. As an ofdealing with queries. The key measure of customer satisfaction
example, 2 576 new 3G sites were installed across the Group and we track is the NPS, which looks at the promoters of Vodacom as
wemore than doubled the number of LTE/4G sites to 2 600 in a proportion of the total number of people surveyed. We have
South Africa. mobile network NPS leadership in SouthAfrica, Lesotho, the DRC,
Mozambique and joint best in Tanzania.
Note:
Cisco Visual Networking Index: Global Mobile Data Traffic Forecast Update 2014 2019 white paper.
26 Vodacom Group Limited Integrated Report for the year ended 31 March 2015
In the year ahead, were strengthening our focus on customer services and during the year, we commenced the process of
service and have made 40% of executive remuneration contingent connecting homes and businesses.
on customer appreciation. The measures for this goal are NPS,
brand consideration, customer-related KPIs, and market shares. The acquisition of Neotel would allow us to accelerate this process
Thisis a bold step that reflects how seriously we take customer considerably, and the delay in receiving regulatory approval is
careas a key differentiator. disappointing. This transaction has been with the authorities for
approval for almost a year now. Every day of delay is a day lost in
which we could be connecting South Africa.
YOUVE TALKED ABOUT NEW SOURCES OF GROWTH
OUTSIDE OF VOICE AND DATA HOW IS THIS GOING?
DELIVERING ON STRATEGY DEPENDS ON PEOPLE.
I mentioned earlier that the m-pesa customer base in our HOW DO YOU GO ABOUT BUILDING THE BEST TEAM?
A International operations grew 34.2% during the year. Why is
Its hard to avoid the clich that people are our most
that important? Well, in Tanzania where it has been in service the A important asset because they really are the soul of the
longest, m-pesa now accounts for 22.6% of service revenue.
company. Weve worked hard to build diversity in our teams and also
Building on this success, we launched m-pawa in Tanzania in
to reflect national demographics in the countries we operate in.
May2014, a savings and loan product based on a mobile platform.
Ofour staff in South Africa, 74% are black and 44% are female.
The logic behind it is simple: traditional banks cant service a large
Onour Executive Committee, 58% of the members are black and
portion of the population economically, so this group is left out of
17% are female. Clearly theres still work to do, but were making
the banking system. Vodacom, meanwhile has a trusted and
progress. In terms of acquiring new skills, we spent R130 million
efficient money-in, money-out mechanism and in conjunction with
during the year on training, and also brought in 77 new graduates
our banking partner we can help people take savings quite literally
via our graduate recruitment programme. We also place major
out from under their mattresses and put them into an account that
emphasis on ensuring that talented people are recognised and
can earn interest. Granting micro-loans using m-pesa transaction
given the chance to grow. Great examples are Matimba Mbungela
records to establish affordability is similarly straightforward. Weve
who was promoted to the role of Chief Human Resources Officer
already got 1.8 million customers using m-pawa, resulting in an
onour Executive Committee and Godfrey Motsa who was promoted
increase in m-pesa revenue per user. to Chief Officer: Consumer Business Unit. Both Matimba and
We soft-launched m-pesa in South Africa during the year. While Godfrey have been through our International assignee programme.
Yolanda Cuba took up the position of Chief Officer: Strategyand
theuptake is still relatively modest with one million registered
New Business in November 2014.
customers and 76 000 people actively using the service, it is
gainingtraction. Two services that have seen strong growth outside
traditional voice and data in South Africa are insurance, with
THE VODACOM FOUNDATION IS CLOSE TO YOUR
revenue up 36.0%, and M2M, with the number of SIMs increasing HEART. HOW IS ITS WORK PROGRESSING?
15.9% to 1.7 million.
A From a socioeconomic development perspective, the
singlemost important thing that Vodacom can do is get
Enterprise has been a strong growth pillar, with revenue
morepeople connected to reliable and affordable services.
ofR11.4billion, up 8.8% (excluding Nashua2) from last year. Theres adirect link between the availability of mobile data services
Managed services, which is a subset of this and includes cloud, andGDP growth. In a 2012 report, the GSM Association found
hosting, security and connectivity solutions, grew 12.5%, that a 10% substitution from 2G to 3G penetration increases GDP
with revenue of R2.8 billion. Were making strong inroads both per capita by0.15ppts. The same report found that a doubling
inSouth Africa and across the rest of the continent through ofmobile data usage increases GDP per capita growth by 0.5ppts.
Vodacom Business Africa, which has 27 points of presence servicing With GDP growth comes job creation, and with job creation we play
over 40 countries. In conjunction with Vodafone Global Enterprise a part in uplifting society. So to put it simply, the more we can do to
we offer a seamless service to multinational clients wherever they roll out network coverage especially in township and rural areas, the
do business, both across Africa and worldwide. more we can increase the availability of data coverage, and the
more we can get people connected through low-cost devices and
Finally, weve started making headway into fibre services, both
affordable services, the greater the benefit to society.
fibre-to-the-business (FTTB) and fibre-to-the-home (FTTH).
The key to this expansion is that weve already invested heavily in Having said that, our technology uniquely lends itself to more direct
building our own fibre network in South Africa to connect our support for people and groups in need. The specific focus of the
basestations. This drive towards transmission self-provision was a Vodacom Foundation is on using technology to support education,
deliberate step to ensure that we have enough backhaul capacity health and safety initiatives. Over the past year, the Vodacom
for our base stations. These are carrying ever-greater data loads due Foundation spent R80 million in South Africa, R46.6 million of
to faster 3G and now LTE/4G technologies. A beneficial side-effect which was spent on education. Weve done amazing work in
is that we now have a fibre network we can use to supply fixed-line launching the Vodacom e-school platform to give students free
27
access to online learning materials. Im also really proud of our services, M2M and content, were aiming for a 5% contribution to
partnership with the Department of Basic Education, which has Group service revenue. Finally, we aim to maintain the growth
seenus connect an additional 20 ICT resource centres, bringing the momentum in our International operations and are targeting a
total number of ICT centres weve equipped and connected to 61. 30%contribution to Group service revenue in three years.
Our health projects are assisting people in rural areas, particularly in Cost management remains a critical feature of our operations
our International operations. In Lesotho, we launched a project to strategy. To achieve ongoing margin expansion, we aim to achieve
provide access to HIV treatment to 40 000 children by 2017 using a cost efficiencies and are targeting cost growth in each of our core
text-to-treatment model. This model is being used successfully in mobile businesses of 0.5% lower than revenue growth over the
Tanzania to provide almost a quarter of a million expectant mothers next three years.
with the information they need to help ensure a successful
pregnancy. In Mozambique, weve used the same model to assist As Ive said, we pride ourselves in the quality of our people and
people with HIV/aids by sending text messages to encourage them understand the importance of attracting and keeping the talented
to take their medication and attend their appointments. people we need to deliver on our strategies. Well continue to
concentrate on diversifying our staff base, recruiting new skills and
WHERE TO FROM HERE? developing our people, and keeping them truly engaged. Weve set
out to achieve a score of 80 in our employee engagement survey
Weve set 10 clear goals with ambitious three-year targets to
A drive our performance against our five strategic priorities.
over the next three years.
Notes:
1. Service revenue benefitted from a One-Off adjustment of R325 million relating to a change in the accounting estimate of un-recharged vouchers reported in the first-half of the
year and R164 million due to the consolidation of XLink in the second-half. EBITDA was impacted by a One-Off adjustment of R405 million relating to the write-off of current assets
in the DRC.
2. In October 2014 we acquired our customer base from Nashua Mobile (Nashua).
What is the impact of mobile telephony on economic growth? A report for the GSM Association.
28 Vodacom Group Limited Integrated Report for the year ended 31 March 2015
WHAT WE
LIVE FOR
Bes
erie two
t
expst ne
ser
leadership, will be pivotal to
v
Be
ice
oursuccess.
CUSTOMER
Clear NPS
leadership Grow data
Pg 32
G ro
we
nte
rpr
ise
GROWTH
Diversify revenue to
G ro
ine
deliver growth
wn
d-l
ew
i xe
Pg 38
wf
ser
G ro
What we need to do
vic
es
REPUTATION PEOPLE
Transform society and
Ma
Best talent,
En
best practice
han
nt
ain
a le
cin
ing
gt
Pg 57 Pg 54
gd
win
lea
i ve
de
G ro
rs i t
rs h
y
ip
Developing skills
OPERATIONS
Deliver cost and
s
St r
i ve
uc
process efficiency
iat
tur
init
al s
Pg 50
ear
avi
y
lti-
ng
Mu
s
Process simplification
30 Vodacom Group Limited Integrated Report for the year ended 31 March 2015
WHAT WERE
AIMING FOR
THREE-YEAR TARGETS TO 31 MARCH 2018
CUSTOMER
Clear market share leadership in all Grow NPS and brand leadership through
markets through segmented sustained network leadership, differentiated
offerings and best distribution. customer experience and best value.
Consistently achieve a five-point lead.
37.3^
30.8^
34.3^
77.4^
53.2^
43.7^
34.7^
43.8^
74.5^
Tanzania
DRC
Mozambique
Lesotho
Total 52 71
Eight-point lead
LESOTHO
Total 74 36 #1
15 point lead
BRAND LEADERSHIP
in brand leadership 2015
#1 position in all markets #1 in South Africa 63%^
^ These items were included as part of our assurance process this year.
31
GROWTH
Grow data revenue Grow total Grow fixed-line in Grow contribution Grow contribution
to 40% of Group enterprise South Africa of non-South from new services
service revenue. contribution to through fibre to African entities to to 5% of Group
30% of Group the home and fibre 30% of Group service revenue.
servicerevenue. to the business service revenue.
connections.
GROUP
WHERE WERE STARTING FROM AS AT 31 MARCH 2015
GROUP:
Soft-launched
our FTTx
offering in
26.7%^ 18.4%^ major cities 24.6%^ 3.9%^
Contribution from Contribution in South Africa Contribution from Contribution from
data to service from enterprise non-South African new services
revenue to service revenue entities to service to service revenue
revenue
^ Socioeconomic
impact research
conducted.
Refer to page 58 for
2.1% 4.3% the results.
Group revenue Expenses
grew grew Engagement score
= 2.2 ppts^
above service revenue growth
32 Vodacom Group Limited Integrated Report for the year ended 31 March 2015
CUSTOMER
Clear NPS
leadership
Customer pillars:
Best Best
value service
Best
network
We strive to provide our customers with the best experience through offering the best value, best network
and best services. We use the NPS to measure best service based on one question: Would you recommend
Vodacom to your family, friends and colleagues?
?
Asks the question: in two out of four
Would you recommend
Vodacom to your family,
#1 International operations and
in NPS in South Africa
friends and colleagues? six-point lead on our closest
competitor
33
We continue to transform our base to make sure that we provide best value to our customers. We are doing this by:
Moving our contract customers from voice-centric and data-centric plans to integrated bundles.
Moving Top Up customers to new uChoose packages which give them access to integrated plans with the option to access prepaid
promotions when they choose.
Moving prepaid customers from our legacy plans to our new plans and driving the use of bundles in this market.
In our International operations we introduced higher-value integrated prepaid bundles.
Significant progress was made in making sure that our customers are offered the best value. We achieved this through:
GROUP
PRICE PER MINUTE What have we done well?
23.4% 23.4% We reduced the Group blended price per minute by 23.4% to 49 cents with a
17.7% reduction in South Africa to 65 cents and a 23.7% reduction in International
0.64 0.47 to 29 cents.
0.49 0.36
Group prepaid price per minute reduced 23.4% to 36 cents with an 18.2%
reduction in South Africa to 45 cents and a 25.0% reduction in International
to 27 cents thanks to the launch of micro prepaid bundles.
2014 2015 2014 2015 Affordable data bundles have brought down the effective price per MB by
Blended Prepaid 24.1% in South Africa and 51.7% in International.
The reduction in prices stimulated usage with outgoing voice traffic and
Reducing the cost to
1 communicate
data traffic growing 12.5% and 63.1% in South Africa and 42.7% and 185.9%
in International respectively.
In South Africa, we now have 78% of contract customers on integrated tariffs and
55% of Top Up customers on new price plans.
SA PRICING In South Africa, contract churn reduced from 11.8% to 9.2%, with stable
TRANSFORMATION#
underlying ARPUs. In-bundle spend increased to69.3% of contract revenue.
Our customer value management system, which helps us understand
78% CONTRACT
customers on
customers needs, was used effectively to target prepaid customers with
affordable offers and engage customers before they become inactive.
integrated tariffs
Prepaid customers continue to get discounted rates depending on network
capacity, using dynamic price plans.
55% TOP UP
customers on In South Africa, we sold approximately 53 million prepaid voice bundles per
new price plans month in the last quarter of the 2015 financial year, with the total number of
voice bundles sold up 73% compared to a year ago.
Driving pricing
2 transformation
2014 2015
Stimulating bundle
3 adoption
# South Africa only.
34 Vodacom Group Limited Integrated Report for the year ended 31 March 2015
A key enabler to delivering on our best network promise is our increased focus on network investment. Through our three-year
accelerated capex investment programme we invested over R13.3 billion in FY2015 (R8.6billion in South Africa and R4.7 billion in
International), representing 17.2% of Group revenue. FY2015 was the first year of our accelerated capex investment programme.
We will continue to invest in our network to maintain superior network service quality, thereby ensuring that we continue to differentiate
our network from that of competitors.
3G AND 4G COVERAGE#
What have we done well?
96% 63% 79% 87% In South Africa, we added 1 684 LTE/4G sites thereby expanding our LTE/4G
network in South Africa to 2 600sites, and increasing population coverage to
over 35%, up from 11.6% a year ago.
35% 3G We were the first to launch LTE/4G in Lesotho and rolled out 10 sites during
14% LTE/4G the year.
11%
2% Increased 3G data population coverage to 96% in South Africa by rolling
out an additional 1 554 3G sites and expanded 3G footprint to over 8 800 sites.
Vodacom Competitors
(estimate) In our International operations, we increased our 2G and 3G footprint to over
5500 sites and 3 000 sites respectively.
1 Widest coverage Maintained our mobile consumer and enterprise network NPS leadership in
South Africa. We achieved mobile network NPS leadership in Lesotho, the DRC,
Mozambique and joint best in Tanzania.
Our investment in radio transmission and capacity has allowed us to connect
CALL DROP RATES#
81% of our sites in South Africa and 88.7% in our International markets, to
0.7% 1.3% 2.0% 2.3% self-provided high-speed transmission or fibre.
Completed a six-year radio access renewal programme in South Africa.
This means that we have one of the most modern networks in the world.
In South Africa, we achieved some excellent results, which were independently
measured:
Rated number one in drive testing with the lowest call drop rates versus our
competitors.
Vodacom Competitors Leading position against our main competitor in data performance in
SouthAfrica.
Best performance We launched high definition voice (HD Voice) on our 3G network in SouthAfrica.
2 and quality
Source: Atio
(March 2015)
Where can we improve?
FASTEST SPEEDS#
Mbps (DL) The delay in the availability of additional spectrum necessitated that
we occasionally invest less efficiently to maintain network quality.
15.5 9.2 8.5 3.9
We continuously strive to improve our network coverage and quality in
all our markets.
RETAIL STORES
ONLINE
Customers are given the ability to use self-service via four channels:
USSD, online, the My Vodacom App and IVR.
We invested
approximately
R1 billion
to replace our 20-year old
billing and customer
relationship management
(CRM) systems.
Well be faster, more innovative
Customer and importantly, we will know much
3D more about our customers
Shameel Aziz Joosub
LOOKING FORWARD
GROWTH
Diversify revenue
to deliver
growth
Growth pillars:
With mobile voice declining 4.6% and the impact of MTRs shaving R2 billion off our revenue line
and R1.2billion off our EBITDA line this year, we have had to think of ways to support growth as our
home market matures, with estimated mobile SIM penetration rates of some 150% in South Africa.
To build resilient revenue streams and secure future growth opportunities, were investing in
diversifying our business in a number of focused ways.
Almost 51% of Group service revenue is now generated from ourgrowth pillars, up from 44% a year ago. Going forward, we
willcontinue to focus on bringing about service innovation in non-traditional areas with new areas such as financial
services, insurance, M2M andcontent being identified as key growth pillars. We have set key three-year Group goals for
each of our growth pillars to focus our organisation on delivering growth. In addition, we have also added fixed-line as a new
growth pillar.
39
+10.8% 2G to 3G
and 35% respectively. ARPU increases when customers migrate from 3G to
LTE/4G and from 2G to 3G in both theprepaid and contract segments.
We launched affordable daily and hourly bite size data bundles (for example
R3 for 50MB and R10 for 100MB), which has driven data adoption and helped
shift prepaid customers to bundle usage.
The number of data bundles sold increased 139%, selling an average 20 million
3G to LTE/4G +12.6% data bundles in the fourth quarter.
Data traffic grew 63.1%.
Offering increased 3G
2 and LTE/4G coverage
Factors impacting our performance during the year
We were limited in our roll out to extend LTE/4G further across South Africa due
NUMBER OF to the unavailability of spectrum.
BUNDLES SOLD# The weaker rand affected margin on data devices.
139%
82m 196m Where can we improve?
Increase active data users by further decreasing the cost of smart devices.
Add more 3G and LTE/4G sites, subject to spectrum availability.
Deliver more content services to drive data usage.
2014 2015
Improve monetisation of data traffic growth.
Stimulating bundle
3 adoption
# South Africa only.
40 Vodacom Group Limited Integrated Report for the year ended 31 March 2015
SOUTH AFRICA GROWTH: Data strategy supporting the data boom (continued)
LOOKING FORWARD
Vodacom continues to bring about service innovation in non-traditional areas. New areas such as financial
services, insurance, M2M and content have been identified as growth pillars.
Life is better
Achieve more with the widest
agent network in the country.
Vodacom
Power to you
LOOKING FORWARD
Opportunity: South Africa
LOOKING FORWARD We see great opportunity in content. Greater use of content over
our network will drive data revenue:
The distribution of content provides the opportunity to grow
The focus so far has been on connectivity. We are expanding our service revenue such as billing content and in-app purchases to
ability to offerfull converged solutions across verticals that include a users account, and provides infrastructure to service providers
hardware and software to furtherdrive ARPU. to distribute their services.
Our relationship with Vodafone creates the opportunity to
bring international content to local markets.
How were positioned for growth
in M2M
Vodacom Business has made great progress in 2015, particularly in the SMEs segment, and in our converged product strategy.
Vodacom Business now contributes 18.4% (including Nashua) of Group service revenue.
M2M
LOOKING FORWARD FTTB and
Enterprise
SME connectivity
Some of our main focus areas aimed at improving the overall
customer experience will be to:
Improve our customer engagement across all touchpoints.
Make ongoing improvements to our processes and service
models.
Significantly improve our turnaround times to fulfil customer
orders and restore services.
GROWTH
Other opportunities for growth in our Enterprise business
includes:
AREAS
The SME market for total communications, which continues to
present a big opportunity for Vodacom. With fixed-line services
at under 7% penetration, most SMEs remain under-served in
terms of high-speed broadband. We have launched a suite of
smart broadband access products for this market, which includes
broadband connectivity through LTE/4G, wireless and fibre.
Combined with our enhanced indirect channel capability, these Converged African
products will accelerate our converged services penetration in expansion
the SME market.
Developing new propositions to address the specific needs of
Cloud, hosting, IT
the SME segment. To date we have launched managed time
and attendance solutions for the construction sector and a
hospitality solution for guest houses and smaller hotels. Underpinned by our:
Continuing to strengthen our converged services offering in
the large enterprises segment by investing in a specialist Extensive IP and LTE/4G network, brand, customer experience,
solutions team that supports our account managers. We have innovation and security offering.
also developed our cloud and hosting capabilities to give us
46 Vodacom Group Limited Integrated Report for the year ended 31 March 2015
GROWTH: International
Our International operations continue to grow and increase their contribution to the Group. Almost half of our active customers are now
coming from our operations outside South Africa. International service revenue contributes 24.6% to Group service revenue, up from 22.4%
a year ago. Data revenue contributes 19.9% to International service revenue, up from 16.5% a year ago.
7.7m 9.9m
including the Vodacom-branded Kicka, which was well received in our markets.
Data contributed 19.9% of service revenue (2014: 16.5%). Excluding m-pesa,
2014 2015 mobile data revenue grew 37.7%.
Growth in our International operations was supported by network investment; we
Increasing data spent 29.6% of revenue across our markets amounting to R4.7 billion (up 18.8%)
1 penetration as we continued to strengthen our network and service differentiation.
In our International operations we increased our 2G and 3G footprint to over
5500 sites and 3 000 sites respectively.
50% growth in 3G underpinned strong growth in data traffic of 185.9%,
SITES which supported strong growth in data revenue of32.9%.
We were the first to launch LTE/4G in Lesotho with great success, adding
10 LTE/4G sites.
29.4% 50.5% m-pesa continues to gain momentum in all our markets, with active customers
up 34.2% to 8.0 million. In Tanzania, we partnered with Commercial Bank of
Africa to introduce m-pawa, the countrys first savings and loans product. Wealso
2G 3G
launched International Money Transfer (IMT) services. We now have 1.8 million
customers actively using m-pawa services since launch in September 2014.
Uptake of m-pesa in the DRC improved, where the system has been running for
FY2015 yoy growth the longest period outside Tanzania. In Mozambique, we are building a wider
agent network and we are showing good traction in the number of customers
2 Expanding coverage signing up monthly.
During the year, we increased our stake in Vodacom Tanzania from 65%
to 82.2%.
m-pesa CUSTOMERS
34.2.%
6m 8m
2014 2015
Increasing m-pesa
3 penetration 4 Developing Enterprise
47
Puleng Maboya
Sharpville
LOOKING FORWARD
Get started with your m-pesa visa card
I know how hard my son works to support ourin 4 easy steps:
Opportunity family. So you can only imagine how bad I felt Step 1: Buy an m-pesa Visa card at any Step 2: Bring your ID book so you can
every time I had to remind him to send us money. Vodacom Shop or anywhere
you see an m-pesa sign for
upgrade your account
We will continue to drive growth through: But since we got Vodacom m-pesa he can easily
send money through his phone and I can access it
R9.99
Step 3: Link your m-pesa Visa card Step 4: Receive money on your Vodacom
2
network operations (Tanzania, Mozambique, the DRC and Lesotho),
as well as in Nigeria and Zambia, we provide end-to-end services to
private and public sector customers.
2
Regional hubs in
Cameroon
Ghana
INTERNATIONAL Kenya
HUBS Nigeria
(UK and SA)
Mozambique
Diverse infrastructure and cable systems used for sub-sea
and cross-border connectivity.
Vodacoms pan-African
MPLS network locations
Reachable through
VSAT and Partners
49
OPERATIONS
Deliver cost and
process
efficiency
Operations pillars:
Structural Multi-year
savings initiatives
Process
simplification
The challenging economic, regulatory and competitive environment we faced this year placed pressure on our
revenue growth. Inflationary pressure as well as the depreciation in the rand put upward pressure on our cost
base. Our continued network expansion to support growing data and voice traffic means higher operating costs
in the form of property rentals, electricity and maintenance agreements. Against this background, we must
continue to find ways to improve operating efficiency and simplify and standardise processes for customers.
79%
Rationalised our property portfolio in South Africa.
1ST Achieved a 96% score in the Carbon Disclosure Project, retaining our lead in
FIRST CALL the telecoms sector.
RESOLUTION Achieved best performer in the JSEs Socially Responsible Investment Index
threetimes in four years.
Effective and efficient
1 systems and processes
What factors impacted our performance during the year?
The rand devalued further against key currencies. This affected both the
CARBON DISCLOSURE translation of our International operations and impacted the non-rand
PROJECT: denominated expenses in South Africa.
Network operating expenses increased after achieving flatopex over the
past three years due to our accelerated capexprogramme.
Wage inflation and a slight increase in staff headcount due tohiring into our
96% business growth areas resulted in higher payroll expenses.
SCORE RATING
RETAINING LEAD IN
TELECOMS SECTOR
Where can we improve?
Reducing environmental Further drive self-care and online adoption in our customer base.
2 impact Simplify more customer experience journeys.
Simplification of our tariffs and improved end-to-end order processing times from
the launch of Customer 3D, our new billing system.
Increased savings from procurement through new closed-loop procurement focus.
GROUP Further reduce non-customer facing costs through our 1000 small things
multi-year programme.
Optimising distribution further and renegotiate distribution contracts to be
2015
25.7%1 performance-based.
2014
25.2%1
Managing opex as a % of
3 service revenue
1. Excluding MTR impact, One-Offs
foreign exchange and at a constant
58%
currency (using current year as base). AVERAGE
OVER THE
PAST FIVE YEARS
Return on capital
4 employed
52 Vodacom Group Limited Integrated Report for the year ended 31 March 2015
We have been at the forefront of single RAN technology that
PG 36 for more information on how we have improved
enables the combination of 2G, 3Gand LTE/4G technologies
processes for our customers.
into the same radio equipment. OurSAnetwork is now 100%
complete, and International is 89.4% complete. This has a
number of cost benefits, including reduced floor space
Systems and processes are an important tool in requirements on-site, which reduces our site rentals, and
running our business and we are always looking for efficient power technology provides savings on our energy bill.
ways to streamline, simplify and integrate these. We now have 81% of our sites in SA and 88.7% in International
Another huge benefit of being part of Vodafone is the access it on our own transmission, which reduces our network running
gives us to their global procurement programme. Vodafone has costs, allowing us to carry data at a far lower cost than leasing it,
with the added benefit of being able to expand our data network
strategic agreements with some of the worlds leading companies
for very little incremental cost.
to deliver innovative products and services. Handsets, network and
IT equipment are for the most part negotiated and bought centrally Where possible we passively share our network sites, or utilise
through the Vodafone Procurement Company (VPC). We make use the sites of other parties, to reduce operating expenses, to
of these centralised benefits wherever we can but with due reduce the impact on the environment and to ease the pressure
on planning authorities. Network sharing is pursued in all our
consideration of local procurement requirements and targets, such
markets. In South Africa, more than half of the sites occupied by
as those included under BBBEE in South Africa.
Vodacom are shared sites. Furthermore, in South Africa and
Besides the pricing benefits that come with Vodafones scale, other Tanzania, we participate in national roaming agreements.
benefits of VPC include:
Access to world-class methods and standards that help us We continue to invest in subsidising phones
improve our processes; for ourcustomers to allow them cheaper access
Less administration as some of our global suppliers are managed to our network, as well as investing in our
directly by VPC; and wide distribution.
A stronger focus on working with our suppliers as strategic During the year in South Africa, we spent some R7.5 billion or about
partners. 16.0% of our service revenue in acquiring and retaining our
customers as well as remunerating our channels. But as our
customers want more expensive high-tier devices, we have needed
53
Multi-year initiatives
PEOPLE
Best talent
best practice
People pillars:
Enhancing Growing
diversity talent
Developing
skills
Our people are a key determinant of our success. We remain focused on growing and developing the talent,
skills and diversity we need, and on ensuring our people feel engaged, well-managed and included.
80
Achieve an
our business.
TARGET engagement
score of:
To ensure all our people are aligned when it comes to delivering
on our strategy, during the year, our CEO visited all our regions in
South Africa as part of the annual roadshow, and engaged with
55
Driving diversity gives us the benefit of different life experiences, One of the ways we invest in people is through our talent
perspectives and ideas that help us serve our customers better. programmes. One such programme is our International Assignee
programme through which we second employees to other
The representation of women remains a challenge for our business Vodafone operations and bring Vodafone employees to our
and for the broader telecommunications industry. Less than 50% Operations. This helps develop global thinking and gives our
ofour employees are women, and this difference becomes more peoplebroader perspectives.
pronounced at higher management levels. We are committed to
increasing the representation of women at all levels in our business. We manage talent through our Performance Dialogue programme,
Atasenior level, key appointments in the year contributed in some which involves monitoring performance against yearly goals and
way to addressing this challenge. Yolanda Cuba moved from our setting training and development objectives. The programme also
Board toour executive team as Chief Officer: Strategy and forms the basis for nurturing high-potential employees and
Development, Murielle Lorilloux was appointed as the first woman identifying candidates for succession.
ManagingDirector of our DRC operation and Lilian Barnard was
appointed as Chief Sales Officer: Enterprise Business Unit in Through the Succession and International Assignee programme,
SouthAfrica. Matimba Mbungela was promoted to ChiefHuman Resources
Officer and Godfrey Motsa was promoted toChief Officer:
We have grown black representation at senior management Consumer Business Unit, succeeding Phil Patel.
levelto53% and increased the representation of women in
seniormanagement to 32%. We continue to work on improving
ourdiversity. In the Group 74% of our employees are black and For more information on our talent development
44%are female. At an Executive Committee level 58% of our programmes refer to our human capital report online.
members are black and 17% are female, making this Executive
Committee the most transformed Executive Committee Vodacom
has ever had.
Refer to our human capital report for our targets and how We had no fatalities among our
we are progressing, and our transformation report for employees in any of our markets during
more on employment equity. HEALTH the year. However, we had two
fatalities in our supplier network
AND and the necessary steps were taken
Our Female Leaders in Waiting programme is a key initiative to
help achieve our target of 45.2% women representation at senior SAFETY against the suppliers. Our suppliers
are contractually obliged to adhere to
management level. Run in partnership with the Gordon Institute of
our absolute rules onsafety.
Business Science, this one-year programme supports high-potential
black women outside of Vodacom to build a talent pipeline. This Road accidents remain our biggest safety issue with 80%
year the programme was extended to women employees within of all incidents being road-related. During the year, we
Vodacom. Participants are offered unique access to our executives revised our occupational driving standard and its
through quarterly engagement sessions, mentorship as well as application has been extended to all suppliers. The
business insights. Seven of the 12 participants in the 2014 standard focuses on daily pre-trip inspections, mandatory
programme were placed in various roles in Vodacom. driver training, live vehicle tracking and monitoring, and
fit-for-purpose vehicles (including closed bakkies for
transporting people). We also launched a programme in
Developing skills which all Executive Committee members regularly call a
random sample of our contractors and staff reminding
them about safety.
The telecommunications industry is evolving fast and so are the
skills we need. One of our strategic focus areas is on providing new
services, which means we need to attract skills from outside our
traditional business areas to ensure that we have the right talent to
take our business into the future. The W8_2send (wait to send) campaign was launched in
all our operating companies during the year. The aim of
Graduates form an important pipeline to meet future core needs. the campaign is to raise awareness on
This year, we appointed a dedicated resource to enhance the the dangers of texting and driving. _2SEN 8
effectiveness of our two-year Graduate programme. For the 2015
W
IVE
TE
T
MEASURING
PERFORMANCE
Our annual People Survey, conducted by interact, share information and manage
independent consultants, tracks how engaged, employee concerns proactively.
well-managed and included our employees feel.
Our scores are compared to a high-performing The results of the People Survey have shown a
peer group and to other Vodafone Group significant gain in the employee NPS a key
companies. We use the Engagement Index measure in our peoples confidence in our
measure from the survey to check if, overall, products and services. What our people think
were creating the right environment for our of our products and services is a critical
people to excel and grow. determinant of customer experience. We are
working to improve our overall scores across all
The survey gives us an opportunity to listen markets in the year ahead, and are well on track
towhat our people are saying about our to achieve our goal of an overall Engagement
organisation and our managers. Not only that, Index score of 80 by the end of
itgives us an opportunity to do something the 2018 financial year.
about things that are frustrating and get in
theway of doing our best. By listening to this How weve done on employee engagement
feedback and taking action we have the
opportunity to make a real difference to the % 2015 2014 % change
engagement and ultimately, the profitability
andbrand of our organisation. Engagement
Index 76 75 1 ^ ~
point
Vodacom has an employee-elected Consultative
^ This item was included as part of the assurance process this year.
Committee, which serves as a platform to ~ Restated due to the change in the methodology in how the scores are calculated.
57
REPUTATION
Transform society and
build stakeholder
trust
Positive
Reputation pillars: impact
Maintaining
leadership
What we do changes peoples lives. We can deepen the contribution our business makes to society by
partnering with our stakeholders across the continent, and by working for the common good. Our reputation
as a proactive and trustworthy corporate citizen is so much more than social investment its fundamental
to our sustainability.
MAINTAINING LEADERSHIP
During the year Vodacom won a number of key external awards, thereby underpinning our focus on building stakeholder trust:
Vodacom won a Frost and Sullivan Award for We were awarded first place in both the consumer and
South African e-Education Technology Innovation business telecoms categories in the Sunday Times Top
Leadership. Brands 2014.
We are recognised as a best performer on the JSEs SRI We have retained our Level 2 BBBEE rating.
Index. This is thesixth year weve been included and In the annual Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) we
our third as a best performer. retained our lead in the telecoms sector in South Africa
We were ranked first in the telecoms sector and third with a score of 96%.
overall in the 2014 Top Companies Reputation Index We were ranked as the Coolest Telecoms Provider in the
published by Plus 94 Research. Sunday Times Annual Generation Next Survey.
58 Vodacom Group Limited Integrated Report for the year ended 31 March 2015
REPUTATION SURVEY
Over the last four years we have used our annual Reputation management. To this end, since August 2014, we have worked
Survey, conducted across key internal and external stakeholders, with our Operations to establish Reputation Steering Committees
to track our progress in managing our reputation and to oversee the design and execution of reputation strategies.
benchmarking our performance against our competitors and
other leading brands. SOCIOECONOMIC IMPACT
Conducting this survey has given us insight into the key drivers In the year, we extended our research to measure the
of our reputation. Our Operations are focusing on improving socioeconomic impact of our Operations over the past three
performance in the drivers of reputation where there are gaps. years. The intention was to retrospectively measure Vodacoms
impact and contribution to society as an operator supporting
For the current financial year, our research focus was on economic development, a contributor as a taxpayer and a
measuring the significant socioeconomic contribution Vodacom corporate citizen.
makes to the societies within which it operates. We will conduct
the Reputation Survey in FY2016.
For details of the results of the socioeconomic impact
MANAGING REPUTATION assessment refer to our stakeholder report online.
Maintaining our good reputation among stakeholders is a key
business asset that requires regular assessment and proactive
The table below summarises the results of the socioeconomic impact assessment for the three year period 2012 2015.
TO FIND Refer to our Public Finances For details on our targets For more on YeboYethu and
OUT MORE report online. refer to our Transformation trading in these shares visit
report online. www.yeboyethu.co.za
59
We established the Innovator Trust We continue to support education initiatives in our International
in 2014 with a loan facility of operations:
INNOVATOR R750 million over five years at a In the DRC we donated 1 500 desks to schools, and our ICT
lower than prime interest rate. centres at the universities of Kinshasa and Lubumbashi have
TRUST This funding is used to equip delivered over 100 computers with free internet access.
black entrepreneurs in the ICT In Lesotho, we have invested in the iSchool project, which
sector with the necessary business encourages more effective teaching through integrating
skills towork with the corporate sector. tablets in classrooms.
In Tanzania, we launched the Samsung Smart School project,
The Trusts mandate is two-fold: which aims to enhance teaching and learning at each school
Acquire YeboYethu shares and use the dividend yield to by supplying computers and training teachers.
empower black-owned and black women-owned SMEs
in the ICT sector.
Provide business training to these SMEs.
Vodacom Foundation
Education
Together with the Department of Basic Education (DBE) we
launched Vodacom e-school, which gives all grade 8 to 12 learners
in SouthAfrica access to classroom content. Vodacom e-school
iszerorated for all Vodacom customers on a mobile device.
Theinteractive portal supports the DBE in broadening access
tostudy material and assessment tools.
TO FIND Visit our learning portal For more on our education initiatives
OUT MORE http://myeducation.secure.vodacom.co.za/ refer to our Communities report online.
vodaschool/default.aspx
60 Vodacom Group Limited Integrated Report for the year ended 31 March 2015
Health
Using ICT technology we work together with our partners to drive
better health outcomes.
Our mobile application solution to manage the availability of
chronic disease medication is now in its second year and being
piloted by over 1 900 clinics. Health workers have been trained
to use mobile phones to manage stock levels of chronic
medication and avoid shortages atclinics.
Our partnership with the Smile Foundation enables the
organisation to provide cleft palate and facial reanimation
surgeries. In total, 27 children benefitted from this project in
thepast year.
In Lesotho, were working on a project to get more HIV-positive
children onto care and treatment programmes. In addition,
weare working with pregnant HIV-positive women to
preventmother-to-child transmission. The project uses a
text-to-treatment model to facilitate initiation of and
adherenceto antiretroviral therapy and uses m-pesa to
facilitatetransport for patients. We have undertaken similar
projects in Tanzania and Mozambique by utilising the SMS
platform to send reminders to patients about their
appointmentsand when to take their medication.
This year has been a ground-breaking year for the fitsula
campaign in Tanzania. We introduced a text-to-treatment
programme that has seen a significant increase in the number
of fitsula patients being referred for surgery. To date, 713 women
have received surgery and are now rebuilding their lives.
Safety
The national gender-based violence command centre in
SouthAfrica was awarded the Best Technology Innovation Award
bythe Contact Centre Management Group. The centre provides
support and counselling to victims of gender-based violence.
TheVodacom Foundation funded the development of the
technology used by the command centre. The resulting integrated
solution was developed in collaboration with our subsidiaries
Afrigisand Mezzanine.
TO FIND For more on our health initiatives refer to our For more on our safety initiatives refer to our
OUT MORE Communities report online. Communities report online.
61
Empowerment
is at the heart
of everything we do
and touches
every part
of our business.
62 Vodacom Group Limited Integrated Report for the year ended 31 March 2015
Creating long-term
shareholder value, which
requires that we continue to deliver
value to our customers, is an important
consideration in allocating our capital
efficiently. Our strong return on We invested over R13 billion
capital employed (ROCE) is evidence in capex, representing 17.2%
of our efficient use of capital. of our revenue. The increased
capital intensity was in line with
We allocate our capital efficiently to our three-year accelerated capex
projects that will create long- programme. This is focused on widening
term value for shareholders. voice and data coverage and capacity, and
continually improving network quality as a
key differentiator. The investment programme,
which is mostly debt financed, resulted in an
increase in depreciation and finance charges.
For the year, we updated our medium-term (three-year) capital
intensity guidance to between 14% and 17% from 11% and 13%,
with FY2015 the first year of higher investment.
Our net debt to EBITDA ratio remains low at 0.6 times, giving us
sufficient capacity to finance our capex programme and to take
advantage of any merger and acquisition opportunities.
Financial highlights
Revenue (Rm) EBITDA (Rm)
75 711
77 333
25 253
27 314
26 905
the One-Off impact of the write-off, EBITDA grew 5.9% (1.4%***)
at an EBITDA margin of 28.6%. The International operations
contributed 15.3% to Group EBITDA.
Up 2.1% Down 1.5%
Strong performances from both segments in the fourth quarter
2013
2014
2015
2013
2014
2015
Operating free cash flow (Rm) EPS (cents) HOW WILL YOU MAINTAIN COST EFFICIENCY?
It was especially important to maintain cost discipline in
A the year to help offset the impact of lower MTRs. Over the
past four years, weve managed our costs very tightly in South
Africa. In FY2015, we continued to scrutinise each line of opex to
find opportunities to take out costs and increased our procurement
through the Vodafone Procurement Company, which gives us the
benefits of global purchasing power on network equipment, devices
18 158
19 410
14 003
903
864
2014
2015
2013
2014
2015
13 305
21 216
23 743
21 643
9 456
2014
2015
2013
2014
2015
build our own transmission network and optimise network costs and
channel costs, and consolidate more office buildings across regions.
HEPS (cents) DPS1 (cents)
Notes:
1. Total dividend declared for the year.
* Normalised growth adjusted for trading foreign exchange and at a constant
currency (using current year as base) (collectively foreign exchange).
** Growth adjusted for foreign exchange and the MTR impact in South Africa.
*** Growth adjusted for foreign exchange, the MTR impact in South Africa, the release
775
872
896
860
785
825
2014
2015
2013
2014
2015
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON CAPITAL WHAT ARE YOUR EXPECTATIONS FOR THE YEAR
ALLOCATION? AHEAD?
Creating long-term shareholder value, which requires We faced many headwinds in our major markets
A that we continue to deliver value to our customers, is an A inFY2015; however, looking forward, the improvement in
important consideration in allocating our capital efficiently. the fourth quarter gives us cause for cautious optimism.
Our strong ROCE is evidence of our efficient use of capital. Ourmedium-term (three-year) guidance remains unchanged
We allocate our capital efficiently to projects that will create at low single digit service revenue growth, mid single digit
long-term value for shareholders. EBITDA growth and capex of between 14% to 17%of Group
revenue. Ourguidance excludes the impact ofacquisitions.
Return on capital employed (%)
In South Africa the major impact of the cut in MTRs is now behind
us. Our pricing transformation in our contract customer base is
nearly complete, which should help to stabilise ARPUs.
58.0% average over
the past five years
In our International operations, fourth quarter performance in
Tanzania and the DRC also showed signs of improvement. In the
DRC, all operators are adhering to the new price floor. In Tanzania,
in the fourth quarter, we have reached the lapping effect of the
initial price reductions.
65.2
59.3
59.7
45.4
2014
2013
2012
2011
OPERATING
RESULTS
217
Staff expenses
3 232
(2 083)
(225)
18.2% Other
62 047
62 782
62 167
operating expenses
4.3%
Publicity expenses
68.0%
2014
Service revenue
Translation FX
2014
Service revenue*
Mobile interconnect*
Mobile voice*
Mobile messaging*
Mobile data*
Other service
revenue*
2015
Service revenue
9.5%
Staff expenses Direct expenses
Notes:
1. Service revenue benefitted from a One-Off adjustment of R325 million relating to a change in the accounting estimate of un-recharged vouchers reported in the first-half of the
year and R164 million due to the consolidation of XLink in the second-half.
2. Excluding depreciation, amortisation, impairment losses and BBBEE charge income/charge.
66 Vodacom Group Limited Integrated Report for the year ended 31 March 2015
73
EBITDA growth was 3.4%*** with an EBITDA margin of 35.9%***.
(174)
South Africas EBITDA declined 1.1%, negatively impacted by MTRs,
(340)
(3)
with EBITDA margin contracting slightly to 36.8% (2014: 37.4%).
Adjusted growth in EBITDA for the year, excluding the impact of
(1 215)
1 250
MTRs, SA One-Off and trading foreign exchange, expanded 3.8%***
with an EBITDA margin of 37.4%***.
27 314
27 387
26 905
an EBITDA margin of 26.1%. Excluding the International One-Off1
impact and foreign exchange, EBITDA grew 1.4%*** with an EBITDA
margin of 29.0%***.
2014 EBITDA
Trading and
translation forex
2014 EBITDA*
2015 EBITDA
Other
Trading forex
MTR impact
Note:
1. EBITDA was impacted by a One-Off adjustment of R405 million relating to the
write-off of current assets in the DRC (International One-Off).
* Normalised growth adjusted for trading foreign exchange and at a constant
currency (using current year as base) (collectively foreign exchange).
** Growth adjusted for foreign exchange and the MTR impact in South Africa.
*** Growth adjusted for foreign exchange, the MTR impact in South Africa, the release
of un-recharged vouchers due to a change in accounting estimate, service revenue
impact R325 million and EBITDA impact R309 million and the consolidation
ofXLink effective 1 April 2014 (South Africa only), service revenue impact
R164million and EBITDA impact R79 million and the write-off of current assets
(International only), EBITDA impact R405 million.
All growth rates quoted are year-on-year growth rates unless stated otherwise.
Operating profit
Year ended 31 March % change
Rm 2015 2014 2013 14/15 13/14
Group operating profit decreased 5.7% to R19 235 million mainly due to lower EBITDA, an 11.7% increase in depreciation and amortisation as
a result of our accelerated capex programme, as well as a loss of R180 million recognised from associates. Operating profit in South Africa
decreased 3.0% to R17 699 million due to lower EBITDA and an increase in depreciation and amortisation as a result of a 26.1% increase in
capex. International operations operating profit decreased 27.7% to R1 569 million due to lower EBITDA, an increase in depreciation and
amortisation as a result of an 18.8% increase in capex and a R180 million loss recognised from associates.
67
During the year, average debt increased as a result of debt financing capex, working capital requirements, refinancing existing short-term
borrowings and funding the acquisition of an additional 17.2% interest in Tanzania. Average cost of debt also increased by 0.4 ppts to 7.1%.
These resulted in finance costs increasing 65.3% to R1 737 million, partially offset by gains on derivatives as a result of the weakening of the
rand exchange rate to other currencies.
Taxation
The tax expense of R5 341 million is 9.7% lower than the prior year (2014: R5 918 million). The Groups effective tax rate decreased slightly
from 30.2% to 29.9%. In the prior year, the effective tax rate was higher due to the non-deductible BBBEE expenditure incurred.
Earnings
HEPS decreased 4.0% to 860 cents and EPS decreased by 4.3% to 864 cents. The decline in both HEPS and EPS stems largely from MTR cuts
in South Africa, increased depreciation and finance charges as a result of accelerated capex funded largely through debt, offset by a lower tax
charge and lower minority interest. Minority interest for the year decreased due to losses in the DRC, lower net profit in Tanzania and the
acquisition of an additional 17.2% interest in Tanzania.
Headline earnings per share (cents per share) Headline earnings per share (cents per share)
2014 2015
Other 7 Other 4
Segment performance
South Africa
Year ended 31 March % change
Rm 2015 2014 2013 14/15 13/14
Note:
Effective from 1 April 2013, Vodacom and Vodafone changed the classification within service revenue from voice, messaging and data revenue to mobile customer revenue,
separating in- and out-of-bundle customer revenue for both prepaid and contract customers, mobile incoming revenue and other service revenue. This information is presented
on this new basis for the 2013, 2014 and 2015 financial years.
As a result of the above changes certain reclassifications have been made between service revenue and revenue, prior periods have been restated.
69
Revenue grew 0.4% to R62 037 million, with a notable effectively to target customers with affordable offers below the line,
improvement in the fourth quarter growth of 4.7% compared to the move customers from legacy plans to new prepaid price plans, and
same quarter last year. Strong data and equipment revenue growth, engage customers before they become inactive.
especially in the fourth quarter, were the main contributors.
Equipment revenue represented 22.7% (2014: 20.3%) of total Data revenue grew 23.4% to R13 538 million (21.9% excluding the
revenue, up 12.2% for the year. We sold ten million devices in the XLink adjustment), supported by more affordable devices, increased
year, supported by device financing and more affordable device bundles sold and greater coverage. Data monetisation and
price points, as part of our strategy to put data capable devices into efficiency improved in the fourth quarter, with data revenue growth
the hands of more customers. More than three million low-cost of 31.0% (of which 5.6 ppts related to the XLink adjustment) and
smart devices were sold, including Vodacom-branded Smart Kicka data traffic growth of 47.5%, compared to the same quarter last
and Smart Tab, which sold over onemillion since launch in the year. Data now makes up 28.8% of service revenue (2014: 22.7%),
third quarter. with active data customers up 9.4% to 16.6^ million customers and
M2M customers up 15.9% to 1.7 million. The number of active
Service revenue declined 2.7% to R47 032 million impacted by smart data devices on the network increased 29.7% to 11.6 million
a50% cut in MTRs in April 2014. Excluding the MTR impact of (of which 9.3 million are smartphones, 1.1 million are tablets and
R2.0billion, service revenue grew 1.5% and returned to growth in 1.2 million are modems), fuelled by more affordable devices. The
the fourth quarter. Growth in data and in our enterprise business average amountof data used per month increased 37.9% to 342MB
were the main drivers of service revenue. Service revenue on smartphones and 12.3% to 829MB on tablets. The launch of
benefitted from a One-Off adjustment of R325 million relating affordable daily and hourly bite size data bundles (e.g. R3 for
to a change in the accounting estimate of un-recharged vouchers 50MB and R10 for 100MB) drove data adoption and supported the
reported in the first-half of the year and R164 million due to the shift of prepaid customers to bundle usage, with prepaid data
consolidation ofXLink in the second-half (collectively SA One-Off). bundle sales up 139.2%.
Customer service revenue was flat at R41 316 million, despite a New services, which include m-pesa, financial services, M2M and
17.7% reduction in the blended average effective price per minute content have been identified as a new growth pillar. m-pesa is
as a result of our pricing transformation programme. This was offset slowly gaining traction in South Africa, with one million registered
by growth in outgoing voice traffic of 12.5% and growth in data m-pesa customers signing up since launch and 76 000# actively
traffic of 63.1%. Our strategy of offering best value to customers using the service. Revenue from our insurance business grew
was executed through targeting a clear segmented approach, 36.0%, boosted by an increase in device insurance. To build scale in
offering bundles at affordable and competitive prices, together with M2M, we leveraged off the Vodafone global M2M platform to launch
delivering worry-free integrated plans to customers. additional applications in target industries.
Contract active customers, excluding M2M, increased 2.5% to EBITDA declined 1.1% to R22 837 million, with a slight contraction
4.9million. Higher gross connections and a 2.6 ppt reduction in in EBITDA margin of 0.6 ppts to 36.8%. Excluding the impact of
churn to 9.2%, supported by a proactive retention campaign, were MTRs, EBITDA grew 4.2%. EBITDA benefitted from the SA One-Off
the main drivers of this growth. Contract pricing transformation is ofR387 million. Higher network operating costs due to our
nearing completion, with 77.9% of contract customers migrated accelerated capex programme, a trading foreign exchange loss and
from voice centric plans to integrated plans. Contract in-bundle an exchange rate driven increase in other operating costs not
spend increased to 69.3% (2014: 64.6%), reducing exposure to denominated in South African rand offset tight cost management,
out-of-bundle prices and protecting us from competing services. with savings in publicity, commissions and transmission lease costs.
Hybrid contract transformation is gaining traction, with 54.8% of Solid operational execution in the second-half of the year delivered
hybrid customers switching to uChoose packages, which give H2 EBITDA growth of 2.8% (compared to the same period last year)
customers access to integrated plans with an option to access with a margin of 37.6%.
prepaid promotions on an ad hoc basis. ARPUs declined 2.3%
year-on-year to R380; excluding the impact of interconnect Capex grew 26.1% to R8 646 million. This was as a result of our
revenue, ARPUs were flat year-on-year. accelerated capex programme, which focused on coverage, capacity
and network quality. To support data growth andgive customers the
Prepaid active customers increased 1.8% to 27.2 million best data experience, we increased the number of 3G sites by 21.4%
customers. This was largely due to shifting customers to to 8 802 sites, covering 96% of the SouthAfrican population.
value-based offers, resulting in a higher proportion of prepaid voice The number of LTE/4G sites more than doubled to 2 600 sites,
revenues generated from voice bundle offers. Pricing transformation covering 35% of the population. A six-year project to upgrade
has made us more competitive, with 6.3 million customers now the radio access network (RAN) with LTE/4G ready equipment
engaged in bundles. In the fourth quarter, we sold an average of was completed during the year with self-provided high-speed
53million voice bundles a month. Our customer value management transmission extended to 81.3% of sites. Fibre to the business and
system, which helps us understand customers needs, was used fibre to the home services were soft-launched during the year.
# Number of unique customers who have generated revenue related to any m-pesa activities in relation to m-pesa revenue in the past 90 days, of these 42 000 have been active in
the past 30 days in South Africa.
^ These items were included as part of our assurance process this year.
70 Vodacom Group Limited Integrated Report for the year ended 31 March 2015
Segment performance
International
Year ended 31 March % change
Rm 2015 2014 2013 14/15 13/14
Service revenue grew 10.0% (4.5%*) to R15 291 million, EBITDA declined 3.6% (-7.6%*) to R4 104 million and EBITDA
underpinned by strong customer growth of 13.7% to 29.5 million margin contracted by 3.5 ppts to 26.1% (2014: 29.6%). A One-Off
customers. Challenges were encountered in Tanzania and the DRC adjustment of R405 million relating to the write off of current
due to aggressive pricing pressures. In Tanzania, corrective action assets in the DRC (International One-Off) was the main contributor
was taken to repair pricing, resulting in better revenue growth in to the decline.
the fourth quarter. The suspension of data and SMS services in
the DRC as a result of unrest, negatively affected performance in Excluding the International One-Off impact, EBITDA grew 5.9% at an
the fourth quarter. However, voice pricing stabilised, with all EBITDA margin of 28.6%. The International operations contributed
operators adhering to the new price floor, which became effective 15.3% to Group EBITDA.
on 1 March 2015. Mozambique and Lesotho delivered solid Capex grew 18.8% to R4 654 million as we continued to invest
performances for the year. significantly in all our markets to differentiate our offering in terms
of network coverage and performance. To support wider voice
Data revenue grew 32.9% with data contributing 19.9% of service
coverage and significant data growth, 2G and 3G sites were
revenue (2014: 16.5%) supported by a 28.7% increase in active data
increased by 29.4% and 50.5% respectively. Vodacom was the first
customers to 9.9 million, representing 33.4% of the customer base.
operator to launch LTE/4G services in Lesotho.
m-pesa continues to gain momentum in all of our markets, with During the year, the Group acquired an additional 17.2% stake in
active customers of 8.0 million#, up 34.2% and revenue growth of Tanzania for R2.6 billion, which was funded through debt.
27.5%. InTanzania, we launched m-pawa in partnership with the
Commercial Bank of Africa, a savings and loans product based on a
mobile platform. We also launched International Money Transfer
services. 1.8 million customers are actively using m-pawa.
# Number of unique customers who have generated revenue related to any m-pesa activities in relation to m-pesa revenue in the past 90 days, of these 5.6 million have been active
in the past 30 days in International.
73
Notes:
1. Active customers are based on the total number of mobile customers using any service during the last three months. This includes customers paying a monthly fee that entitles
them to use the service even if they do not actually use the service and those customers who are active while roaming.
2. Active data customers are a number of unique users who have generated revenue related to any data activities in the reported month (this excludes SMS and MMS messaging users).
A unique user is a customer who needs to be counted once regardless of what data services they have utilised. A user is defined as a count of all active customers that have
generated data revenue for a contractual monthly fee for this service or have used the service during the reported month.
3. Minutes of use (MOU) per month is calculated by dividing the average monthly minutes (traffic) during the period by the average monthly active customers during the period.
4. Total ARPU is calculated by dividing the average monthly service revenue by the average monthly active customers during the period. ARPU has been restated to only include
servicerevenue generated from Vodacom mobile customers.
74 Vodacom Group Limited Integrated Report for the year ended 31 March 2015
Revenue
Group 2.1 (1.0) 1.1 2.6 3.7 (0.6) 3.1
Group excluding
only the MTR change 2.1 n/a n/a n/a 2.7 4.8 n/a n/a
International 9.7 (5.7) 4.0 4.0 4.0
South Africa 0.4 0.4 3.2 3.6 (0.8) 2.8
Service revenue
Group 0.2 (1.2) (1.0) 3.2 2.2 (0.8) 1.4
Group excluding
only the MTR change 0.2 n/a n/a n/a 3.2 3.4 n/a n/a
International 10.0 (5.5) 4.5 4.5 4.5
South Africa (2.7) (2.7) 4.2 1.5 (1.1) 0.4
Data revenue
South Africa 23.4 23.4 23.4 (1.5) 21.9
Total cost
International 14.0 0.4 (6.5) 7.9 7.9 (3.8) 4.1
South Africa 1.7 (0.7) 1.0 2.0 3.0 (0.3) 2.7
EBITDA
Group (1.5) 1.0 (0.6) (1.1) 4.4 3.3 0.1 3.4
International (3.6) (0.5) (3.5) (7.6) (7.6) 9.0 1.4
International excluding
only the One-Off
adjustment (3.6) n/a n/a n/a n/a 9.5 5.9
South Africa (1.1) 1.3 0.2 5.3 5.5 (1.7) 3.8
South Africa excluding
only the MTR change (1.1) n/a n/a n/a 5.3 4.2 n/a n/a
Note:
* Normalised growth adjusted for trading foreign exchange and at a constant currency (using current year as base) (collectively foreign exchange).
** Growth adjusted for foreign exchange and the MTR impact in South Africa.
*** Growth adjusted for foreign exchange, the MTR impact in South Africa, the release of un-recharged vouchers due to a change in accounting estimate, service revenue impact
R325 million and EBITDA impact R309 million and the consolidation ofXLink effective 1 April 2014 (South Africa only), service revenue impact R164million and EBITDA impact
R79 million and the write-off of current assets (International only), EBITDA impact R405 million.
75
Revenue
Group 77333 77333 1990 79323 (489) 78834
Group excluding
only the MTR change 77333 n/a n/a n/a 1990 79323 n/a n/a
International 15747 15747 15747 15747
South Africa 62037 62037 1990 64027 (489) 63538
Service revenue
Group 62167 62167 1990 64157 (489) 63668
Group excluding
only the MTR change 62167 n/a n/a n/a 1990 64157 n/a n/a
International 15291 15291 15291 15291
South Africa 47032 47032 1990 49022 (489) 48533
Data revenue
South Africa 13538 13538 13538 (164) 13374
Total cost
International 11569 (53) 11516 11516 (405) 11111
South Africa 39224 (114) 39110 775 39885 (102) 39783
EBITDA
Group 26905 174 27079 1215 28294 18 28312
International 4104 53 4157 4157 405 4562
International excluding
only the One-Off
adjustment 4104 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 405 4509
South Africa 22837 114 22951 1215 24166 (387) 23779
South Africa excluding
only the MTR change 22837 n/a n/a n/a 1215 24052 n/a n/a
76 Vodacom Group Limited Integrated Report for the year ended 31 March 2015
Revenue
Group 75711 787 76498
Group excluding only the MTR change 75711 n/a n/a n/a
International 14356 787 15143
South Africa 61806 61806
Service revenue
Group 62047 735 62782
Group excluding only the MTR change 62047 n/a n/a n/a
International 13895 735 14630
South Africa 48316 48316
Data revenue
South Africa 10974 10974
Total cost
International 10146 (80) 610 10676
South Africa 38566 172 38738
EBITDA
Group 27314 (88) 161 27387
International 4256 80 161 4497
International excluding only the One-Off adjustment 4256 n/a n/a n/a
South Africa 23087 (172) 22915
South Africa excluding only the MTR change 23087 n/a n/a n/a
The reconciliation represents cumulatively adjusted growth excluding the impact of foreign exchange gains/losses and at a constant currency
(using current year as base), MTR cuts, SA One-Off and International One-Off. The presentation of the pro-forma information is the
responsibility of the directors of Vodacom Group Limited. The purpose in presenting this information is to assist the user in understanding
the underlying growth trends in these segments. It has been prepared for illustrative purposes only and may not fairly present the financial
position, changes in equity, and results of operations or cash flows of Vodacom Group Limited. This pro-forma information has been reviewed
and reported on by the Groups auditors, being PricewaterhouseCoopers Inc. Their unqualified reporting accountants report thereon is
available for inspection at the Companys registered address.
Notes:
1. The reported percentage change relates to the year-on-year percentage growth from 31 March 2014 to 31 March 2015. The Groups presentation currency is the South African
rand. Our International operations include functional currencies mainly in United States dollar, Tanzanian shilling and Mozambican metical. The prevailing exchange for the current
and comparative periods is disclosed below.
2. Trading foreign exchange (FX) are foreign exchange gains/losses on foreign-denominated monetary assets and liabilities resulting from trading activities of entities within
the Group.
3. Translation foreign exchange (FX) arises from the translation of the results, at average rates, of subsidiaries functional currencies to Vodacoms presentation currency, being the
SouthAfrican rand. The exchange variances are eliminated by applying the current periods average rate (which is derived by dividing the individual subsidiarys translated rand
value with the functional currency for the year) to prior year numbers, thereby giving a user a view of the performance, which excludes exchange variances. The prevailing exchange
rates for the current and comparative periods are disclosed below.
4. The mobile termination rate impact on revenue is calculated by using the current years mobile incoming voice minutes at last years MTR rate and the impact on costs is
calculated by using the current years mobile outgoing voice minutes at last years MTR rate. The EBITDA impact is calculated as the net effect of the impact on revenue less the
impact of costs.
5. The SA One-Off impact was calculated as the sum of the impact of the change in the accounting estimate of un-recharged vouchers reported in the first-half of the year and the
impact of the consolidation of XLink in the second-half. The International One-Off impact relates to the write off of current assets in the DRC.
Exchange rates
Average Closing
31 March % change 31 March % change
2015 2014 2013 14/15 13/14 2015 2014 2013 14/15 13/14
USD/ZAR 11.07 10.13 8.51 9.3 19.0 12.14 10.52 9.25 15.4 13.7
ZAR/MZN 2.89 3.01 3.42 (4.0) (12.0) 3.03 2.98 3.33 1.7 (10.5)
ZAR/TZS 154.72 160.44 187.30 (3.6) (14.3) 152.63 155.69 174.90 (2.0) (11.0)
EUR/ZAR 13.99 13.59 10.97 2.9 23.9 13.03 14.49 11.86 (10.1) 22.2
77
FINANCIAL POSITION
AND RESOURCES
Assets
Property, plant and equipment
Property, plant and equipment increased by 16.7% to R35959million, mainly due to net additions of R11 087 million anda foreign currency
translation gain totalling R395 million, partially offset by a depreciation charge of R6 334 million.
Intangible assets
At 31 March 2015, intangible assets were R7 603 million (2014:R5369 million) with software comprising the largest element at
R3 977 million (2014: R2 913 million) followed by goodwill at R2 304 million (2014: R1 856 million) and customer bases at R816 million
(2014: R45 million). During the year, the Group capitalised R2 100 million additions, comprising mainly computer software and recognised
amortisation of R1 247 million in profit and loss. Effective 11 November 2014, the Group acquired its customer base from Nashua for
R1 018 million and recognised the fair value of the customer base of R800 million as well as related goodwill of R442 million as part of
intangible assets.
Capital expenditure
Year ended 31 March % change
Rm 2015 2014 2013 14/15 13/14
South Africa 8 646 6 858 6 967 26.1 (1.6)
International 4 654 3 919 2 864 18.8 36.8
Corporate and eliminations 5 2 (375) 150.0 100.5
Capital expenditure 13 305 10 779 9 456 23.4 14.0
Capital intensity1 (%) 17.2 14.2 13.5
Note:
1. Capital expenditure as a percentage of revenue.
Current assets s.a.r.l. of R10 576 million, of which R2 576 million was utilised for
Current assets consist of financial assets, inventory, trade and the acquisition of an additional 17.2% interest in Vodacom Tanzania
otherreceivables, non-current assets held for sale, finance lease Limited. The remainder was utilised to finance capex and working
receivables, tax receivable and cash and cash equivalents. capital requirements and to refinance existing short-term
At31March 2015, current assets increased by R2 566 million to borrowings. Additionally, the Group refinanced a R3000million
R25 353 million compared to the prior year. The largest contributor facility with Vodafone Luxemburg s.a.r.l. that became payable during
to the increase was an increase in cash and cash equivalents of the current financial year. The Group also secured external funding
R3123million on the prior year. Financial assets increased by to the value of US$75 million in Vodacom Congo (RDC) SA to
R194million due to an increase in deposits from m-pesa customers finance capex and working capital requirements and to repay
and a decrease in investments held for insurance purposes totalling short-term borrowings.
R600 million, partially offset by the receipt of repayment on a loan
receivable during the current year of R406 million. Non-current Tax liabilities
assets held for sale reduced by R475 million as assets were Tax liabilities increased from R1 630 million in the prior year
transferred to HTT as part of the tower deal concluded in the prior toR1940 million at 31 March 2015. Deferred tax liabilities
year. Trade and other receivables were in line year-on-year. The increasedby R166 million, primarily due to an increase in capital
inventory holding at year end was higher compared to the prior year allowances in South Africa and Mozambique, as well as the
driven by acquisitions of recently launched high-end handsets. decreasein tax losses due to utilisation in Mozambique. Current tax
liabilities increased by R144 million due to under-estimate of
Total equity provisional taxes. This liability is expected to be settled by
30September 2015.
Total equity decreased from R23 743 million at 31 March 2014 to
R21 643 million at 31 March 2015, contributed by R12 510 million Other non-current liabilities
net profit for the year, a R278 million favourable foreign currency
Other non-current liabilities comprising trade and other payables
translation movement and an increase in the share-based payment
and provisions of R984 million at 31 March 2015 increased by
reserve of R99 million being offset by dividends of R11 909 million
R249million from last year, mainly as a result of the reallocation of
and the repurchase, sale and vesting of shares of R168 million.
the BEE liability from equity following the establishment of the
Included in the favourable foreign exchange movement is a
Innovator Trust to acquire YeboYethu shares from the black public.
R269million profit (2014: R380 million profit), net of tax, relating to
Provisions declined due to the conversion of a portion of the
foreign-denominated loans to subsidiaries classified as part of the
employee benefit provisions to shares in the share-ownership
net investments in these foreign operations. The Group acquired an
scheme and settling of other sundry provisions.
additional 17.2% interest in Vodacom Tanzania Limited, resulting in a
R2 576 million impact on equity for the year. Also during the year, Other current liabilities
the Group advanced BBBEE through direct shareholding in YeboYethu
Other current liabilities consist of trade and other payables,
Limited (YeboYethu) by the establishment of the Innovator Trust.
provisions, dividends payable and bank overdrafts. At31March2015,
The Innovator Trust utilised the loan funding obtained from Vodacom
other current liabilities increased to R21081million from
(Pty) Limited to acquire YeboYethu sharesfrom the black public. As a
R20 883 million in the prior year. The increase in trade and other
result, the Group reclassified R322million from equity to liability in
payables can be attributed to an increase in capex creditors of
terms of IFRS 2: Share-basedpayments.
R395 million in line with investment roll-out while deferred revenue
declined by R205 million, mostly due to a change in estimate
Liabilities regarding revenue recognition of un-recharged vouchers in
Borrowings South Africa, as well as a change in carry-over rules of unused
Total borrowings increased from R13 750 million at 31 March 2014 bundles. Provisions reduced by R78 million, mainly from a reduction
to R25 659 million at 31 March 2015. The increase is attributable to in long-term employee incentive provisions due to vesting and
an increase in the facility with Vodafone Investments Luxemburg settlement of historical schemes.
79
Creating long-term
shareholder value,
which requires that we
continue to deliver value
to our customers, is an
important consideration
in allocating our
capital efficiently.
80 Vodacom Group Limited Integrated Report for the year ended 31 March 2015
LIQUIDITY
AND CAPITAL RESOURCES
Net debt increased by R8 708 million to R16 760 million. The main contributors to the increase in net debt was the acquisition of an
additional 17.2% stake in Tanzania, the acquisition of Vodacoms customer base from Nashua and increased capex as a result ofour
accelerated capex programme.
Compared to the same period last year, 92.3% (2014: 93.7%) of debt was denominated in rand. R5 731 million (2014: R4 402 million) of
debtmatures in the next 12 months and 87.6% (2014: 77.5%) of interest bearing debt (including bank overdrafts) was at floating rates.
During the year a loan with a nominal value of R2 576 million was raised from Vodafone Investments Luxembourg s.a.r.l. (Vodafone) to
finance an additional stake of 17.2% in Tanzania. The loan which is unsecured, matures on 25 April 2019 and bears interest payable quarterly
at three-month JIBAR plus 1.2%. An additional loan was raised from Vodafone with a nominal value of R8 000 million, to finance capex,
working capital requirements and refinance existing short-term borrowings, extending our debt maturity profile. The loan is repayable on
26 November 2019 and bears interest quarterly at three-month JIBAR plus 1.5%. The DRC raised external loans totalling US$75million
to fund capex, working capital requirements and to repay short-term borrowings. The loans are repayable between 2 October 2019 and
12 December 2019 and bear interest quarterly at three-month LIBOR plus 2.45% to approximately 3.10%.
Net debt
Year ended 31 March Movement
Rm 2015 2014 2013 14/15 13/14
Bank and cash balances 9 250 6 127 6 528 3 123 (401)
Bank overdrafts (380) (335) (340) (45) 5
Borrowings and net derivative financial instruments (25 630) (13 844) (14 195) (11 786) 351
Net debt (16 760) (8 052) (8 007) (8 708) (45)
Net debt/EBITDA (times) 0.6 0.3 0.3
Cash flow
Free cash flow
Year ended 31 March % change
Rm 2015 2014 2013 14/15 13/14
Cash generated from operations 26 198 28 901 25 320 (9.4) 14.1
Cash capital expenditure1 (12 195) (9 491) (7 162) 28.5 32.5
Operating free cash flow 14 003 19 410 18 158 (27.9) 6.9
Tax paid (4 979) (5 298) (5 323) (6.0) (0.5)
Net finance costs paid (1 152) (892) (667) 29.1 33.7
Net dividends paid to minority shareholders (109) (35) (32) >200.0 9.4
Free cash flow 7 763 13 185 12 136 (41.1) 8.6
Operating free cash flow declined by 27.9% to R14 003 million. Operating free cash flow was impacted by lower EBITDA, increased capex, and
timing differences associated with accounts payable in South Africa. Free cash flow decreased by 41.1% as a result of the decline in operating
free cash flow, as well as increased net finance costs due to an increase in average net debt for the year.
81
(12 195)
(1 152)
(-41.1%)
(4 979)
26 905
26 198
14 003
7 763
(109)
2015 EBITDA
Working capital
and other1
Cash generated
from operations
Cash capital
expenditure2
Operating
free cash flow
Net finance
costs paid
Tax paid
2015
free cash flow
Notes:
1. Working capital includes R511 million favourable cash flow movement due to an increase in amounts due to m-pesa account holders.
2. Cash capital expenditure comprises the purchase of property, plant and equipment and intangible assets, other than licence and spectrum payments, net of cash flow
from disposals.
82 Vodacom Group Limited Integrated Report for the year ended 31 March 2015
FIVE-YEAR
HISTORIC REVIEW
Compound
2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 growth %
FIVE-YEAR
HISTORIC REVIEW PER SEGMENT
Compound
2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 growth %
South Africa
Revenue (Rm) 62 037 61 806 58 607 56 932 53 371 3.8
EBITDA (Rm) 22 837 23 087 22 408 21 254 19 653 3.8
Capital expenditure (Rm) 8 646 6 858 6 967 5 100 4 573 17.3
EBITDA margin (%) 36.8 37.4 38.2 37.3 36.8
Capex intensity (%) 13.9 11.1 11.9 12.3 9.6
Active customers1 (thousand) 32 115 31 520 29 190 28 009 n/m n/a
Number of employees 5 228 4 829 5 006 5 065 n/m n/a
Total ARPU2 (rand per month) 113 125 128 153 n/m n/a
Estimated mobile penetration (%) 153 146 140 128 n/m
International
Revenue (Rm) 15 747 14 356 11 583 10 426 8 196 17.7
EBITDA (Rm) 4 104 4 256 2 739 1 461 840 48.7
Capital expenditure (Rm) 4 654 3 919 2 864 1 679 1 208 40.1
EBITDA margin (%) 26.1 29.6 23.6 14.0 10.2
Capex intensity (%) 29.6 27.3 24.7 16.1 14.7
Active customers1 (thousand) 29 533 25 969 21 327 18 894 13 939 20.6
Number of employees 2 372 2 210 2 115 2 076 1 997 4.4
Total ARPU2 (rand per month)
Tanzania 42 45 35 24 n/m n/a
DRC 32 35 33 35 n/m n/a
Mozambique 52 58 55 49 n/m n/a
Lesotho 53 46 53 68 n/m n/a
Total ARPU2 (local currency per month)
Tanzania (TZS) 6 530 7 213 6 516 5 251 n/m n/a
DRC (USD) 2.9 3.4 3.8 4.7 n/m n/a
Mozambique (MZN) 149 172 186 180 n/m n/a
Estimated mobile penetration (%)
Tanzania 64 57 55 49 37
DRC 41 35 28 21 16
Mozambique 41 39 32 32 29
Lesotho 75 82 65 57 49
Notes:
1. Active customers are based on the total number of mobile customers using any service during the last three months. This includes customers paying a monthly fee that entitles
them to use the service even if they do not actually use the service and those customers who are active while roaming.
2. Total ARPU is calculated by dividing the average monthly service revenue by the average monthly active customers during the period. Prepaid and contract ARPU only include
service revenue generated from Vodacom mobile customers.
84 Vodacom Group Limited Integrated Report for the year ended 31 March 2015
FINANCIAL
annual financial statements of the Group, as they do not contain
sufficient information to allow for a complete understanding
of the results and state of affairs of the Group. The audited
The summarised consolidated financial statements do not contain all the disclosures required by International Financial Reporting Standards
and the requirements of the Companies Act of South Africa as applicable to annual financial statements. Reading the summarised consolidated
financial statements, therefore, is not a substitute for reading the audited consolidated financial statements of Vodacom Group Limited.
Auditors responsibility
Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the summarised consolidated financial statements based on our procedures, which were
conducted in accordance with International Standard on Auditing (ISA) 810, Engagements to Report on Summary Financial Statements.
Opinion
In our opinion, the summarised consolidated financial statements derived from the audited consolidated financial statements of Vodacom
Group Limited for the year ended 31 March 2015 are consistent, in all material respects, with those consolidated financial statements, in
accordance with the requirements of the JSE Limited Listings Requirements for preliminary reports, set out in the Basis of preparation
paragraph on page 84 of the integrated report, and the requirements of the Companies Act of South Africa as applicable to summarised
financial statements.
PricewaterhouseCoopers Inc.
Director: D.B. von Hoesslin
Registered Auditor
Pretoria
29 May 2015
86 Vodacom Group Limited Integrated Report for the year ended 31 March 2015
SUMMARISED CONSOLIDATED
INCOME STATEMENT
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH
SUMMARISED CONSOLIDATED
STATEMENT OF COMPREHENSIVE INCOME
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH
1. Other comprehensive income can subsequently be recognised in profit or loss on the disposal of foreign operations and/or when the hedged item is recognised in profit or loss.
87
SUMMARISED CONSOLIDATED
STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL POSITION
AS AT 31 MARCH
Assets
Non-current assets 45954 37954 34434
Property, plant and equipment 35959 30802 27741
Intangible assets 7603 5369 5332
Financial assets 605 141 198
Investment in associate 306 367
Investment in joint venture 4 3
Trade and other receivables 763 659 196
Finance lease receivables 696 591 726
Deferred tax 18 22 241
Current assets 25353 22787 21157
Financial assets 2016 1822 1170
Inventory 1189 1069 861
Trade and other receivables 11559 11557 10971
Non-current assets held for sale 94 569
Finance lease receivables 1122 1284 1437
Tax receivable 123 359 190
Cash and cash equivalents 9250 6127 6528
SUMMARISED CONSOLIDATED
STATEMENT OF CHANGES IN EQUITY
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH
Equity
attributable Non-
to owners controlling Total
Rm of the parent interests equity
SUMMARISED CONSOLIDATED
STATEMENT OF CASH FLOWS
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH
NOTES
TO THE SUMMARISED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH
1. Segment analysis
External customer segment revenue 77333 75711 69917
South Africa 61710 61484 58464
International 15623 14227 11423
Corporate 30
EBITDA 26905 27314 25253
South Africa 22837 23087 22408
International 4104 4256 2739
Corporate and eliminations (36) (29) 106
Reconciliation of segment results
EBITDA 26905 27314 25253
Depreciation, amortisation and impairment losses (7581) (6785) (6378)
Broad-based black economic empowerment income/(charge) 47 (232)
(Loss)/profit from associate and joint venture (180) 3
Other 44 94 22
Operating profit 19235 20394 18897
Profit on disposal of subsidiary 224
Net finance charges (1384) (809) (687)
Finance income 346 333 117
Finance costs (1737) (1051) (927)
Net gain/(loss) on remeasurement and disposal of financial instruments 7 (91) 123
Vodacom Group Limited acquired 1 578 018 shares in the market during the year at an average price of R131.30 per share.
Share repurchases did not exceed 1% of Vodacom Group Limiteds issued share capital. Dividends per share calculations are based
on a dividend declared of R11 978 million (2014:R12 275million;2013:R11 978 million) of which R50 million(2014:R46 million;
2013:R78 million) was offset against the forfeitable share plan reserve, R5 million(2014: R4 million; 2013:R6 million) expensed
as staff expenses and R124 million(2014: R127 million; 2013:R124 million) paid to Wheatfields Investments 276(Pty) Limited,
a wholly-owned subsidiary holding treasury shares on behalf of the Group.
Headline earnings for headline earnings per share 12604 13133 12770
Adjusted for:
Dilutive effect of potential ordinary shares in subsidiary (268)
Headline earnings for diluted headline earnings per share 12336 13133 12770
92 Vodacom Group Limited Integrated Report for the year ended 31 March 2015
3. Related parties
The amounts disclosed in notes 3.1 and 3.2 include significant balances and transactions with the Groups joint venture, associate
and parent, including entities in its group.
4. Capital commitments
Capital expenditure contracted for but not yet incurred 2205 2390 3254
6. Borrowings
6.1 Vodafone Investments Luxembourg s.a.r.l.
During the year, loans with nominal values of R2 576 million and R8 000 million were raised to finance capital expenditure,
the additional 17.2% interest in Vodacom Tanzania Limited and working capital requirements and to refinance existing short-term
borrowings. The loans bear interest payable quarterly at three-month JIBAR plus 1.20% and 1.50% respectively. They are both
unsecured. The loans have a five-year term and are ultimately repayable on 25 April 2019 and 26 November 2019 respectively.
A loan with a nominal value of R3 000 million matured during the year and was refinanced. The repayment term was extended
from the original repayment date of 23 November 2014 to 24 November 2017 and the new interest rate is three-month JIBAR
plus 1.15%.
8. Contingent liabilities
8.1 Guarantees
The Group issued various guarantees, relating to external financial obligations of its subsidiaries, which amounted
to R113 million(2014: R93 million; 2013:R65million).
Foreign denominated guarantees amounting to R911 million(2014 and 2013: RNil) were issued in support of Vodacom Congo (RDC)
SA relating to liabilities included in the consolidated statement of financial position.
On 15 December 2014 Cell C (Pty) Limited (Cell C) filed an application with the High Court of South Africa to review the call
termination rates.The Group subsequently opposed Cell Cs application. The matter is still to be heard.
94 Vodacom Group Limited Integrated Report for the year ended 31 March 2015
10.1 Dividend declared after the reporting date and not recognised as a liability
A final dividend of R5 952 million (400 cents per ordinary share) for the year ended 31 March 2015, was declared on 14 May 2015,
payable on 29 June 2015 to shareholders recorded in the register at the close of business on 26 June 2015. The net dividend
after taking into account dividend withholding tax for those shareholders not exempt from dividend withholding tax is
340.00000 cents per share.
BUSINESS
PRINCIPLES
The 11 business principles underlying the Vodacom Code of Conduct are:
Complying with all relevant laws, standards and Protecting the environment and improving the
1 principles.
7 environmental and social benefits of products and
services.
How we should act to achieve compliance with all
relevant laws. How we require employees to be familiar with
environmental laws, look for opportunities to reduce
waste and dispose of materials carefully, limit travelling
Basing business decisions on economic, social and and make the most of online options.
2 environmental criteria and maintaining financial integrity.
How we spend Company money, keep accurate records, Building trust within communities and investing in
8 socialupliftment.
manage contracts, consider health and safety when
contracting suppliers and minimise our impact on the
environment. How we are sensitive to the needs of communities, listen
to and actively communicate with them and get involved
in social development through the Vodacom Foundation
Voicing our opinions on industry issues while taking an in each country we operate in.
3 apolitical stance.
How we are proactive and are thought leaders in our Protecting the health and safety of our customers,
engagement with governments and other stakeholders, 9 employees, partners and communities.
but do not make political party contributions.
How we require all employees to comply with the
Vodacom Absolute Rules, report all infringements and
Communicating openly with stakeholders while act quickly to investigate and recommend
4 maintaining commercial confidentiality. improvements.
How we respect and protect customer privacy Ensuring adherence to the Vodacom Way and Code of
and guard against inappropriate or unwanted 11 Conduct.
communication or spam.
How employees make sure their own and others actions
are in accordance with our values and business
Basing employee relationships on respect for individuals principles and report violations of the Code of Conduct.
6 and their human rights.
RISK MANAGEMENT
REPORT
Vodacoms risk and control procedures are well-developed and enhanced on an ongoing basis. The risk
management framework was updated during the past year to align with ISO 31000 and other risk management
best practices. The updated framework is being rolled out across the Group, which will make up-to-date risk
management information and dash boards available to management. All updates of operational and tactical
risks are currently being done on the new risk management system.
JOHAN VAN GRAAN CHIEF RISK OFFICER
The Board reviews the critical and high strategic risks regularly Committee members and Managing Directors of each operating
andapproves the Groups risk appetite yearly. Directors consider company. Certain specialised risks, such as health and safety,
strategic risks when they formulate strategy, approve budgets technology security and electromagnetic frequency, have separate
andmonitor progress against business plans. structures that monitor the processes and projects related to
managing these risks. These structures report to the GRMC.
The Groups Audit, Risk and Compliance Committee (ARC
Committee) is responsible for monitoring the risk management Line management throughout the Group are responsible for
function and processes, and assessing significant risks facing the managing risk. The Risk Group, which reports to the Chief Risk
Group. This includes monitoring the technology governance Officer, guides and assists them.
framework and associated risks.
Risk Management Committees in each operation oversee the
The Group Risk Management Committee (GRMC) is responsible for process. The respective Managing Directors chair these committees,
managing risk and implementing appropriate controls. The Chief which include the Executive Committee members in each country.
Risk Officer chairs the GRMC and it includes Group Executive
Risks are assessed based on their potential impact on the operation (customers, Assess
business systems and employees), financial position and reputation (stakeholders and their impact
brand). At level 1 the risk impact is seen as insignificant and at level 5 as catastrophic.
For example, if more than half of our customers would be impacted by the risk, the impact
would be classified as level 5.
Assess Risks are assessed based on the likelihood of them happening after taking into
their account the controls that are already in place to mitigate them. Again we use a
scale from 1 to 5, where 1 is never and 5 is almost certain. When we rate a risk
likelihood likelihood as 5, it means the controls in place will not prevent the risk from happening
due to factors outside our control or the control effectiveness is poor.
We classify risks as critical, high, medium and low based on the impact and Classify
likelihood score. Where a risk has a high likelihood of occurring and the impact on our the risk
operations, financial position or reputation is also high it would be considered critical.
Treat Management reviews all critical and high risks to determine which of these need
the risk additional treatment to reduce the risk to a medium or low. One such type treatment
is the implementation of additional controls.
All risks are captured on the newly implemented risk management system. Risks are
Monitor
monitored continually and reviewed every six months. Quarterly risk reports are and report
provided to the GRMC, the ARC Committee and the Board.
98 Vodacom Group Limited Integrated Report for the year ended 31 March 2015
Context We comply with a wide range of We are facing increased The value of our investments in
requirements that regulate the competition in all our markets. our markets may be negatively
licensing, construction and Our ability to compete affected by political, economic,
operation of our networks in effectively depends on network tax and legal developments
ouroperating countries. In quality, capacity and coverage, beyond our control or due
particular, the decisions of pricing of services and devices, topublic sector corruption.
regulators on granting spectrum quality of customer services, Inparticular, the mobile
licences as well as wholesale developing new and improved communications industry
and retail tariffs may affect us products and services in canoften be subject to
negatively. response to customer demands, unpredictable, higher direct
new technologies, the reach and indirect taxes in the
and quality of our sales and countries we operate in.
distribution channels, and
capital resources. In particular,
driving down prices to stay
competitive, along with
increased capital investment to
support growth in traffic, may
negatively impact our financial
performance.
Major network and billing Complying with competition Customer privacy Consumer protection
infrastructure failures legislation
We operate complex mobile The South African competition Our ability to protect sensitive The National Consumer
networks that rely on third authorities have been actively customer information is Commission (NCC) has focused
parties to provide power or targeting different industry material to building trust with on the interpretation of specific
transmission. Network and sectors, with the Competition our customers and to our provisions of the Consumer
billing infrastructure may also Commission launching reputation. The POPI Act, was Protection Act (CPA), relating to
be damaged by natural disasters full-scale enquiries into signed into law in South Africa prohibiting the forfeit of unused
or terrorism. In particular, non-competitive practices. We in December 2013, provides minutes and data, handset
network outages may may face penalties, reputational for a one-year implementation subsidies, international roaming
negatively impact customer damage, or lose stakeholder period. POPI impacts almost costs and subscriber fixed-term
usage, revenue and our and shareholder confidence all business areas and requires contractual terms. Adverse
reputation. ifwe do not comply with significant changes in the way interpretation of certain
therequirements of the in which electronic and paper provisions and non-compliance
SouthAfrican Competition Act. records are collected and with the CPA may result in
processed. We may be subject regulatory intervention with
to regulatory intervention and associated financial losses and
reputational harm if we fail to reputational harm.
comply with POPI within the
stipulated timeframe.
We have comprehensive All new products and We have implemented the We have made changes to
business continuity and services are reviewed for Vodafone Global Privacy our customer agreements to
disaster recovery plans compliance with all Framework and toolkit in all ensure they are compliant
in place. applicable laws, including our markets. with the CPA.
We invest in maintaining and the Competition Act, before We are responding to the Engagement continues with
upgrading our networks on being approved for launch. requirements for South the NCC on other provisions
an ongoing basis. Detailed evaluations of the Africa through an enterprise of the CPA that are unclear.
We are self-providing impact of new products and project across all areas of We participate in industry
transmission links on critical services, promotions, business. Awareness and bodies that aim to resolve
routes in our networks to campaigns and tariff training form part of the such issues for the benefit of
reduce reliance on external enhancements are done in project. the industry.
parties. terms of the Electronic Regulatory Affairs continues
We are making investments Communications Act. to engage with key
to ensure adequate All distribution channel stakeholders as we
redundancy capabilities agreements have been implement the necessary
where feasible. updated to comply with processes to comply with
We have comprehensive legislative changes. POPI.
insurance in place.
We continue to consider dual
generator and alternative
energy supply solutions
where feasible.
100 Vodacom Group Limited Integrated Report for the year ended 31 March 2015
ABRIDGED CORPORATE
GOVERNANCE REPORT
The Board conducts its meetings with professionalism and integrity together with open
and robust debate.
The Board recognises the need to conduct the business in accordance with the
principles of the King Code of Corporate Practices and Conduct (King III). These
principles include discipline, independence, responsibility, fairness, social
STATEMENT OF responsibility, transparency and the accountability of directors to all stakeholders.
COMPLIANCE
A number of these principles are entrenched in the Groups internal controls,
policies and procedures governing corporate conduct.
Our King III
The Board is satisfied that every effort has been made in the financial year assessment register
to 31 March 2015 (the year) to comply in all material aspects with King III. is available online at
Where we do not comply, this is stated and explained. www.vodacom.com
The following diagram shows the Groups governance structures as at 31 March 2015:
Executive
Board directors
Vodacom has a unitary Board of 12 directors, of whom five (including the Chairman) are
independent non-executive directors, five are non-executive (but not independent as 2
they represent Vodafone) and two are executive directors. Although King III recommends
that more than half of non-executive directors are independent, the Board is satisfied In
no depe
5 5
n-e nd n-
that the balance of power and objectivity on the Board is sufficient and does not require dir xec ent No utive
ect uti c rs
additional independent voices. ors ve exe recto
di
Accountability
The Board takes overall responsibility for Vodacoms success. Its role is to exercise leadership and sound judgement in directing Vodacom to
achieve sustainable growth and act in the best interests of shareholders.
In line with best practice, the roles of Chairman and Chief Executive Officer are separate. The Chairman is responsible for leading the Board
and the Chief Executive Officer for the operational management of the Group.
Ensuring
Approving that appropriate
major capital governance structures,
projects, acquisitions policies and
or divestments procedures
Exercising are in place
objective judgement Ensuring
Oversight
on the Groups the effectiveness
of the Groups
business affairs, of the Groups
strategic direction
independent from internal controls
The Board management Approving
Charter details Approving the senior
the responsibilities the annual budget management structure,
of the Board, and operating plan responsibilities and
which include: succession plans
Approving
Reviewing the annual and
Technology
and evaluating interim financial results
governance
the Groups risks and shareholder
communications
Directors Chairman
Vodacoms memorandum of incorporation specifies that non- The memorandum of incorporation requires the Board to re-elect
executive directors have no fixed term of appointment. Executive the Chairman annually, in line with King III. Peter Moyo was
directors are subject to standard employment terms and conditions re-elected on the anniversary of his appointment in May 2015.
and a six-month notice period. Directors are subject to retirement
by rotation and re-election by shareholders at least once every Independent advice
three years. Any director appointed to fill a temporary vacancy
The Board recognises that there may be occasions where directors
mustretire at the first annual general meeting following their
consider it necessary to take independent professional advice. This
appointment.
is done at the Companys expense according to agreed procedure.
102 Vodacom Group Limited Integrated Report for the year ended 31 March 2015
Board meetings
The Board holds a minimum of four meetings, two teleconferences and a strategy session every year. Special Board meetings are convened
when necessary. No special Board meetings were convened during the year.
The table below records the attendance of directors at Board meetings for the year. Attendance of meetings was exemplary for the year.
MP Moyo
MS Aziz Joosub
DH Brown
YZ Cuba1
IP Dittrich
HMG Dowidar
M Joseph
PB Mabelane2
TM Mokgosi-Mwantembe
PJ Moleketi
JWL Otty
RAW Schellekens
S Timuray
Notes:
1. YZ Cuba resigned 31 October 2014.
2. PB Mabelane appointed 1 December 2014.
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
AUDIT, RISK AND COMPLIANCE COMMITTEE
Current members:
During the year, the Executive Committee included the Chief DH Brown (Chairman), PB Mabelane, PJ Moleketi.
Executive Officer (Chairman), Chief Financial Officer, Chief Human
Resources Officer, Chief Officer: Corporate Affairs, Executive
Further details of the activities of the Audit, Risk and
Director: Finance Vodacom South Africa, Chief Operating Officer: Compliance Committee can be found in its standalone
International, Chief Technology Officer, Chief Officer: Legal and report in the audited annual financial statements online
Regulatory, Chief Officer: Strategy and New Business, Chief Officer: at www.vodacom.com
Consumer Business Unit, Chief Officer: Customer Operations and
Chief Officer: Enterprise Business Unit.
The Remuneration Committee, in consultation with executive The Nomination Committees duties include identifying and
management, ensures that the Groups senior executives are fairly evaluating suitable potential candidates for appointment to the
rewarded for their individual contributions to overall performance Board, as well as candidates for the position of Chief Executive
and in line with Vodacoms remuneration policy. Officer and Chief Financial Officer. The authority to appoint directors
remains a function of the Board. The committee also makes
The membership of the Remuneration Committee does not comply recommendations on the composition of the Board in terms of the
fully with King III or the JSE Listings Requirements, which advocate mix of skills, size and the number of committees required; and
a majority of independent non-executive directors. Of the non- reviews and approves executive succession.
executive directors on the committee, only half are independent.
Thoko Mokgosi-Mwantembe, the Chairman of the committee, and The membership of the Nomination Committee does not comply
David Brown are independent non-executive directors. The Board is fully with King III or the JSE Listings Requirements, which advocate
satisfied that Vodafones representation on this committee is a majority of independent non-executive directors. Of the non-
appropriate given the valuable contribution of the Vodafone executive directors on the committee, only half are independent.
directors. Serpil Timuray, the Vodafone Regional CEO for Africa, Peter Moyo, the Chairman of the committee, and Thoko Mokgosi-
Middle East and Asia Pacific, has oversight over Vodacom, and Mwantembe are independent non-executive directors. The Board is
Ronald Schellekens who is the Vodafone Human Resources satisfied that Vodafones representation on this committee is
Director. To address non-compliance with the JSE Listings appropriate given the valuable contribution of the Vodafone
Requirements, it was agreed with the JSE that the Chairman of the directors. Serpil Timuray, the Vodafone Regional CEO for Africa,
committee would have a casting vote in the event of any deadlock Middle East and Asia Pacific, has oversight over Vodacom,
or dispute that could arise. The mandate of the committee was andRonald Schellekens who is the Vodafone Human Resources
revised accordingly. Director. To address non-compliance with the JSE Listings
Requirements, it was agreed with the JSE that the Chairman of the
In the year, the Remuneration Committee met four times with committee would have a casting vote in the event of any deadlock
attendance as follows: or dispute that could arise. The mandate of the committee was
revised accordingly.
15 May 18 Aug 5 Nov 30 Mar
2014 2014 2014 2015 In the year, the Nomination Committee met four times with
Name of director Telecon
attendance as follows:
TM Mokgosi- 15 Mar 10 Sep 5 Nov 30 Mar
Mwantembe Name of director 2014 2014 2014 2015
RAW Schellekens
DH Brown MP Moyo
S Timuray TM Mokgosi-
Mwantembe
RAW Schellekens
PG 106 More detail on the activities of the Remuneration S Timuray
Committee can be found in the remuneration report.
Board evaluation
SOCIAL AND ETHICS COMMITTEE A Board evaluation led by the Chairman was conducted during the
Current members: year. Overall consensus was that the Board is working well, has a
PJ Moleketi (Chairman), MP Moyo, RAW Schellekens, good mix of directors and that there is a high commitment to work
MS Aziz Joosub in the best interest of Vodacom. The Board as a whole demonstrates
uniform clarity over the purpose of Vodacom and the ability to
There were no changes to the composition of the Social and Ethics be satisfied to the external environment. Although no significant
Committee during the year. Key executives attend meetings by weaknesses were identified, improvement areas which will be
invitation but have no vote, including the Chief Risk Officer, Group addressed going forward include greater focus on scenario
Company Secretary (Ethics Officer), Chief Human Resources Officer, planning, as well as on the International business.
Chief Officer: Corporate Affairs, Chief Officer: Legal and Regulatory
and Chief Officer: Customer Operations. Company Secretary
As required by the Companies Act, No 71 of 2008, as amended and All directors have access to the advice and services of the Group
King III, this committee oversees and monitors Vodacoms activities Company Secretary, Sandi Linford, who is responsible to the Board
in relation to: for ensuring compliance with procedures and applicable statutes
Social and economic development, including the principles of and regulations. For the Board to function effectively, all directors
the United Nations Global Compact, BBBEE, Employment Equity have full and timely access to information that helps them do their
and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and duties properly. This includes corporate announcements, investor
Developments (OECD) recommendations on corruption; communications and information about developments that may
Good corporate citizenship which includes promotion of affect Vodacom and its operations. Directors have full access to
equality, prevention of unfair discrimination, corporate social management as required.
responsibility, ethical behaviour and managing environmental
The Group Company Secretary is responsible for director training.
impacts;
The Group Company Secretary and Chief Executive Officer induct
Consumer relations;
new directors, which includes briefings on their fiduciary and
Labour and employment, including skills development; and
statutory responsibilities, as well as on the Groups operations as
Safety, health and environmental issues.
required.
The Social and Ethics Committee met four times during the year
with attendance as follows: Share dealings
Vodacom has a share dealing policy requiring all directors, senior
15 May 26 Aug 27 Oct 4 Mar
Name of director 2014 2014 2014 2015 executives and the Group CompanySecretary to obtain prior written
consent from either the Chairman or Chief Executive Officer to deal
PJ Moleketi in Vodacom Group shares. The Chairman has to obtain prior written
MP Moyo clearance from the Chairman of the Audit, Risk and Compliance
Committee. Closed periods are implemented as per JSE Listings
RAW Schellekens
Requirements, during which the Groups directors, executives and
MS Aziz Joosub
employees are not allowed to deal in Vodacom Group shares.
Additional closed periods are enforced should Vodacom be subject
The committees key focus areas during the year included: to any corporate activity requiring a cautionary announcement.
Reputation drivers;
Social impact of sponsorships;
BBBEE;
Shareholder relations
Customer service; and Vodacom proactively communicates its strategy and activities to
Diversity in the workplace. shareholders through a planned investor relations programme
which includes:
Formal presentations of annual and interim results;
The Social and Ethics Committee report is available
online at www.vodacom.com Briefing meetings with major institutional shareholders after the
release of results; and
Hosting investor and analyst sessions.
105
Risk management
Technology governance
Management continuously develops and enhances its risk and
control procedures to improve risk identification, assessment and
monitoring. The Board considers business risks when setting In line with King III, technology governance forms part of our
strategies, approving budgets and monitoring progress against governance structures, policies and procedures. It forms part of the
budgets. Groups strategic and business processes and is managed by the
Chief Technology Officer.
A division reporting to the Chief Risk Officer assists in identifying,
assessing and recording the strategic risks facing the Group and, The Vodacom Technology Governance Framework and charter,
where appropriate, monitors mitigating actions. which is mapped to the IT governance principles of King III, has
been further extended this year. Each framework element is
Risks are managed at three distinct levels: Risk Management substantiated through demonstrable processes to align technology
Committees (RMCs), the Risk Group and line management. strategy and business needs, deliver value and manage
performance, and to strengthen information security management,
information management, risk management, business continuity
PG 96 The major strategic risks identified in the year are
detailed in the risk management report. management and compliance.
Stakeholder engagement
REMUNERATION
REPORT
For the 2016 financial year, there will be an increased focus on Ensure compliance with applicable laws and codes;
the customer, which will result in managements short-term and
incentive scheme having a higher weighting on the strategic Regularly monitor the application of the Groups
measure of customer appreciation. remuneration policy to ensure it is appropriate, fair
and reasonable from both an internal business
Thoko Martha Mokgosi-Mwantembe perspective as well as an external market perspective.
Chairman of the Remuneration Committee
107
Introduction
This report sets out Vodacoms remuneration policy for non-executive directors, executive directors and
prescribed officers. It describes how the policy has been implemented and discloses payments made to
non-executive and executive directors and prescribed officers during the year under review.
The Board reviews the fees for non-executive directors annually and recommends these fees to shareholders for approval at the AGM.
The Groups RemCo determines the policy for remunerating executive directors and prescribed officers.
THIS REPORT IS
DIVIDED INTO
TWO SECTIONS:
Guaranteed package (GP) To attract and retain the best talent. Fixed and delivered in 12 payments.
Internal and external equity. Reflects the scope and nature of
Provides competitive pay and rewards therole.
performance. Reviewed annually on 1 July.
Short-term incentive (STI) To drive a high-performance culture. Variable usually paid in cash in June
Motivates and rewards achievement of each year for performance over the
business and individual performance. prior financial year.
Keeps employees focused on the defined Directly linked to both business and
business imperatives. individual performance.
Long-term incentive (LTI) Drives sustainable longer term performance. Variable in the form of forfeitable
Retention of key skills by linking performance shares and dividends, which vest over
to long-term value creation. a three-year period.
Encourages loyalty and ownership, by
aligning the interests of executives to those
of the Group and its shareholders.
Wealth creation.
Flexible benefit programmes Our flexible benefit programmes offer Provide quality health and wellness
employees a variety of choice to meet benefits.
personal needs and positions us as an Financial protection in the event of
employer of choice. illness, disability or death.
Integrated approach to drive employee Retirement benefit, pension and/or
engagement. provident fund which are part of
theGP.
Recognition programmes Programmes designed as a platform for Formal recognition programmes that
employee recognition. recognises employees for living the
Vodacom Way.
Other programmes Position Vodacom as an employer of choice. Access to lifestyle benefits such as
staffdiscounts, preferential insurance
rates, etc.
109
RemCo reviews the total pay mix of executives every year and decides on the proportion of total remuneration paid as part of the guaranteed
package, or as short- and long-term incentives. Each element is linked to creating shareholder value and the strategic progress made in the
year. RemCo reviews targets and the on-target values for each element annually to ensure that it remains relevant, drives the right behaviours
and to ensure that we enhance overall shareholder value.
The on-target pay mix for executive directors and prescribed officers is shown below:
Reward benchmarking defined contribution provident scheme. Employees have the option
Fair and competitive reward is vital to being an employer of choice. to choose their level of contribution to the pension fund and also
RemCo reviews peer group data from the JSE telecommunications have the option to choose where they would like their money to be
and ICT sectors and other listed companies, using a weighted invested based on their own individual risk profile.
combination of market capitalisation, turnover, capital assets and Besides the retirement fund contributions, lump sum contributions
number of employees, when setting the total remuneration and the may also be made as part of the short-term incentive payment.
guaranteed packages of executives.
Normal retirement age for executive directors and other executives
Drawing comparisons with these sectors mitigates the risk of losing is 60 years. For all other employees it is 65 years.
skilled executives to competitors and are useful in setting
Vodacoms remuneration strategy. Employees can choose to participate in a nominated medical aid
scheme. We do not offer post-retirement medical benefits and have
Guaranteed package (GP) no such liabilities.
Vodacom adheres to a total cost to company philosophy referred In the unfortunate event of an employees death, a lump sum
toas the guaranteed package. All employees, including executive amount of three times annual pensionable salary (core cover) is
directors, receive a GP based on their roles, individual performance paid to the beneficiaries. If the employee had a qualifying spouse
and Group performance. All contributions to retirement, risk and and/or qualifying children upon death, a spouses pension of 40% of
insured benefits and healthcare benefits are included in the GP. monthly pensionable salary and a childs pension of 10% of
Increases in the GP for employees are based on a review of market monthly pensionable salary becomes payable.
data, consideration of their individual performance and pay levels, All employees have the option to select additional death cover of
and the business priorities of the Group. up to seven times their annual pensionable salary, inclusive of the
All permanent employees, including executive directors and compulsory core cover of three times annual pensionable salary.
prescribed officers, are required to join the Vodacom Group Pension These additional contributions are calculated as a percentage of
Fund, which is a defined contribution pension scheme. Executives pensionable salary.
also participate in the Vodacom Group Executive Provident Fund, a
110 Vodacom Group Limited Integrated Report for the year ended 31 March 2015
Short-term incentives (STIs) more than 100% of the on-target bonus is paid, but in all cases the
All employees, including executive directors and prescribed officers, cash bonus is capped at a percentage of the GP. Where the bonus
with the exception of those employees who are on a commission, targets are not achieved in full, a pro rata bonus is paid only if the
quarterly or bi-annual bonus structure, participate in an annual threshold performance level has been achieved.
short-term incentive plan. Bonus payments are discretionary and The on-target and bonus cap percentages are set out below:
payments made under the plan are dependent on both business
and personal performance. Payments are delivered in cash in Role On-target % Maximum %
June each year after finalisation of Vodacoms consolidated
annual financial results and no deferral is applied. CEO 100% 200%
Executive director 75% 200%
Where annual targets are achieved in full, 100% of the on-target Prescribed officers 50% 60% 150% 180%
bonus will be paid. In instances where target goals are exceeded,
Business performance
On-target incentive
GP 100%
multiplier
0% to 200%
The formula for determining the cash bonus for the executive directors1 is:
Business performance
On-target incentive Personal multiplier
GP 75%
multiplier
0% to 150%
0% to 200%
The formula for determining the cash bonus for the other prescribed officers is:
Business performance
On-target incentive Personal multiplier
GP 50% to 60%
multiplier
0% to 150%
0% to 200%
Note:
1. Bonus for executive directors is capped at 200%.
The business performance multiplier ranges from 0% to 200% The weighting for each measure is detailed below and for 2015/16
and the personal multiplier from 0% to 150%. The personal there will be an adjustment to the weighting and measures as
performance multipliers are based on the performance of detailed in the following table.
executives relative to their objectives. For the CEO only a business
multiplier is applied and follows the approach adopted by Vodafone % weighting 2015 2016
for large market CEOs within the Vodafone Group. The financial and
Service revenue 25% 20%
non-financial targets, as set by RemCo, are used for the calculation
EBITDA 25% 20%
of the business performance multiplier.
Operating free cash flow 25% 20%
For the FY2015/2016 there will be significant focus on customer Competitive performance1 25% 40%
experience and customer obsession, therefore, it was agreed at Note:
RemCo that the competitive performance measure in the STI 1. Change to customer appreciation for 2015/2016.
framework be replaced with customer appreciation, furthermore
the weighting for the four performance measures for the
2015/2016 GSTIP will be 20% for each of the three financial
measures and 40% on the non-financial strategic measure.
111
These weightings align short-term incentives to our strategic focus set an annual award, based on the performance and potential
on revenue growth and market performance. The Group business of the individual.
performance multiplier is used for the CEO and executive directors.
For prescribed officers the business performance multiplier is based Role On-target value %
on a weighted average of the multipliers for the relevant operating
CEO1 90%
company and the Group.
Executive directors 60%
Prescribed officers 45% 60%
Long-term incentives (LTIs)
Notes:
It is critical for the Company to retain skills, motivate and incentivise 1. Further long-term incentives, in addition to the standard annual award above are
executive directors and other employees over the longer term. LTIs offered to Mr Aziz Joosub provided that he meets an annual co-investment
support the Company to meet these objectives, which are crucial to requirement, which are all subject to performance conditions. The additional
incentives offered and associated conditions are:
sustainable performance. An additional award of Vodacom performance shares with an on-target value of
50% of his GP, provided that he invests in Vodacom shares to the value of 50% of
Vodacom Forfeitable Share Plan (FSP) his GP; and
An additional award of Vodafone performance shares with an on-target value of
The FSP was introduced in 2009 and this is our main long-term 50% of his GP, provided that he invests in Vodafone shares to the value of 50% of
incentive plan. Although it is focused on executives and senior his GP. Mr Aziz Joosub may only take advantage of the additional Vodafone share
management, other employees may be selected to participate. award if he has met the full Vodacom co-investment requirement. His investment
in both Vodacom and Vodafone shares must be on an ever-increasing basis to
Non-executive directors are not eligible to participate. qualify for the additional awards.
The purpose of the FSP is to provide executives and other Vodafone Performance Share Plan
selectedemployees with the opportunity to earn shares in
The CEO and the prescribed officers who have been seconded from
Vodacom Group Limited, by way of a forfeitable share award.
Vodafone (Messrs Gough, Patel and Streichert) participate in the
Thismeans that participants receive shares (including dividend
Vodafone Performance Share Plan. This plan has two performance
andvoting rights) on the date of the award but those shares are
conditions: adjusted free cash flow and relative total shareholder
subjectto restrictions and risk of forfeiture during a three-year
return (TSR) against a peer group median. Vesting is based on
vesting period. FSP awards are granted annually.
meeting these conditions after a three-year performance period.
A portion of the forfeitable award is subject to meeting the
Executive directors and other prescribed officers
following performance targets:
Share allocation are as follows:
Performance 33% awarded as Vodacom retention FSP shares;
period Measures applied 33% awarded as Vodacom performance FSP shares; and
33% awarded as Vodafone performance shares.
2012 2015 Cumulative operating free cash flow
This is to provide alignment and synergy with the Groups parent
2013 2016 Cumulative operating free cash flow (70%) Company Vodafone Plc., which RemCo believes is also in the
Total shareholder return (30%) interests of the Vodacom Groups shareholders. The portion of
totalvariable pay (STI and LTI) related to Vodafone performance
2014 2017 Cumulative operating free cash flow (70%) isnot excessive for the prescribed officers and the Groups own
Total shareholder return (30%) performance remains the critical driver of variable pay.
For the CEO, executive director and prescribed officers, the standard Executive director 100% x GP
on-target value of FSP awards (as a percentage of GP at target level) Prescribed officers 50% x GP
is reflected in the next table. For executive directors and prescribed
officers the standard awards may be multiplied by 0% to 200% to
112 Vodacom Group Limited Integrated Report for the year ended 31 March 2015
Following this date, we will aim to facilitate the sale of these shares
to qualifying members of the South African public through the
online YeboYethu Limited trading platform, which was launched for
black South Africans in February 2014.
113
SECTION
The annual GPs for our prescribed officers in the year are set out in the table below:
The average increase in GPs paid to executive directors and prescribed officers in 2015 was 4.7%, compared to 5% paid to the rest of
our employees.
Remuneration tables1
Short-term
R GP Other2 incentive3 Total
2015
Executive directors
MS Aziz Joosub 7212500 4800 3715700 10933000
IP Dittrich 4701000 4800 1541316 6247116
Prescribed officers
ADJ Delport 4041250 1919 169 5960419
R Kumalo 3600000 4800 655620 4260420
V Jarana 3587500 4800 1545812 5138 112
M Makanjee 2763000 3228 1040200 3806428
NC Nyoka 3558533 4643 1685 124 5248 300
M Nkeli4 222919 2675034 2897953
G Hagel ( ) 165546 74401 239947
G Hagel 1000000 600000 445800 2045800
N Gough8 () 169883 71434 51880 293197
N Gough8 1099524 1099524
P Patel (HK$)9 2926500 2927410 1117844 6971754
P Patel9 1474530 1474530
M Mbungela5 2383333 4400 1062490 3450223
YZ Cuba6 1854167 4450000 688823 6992990
T Streichert7 () 193350 55487 79037 327874
T Streichert7 1088296 1088296
Short-term
R GP Other incentive Total
2014
Executive directors
MS Aziz Joosub 6 887 500 4 800 6 088 200 12 980 500
IP Dittrich 4 515 500 4 800 3 021 898 7 542 198
Prescribed officers
ADJ Delport 3 828 000 2 484 577 6 312 577
R Kumalo 3 393 500 4 800 1 063 483 4 461 783
V Jarana 3 337 386 4 800 1 877 677 5 219 863
M Makanjee 2 626 500 2 137 1 239 863 3 868 500
NC Nyoka 3 405 098 4 536 2 047 044 5 456 678
M Nkeli 2 665 150 1 563 289 4 228 439
G Hagel ( ) 40 375 200 375 24 480 265 230
G Hagel 250 000 50 000 146 100 446 100
N Gough () 286 811 49 555 120 918 457 284
N Gough 831 358 831 358
P Patel (HK$) 2 842 000 207 169 1 669 046 4 718 215
P Patel 613 890 613 890
J Dennelind 331 648 331 648
J Dennelind ( ) 89 284 89 284
Notes:
1. This table excludes settlement of long-term incentives and accruals.
2. This includes a mobile phone benefit, a sign-on bonus and termination benefit. For assignees this amount includes the gross value of assignment allowances, accommodation,
car benefits and education benefit for children.
3. These amounts relate to the bonus payable in June 2015, for the year ended 31 March 2015.
4. Resigned 30 April 2014.
5. Appointed 1 May 2014.
6. Appointed 1 November 2014.
7. Appointed 1 April 2014.
8. Stepped down on 31 October 2014.
9. Resigned 31 March 2015.
115
MS Aziz Joosub
Conditional benefit restricted shares
2014 208 610 208 610 132.69 27 680 461
Deferred bonus incentive scheme
2008 4 591 4 591 July 2014 3 650 442
FSP with Company performance conditions
2014 193 182 193 182 66.35 12 817 626
2015 148 570 148 570 66.35 9 857 620
YeboYethu units
2008 2 628 498 2 628 498 0.170 446 845
IP Dittrich
FSP no Company performance conditions
2013 52 493 52 493 132.69 6 965 296
2014 5 809 5 809 132.69 770 796
2015 4 936 4 936 132.69 654 958
FSP with Company performance conditions
2013 19 436 19 436 66.35 1 289 579
2014 11 618 11 618 66.35 770 854
2015 9 871 9 871 66.35 654 941
YeboYethu units
2012 788 229 788 229 0.170 133 999
Note:
1. For FSP with Company performance conditions, a vesting percentage of 50% is applied.
116 Vodacom Group Limited Integrated Report for the year ended 31 March 2015
ADJ Delport
Conditional benefit restricted shares
2014 112 321 112 321 132.69 14 903 873
Deferred bonus incentive scheme
2008 2 226 2 226 July 2014 1 769 959
FSP no Company performance conditions
2012 8 481 8 481 July 2014 1 108 467
2013 5 438 5 438 132.69 721 568
2014 4 907 4 907 132.69 651 110
2015 4 189 4 189 132.69 555 838
FSP with Company performance conditions
2012 17 523 16 016 1 507 July 2014 2 093 291
2013 10 213 10 213 66.35 677 633
2014 16 257 16 257 66.35 1 078 652
2015 8 378 8 378 66.35 555 880
YeboYethu units
2008 1 287 774 1 287 774 0.170 218 922
V Jarana
Conditional benefit 7 469 152
Conditional benefit restricted shares
2014 26 208 26 208 132.69 3 477 540
Deferred bonus incentive scheme
2008 1 659 1 659 April 2014 1 067 832
FSP no Company performance conditions
2012 39 715 39 715 July 2014 5 190 751
2013 5 236 5 236 132.69 694 765
2014 6 534 6 534 132.69 866 996
2015 3 789 3 789 132.69 502 762
FSP with Company performance conditions
2012 11 622 10 623 999 July 2014 1 388 426
2013 9 833 9 833 66.35 652 420
2014 18 736 18 736 66.35 1 243 134
2015 7 577 7 577 66.35 502 734
YeboYethu units
2008 1 567 336 1 567 336 0.170 266 447
Note:
1. For FSP with Company performance conditions, a vesting percentage of 50% is applied.
117
R Kumalo
Conditional benefit restricted shares
2013 26 166 26 166 132.69 3 471 967
2014 6 435 6 435 132.69 853 860
Deferred bonus incentive scheme
2008 1 659 1 659 July 2014 1 319 121
FSP no Company performance conditions
2012 41 278 41 278 July 2014 5 395 035
2013 4 010 4 010 132.69 532 087
2014 6 081 6 081 132.69 806 888
2015 3 844 3 844 132.69 510 060
FSP with Company performance conditions
2012 12 423 11 355 1 068 July 2014 1 484 099
2013 7 531 7 531 66.35 499 682
2014 17 912 17 912 66.35 1 188 461
2015 7 689 7 689 66.35 510 165
YeboYethu units
2008 1 567 336 1 567 336 0.170 266 447
NC Nyoka
Conditional benefit restricted shares
2014 15 852 15 852 132.69 2 103 402
Deferred bonus incentive scheme
2008 2 042 2 042 July 2014 1 623 655
FSP no Company performance conditions
2012 8 974 8 974 July 2014 1 172 902
2013 3 322 3 322 132.69 440 796
2014 3 755 3 755 132.69 498 251
2015 2 752 2 752 132.69 365 163
FSP with Company performance conditions
2012 18 541 16 946 1 595 July 2014 2 214 842
2013 6 238 6 238 66.35 413 891
2014 13 234 13 234 66.35 878 076
2015 5 504 5 504 66.35 365 190
YeboYethu units
2008 1 928 567 1 928 567 0.170 327 856
Note:
1. For FSP with Company performance conditions, a vesting percentage of 50% is applied.
118 Vodacom Group Limited Integrated Report for the year ended 31 March 2015
M Makanjee
FSP no Company performance conditions
2013 5 811 5 811 132.69 771 062
2014 2 525 2 525 132.69 335 042
2015 2 125 2 125 132.69 281 966
FSP with Company performance conditions
2013 3 637 3 637 66.35 241 315
2014 5 050 5 050 66.35 335 068
2015 4 251 4 251 66.35 282 054
YeboYethu units
2012 944 229 944 229 0.170 160 519
YZ Cuba
FSP no Company performance conditions
2015 54 562 54 562 132.69 7 239 832
M Mbungela
Conditional benefit restricted shares
2014 27 589 27 589 132.69 3 660 784
FSP no Company performance conditions
2012 5 206 5 206 July 2014 680 424
2013 7 293 7 293 132.69 967 708
2014 5 965 5 965 132.69 791 496
2015 5 556 5 556 132.69 737 226
FSP with Company performance conditions
2012 3 586 3 278 308 July 2014 428 435
2013 4 565 4 565 66.35 302 888
2014 6 044 6 044 66.35 401 019
2015 11 113 11 113 66.35 737 348
YeboYethu units
2008 1 073 929 1 073 929 0.170 182 568
Note:
1. For FSP with Company performance conditions, a vesting percentage of 50% is applied.
119
2015
MP Moyo 1 900 000 1 900 000
DH Brown^ 330 000 243 333 120 000 50 000 743 333
YZ Cuba^1 188 334 84 167 272 501
HMG Dowidar 330 000 75 000 405 000
M Joseph 330 000 125 000 455 000
BP Mabelane^2 113 334 50 000 163 334
TM Mokgosi-
Mwantembe^ 330 000 210 000 110 000 650 000
PJ Moleketi^ 330 000 146 667 183 333 660 000
JWL Otty 330 000 125 000 455 000
RAW Schellekens 330 000 120 000 110 000 106 667 666 667
S Timuray 330 000 120 000 110 000 125 000 685 000
4 841 668 243 333 280 834 210 000 360 000 330 000 183 333 106 667 500 000 7 005 835
Notes:
Fees for a portion of the year.
Fees paid to Vodafone and not the individual director.
^ Independent non-executive directors received an amount of R2 000 in April 2014 and R3 000 in March 2015, for incidental expenses while travelling to Board meetings held in
Turkey and the United Kingdom respectively.
1. YZ Cuba resigned 31 October 2014.
2. BP Mabelane appointed 1 December 2014.
2014
MP Moyo 1 666 667 1 666 667
DH Brown 306 667 161 371 40 283 108 334 91 667 708 322
YZ Cuba1 217 957 98 414 316 371
HMG Dowidar2 47 054 47 054
M Joseph 306 667 66 667 373 334
A Kekana3 89 517 68 630 158 147
TM Mokgosi-
Mwantembe 306 667 . 188 334 93 334 588 335
PJ Moleketi 306 667 138 334 166 667 25 000 636 668
JWL Otty 306 667 91 667 398 334
NJ Read4 259 613 91 638 78 155 51 488 480 894
RAW Schellekens 306 667 108 334 93 334 100 000 25 000 633 335
S Timuray 306 667 16 696 15 179 15 179 353 721
Notes:
Fees for a portion of the year.
Fees paid to Vodafone and not the individual director.
1. YZ Cuba appointed 18 July 2013.
2. HMG Dowidar appointed 5 February 2014.
3. A Kekana resigned 18 July 2013.
4. NJ Read resigned 5 February 2014.
120 Vodacom Group Limited Integrated Report for the year ended 31 March 2015
ASSURANCE
Combined assurance
The Group has adopted a combined assurance model which identifies the key risk areas affecting the Group and maps the level of
assurance being provided by the different lines of defence. This assessment has been compiled with input from the risk management
and internal audit functions. This model is being rolled out into the business to improve the assessments regarding the levels of
assurance provided.
We have engaged with Ernst & Young to provide limited assurance on the key measures for each strategy for the year ended
31March2015 with a view of identifying any deficiencies or management controls that need to be in place to ensure a
reasonable assurance opinion from auditors.
Our South African business management system is ISO 14001 certified by Tuv Rheinland.
DIRECTORS RESPONSIBILITY
STATEMENT
The Board acknowledges its responsibility to ensure the integrity of the integrated report. The Board has applied its mind to the
integrated report and believes that it addresses all material issues, and presents fairly the integrated performance of the organisation
and its impacts. The integrated report has been prepared in line with best practice and the recommendations of King III (Principle 9.1).
The integrated report was approved by the Board on 2 June 2015 and signed on its behalf:
INDEPENDENT
ASSURANCE REPORT
TO THE DIRECTORS OF VODACOM GROUP LIMITED for the year ended 31 March 2015
We have completed our independent assurance engagement to enable us to express our limited assurance conclusions on whether
anything has come to our attention that causes us to believe that the specified Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) contained in the
Vodacom Group Limited Integrated Report (the Report) for the year ended 31 March 2015, have not been prepared, in all material respects,
in accordance with the basis of measurement identified by Vodacom Group Limited and is provided where the specified KPIs are reported
(managements sustainability criteria):
1. The percentage achieved in the Net promoter score as disclosed on page 30 of the Report;
2. The percentage achieved in the Brand leadership score as disclosed on page 30 of the Report;
3. New Services Revenue as a % of Service Revenue as disclosed on page 31 of the Report;
4. Data Revenue as a % of Service Revenue as disclosed on pages 3 and 31 of the Report;
5. Enterprise Revenue as a % of Service Revenue as disclosed on page 31 of the Report;
6. Revenue from Non-South African entities as a % of Service Revenue as disclosed on page 31 of the Report;
7. The percentage achieved in the Total Cost Growth vs. Revenue Growth as disclosed on page 31 of the Report;
8. Tonnes of CO2 (Scope 1 Emissions) arising from South African diesel usage at the office buildings, generators and company owned
vehicles (including petrol usage for company owned vehicles) as disclosed in the online version of the 2015 Integrated Report;
9. Tonnes of CO2 (Scope 2 Emissions) arising from South African electricity consumption of access and core network, data centres and
buildings nationwide as disclosed in the online version of the 2015 Integrated Report;
10. Tonnes of CO2 (Scope 3 Emissions) arising from South African business travel which includes air travel, hotel accommodation and car
rental as disclosed in the online version of the 2015 Integrated Report;
11. The percentage achieved in the Engagement index as disclosed on pages 3, 31 and 56 of the Report;
12. The percentage achieved in the Market Share for South Africa and International Operating Companies as disclosed on pages 15 and 30
of the Report; and
13. The Number of Active Data Customers as disclosed on pages 69 and 71 of the Report.
The specified KPIs noted above have been highlighted for identification purposes in the Report through the symbol ^.
Our responsibility in performing our independent limited assurance engagement is to Vodacom Group Limited only and in accordance with
the terms of reference for this engagement as agreed with them. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume
responsibility to anyone other than Vodacom Group Limited, for our work, for this report, or for the conclusions we have reached.
Directors responsibility
The directors are responsible for implementing a stakeholder engagement process to identify all relevant stakeholders, to identify key issues,
to respond appropriately to key issues identified, to determine those key performance indicators which may be relevant and material to the
identified stakeholders, and to design and presentation of the Report and the information and assessments contained in the Report in
accordance with the relevant criteria. This responsibility includes: designing, implementing and maintaining appropriate performance
management and systems to record, monitor and improve the accuracy, completeness and reliability of the sustainability data and to ensure
that the information and data reported meet the requirements of the relevant criteria, and contains all relevant disclosures that could
materially affect any of the conclusions drawn.
The directors are also responsible for the preparation of the specified greenhouse gas emissions in accordance with the Greenhouse Gas
Protocol: A corporate accounting and reporting standard (GHG Protocol).This responsibility includes the design, implementation and
maintenance of internal control relevant to the preparation of the specified greenhouse gas emissions that is free from material
misstatement, whether due to fraud or error. The quantification of the specified carbon emissions is subject to inherent uncertainty because
of incomplete scientific knowledge used to determine emissions factors and the values needed to combine emissions of different gases.
122 Vodacom Group Limited Integrated Report for the year ended 31 March 2015
In accordance with International Standard on Quality Control, Ernst & Young Inc. maintains a comprehensive system of quality control
including documented policies and procedures regarding compliance with ethical requirements, professional standards and applicable
legal and regulatory requirements.
We planned and performed our work to obtain all the information and explanations that we considered necessary to provide a basis
for our limited assurance conclusion pertaining to the specified KPIs, expressed below.
Where a limited assurance conclusion is expressed, our evidence gathering procedures are more limited than for a reasonable assurance
engagement, and therefore less assurance is obtained than in a reasonable assurance engagement.
Non-financial performance information is subject to more inherent limitations than financial information, given the characteristics of the
subject matter and the methods used for determining, calculating, sampling and estimating such information. The absence of a significant
body of established practice on which to draw allows for the selection of different but acceptable measurement techniques which can result
in materially different measurements and can impact comparability. Qualitative interpretations of relevance, materiality and the accuracy of
data are subject to individual assumptions and judgements. The precision of different measurement techniques may also vary. Furthermore,
the nature and methods used to determine such information, as well as the measurement criteria and the precision thereof, may change over
time. It is important to read the Report in the context of the criteria applied for the specified KPIs that are identified by Vodacom Group Limited,
and which are provided where the specified KPIs are reported.
Our report does not extend to providing assurance on any prior periods information or any other information specifically excluded from the
scope of the engagement.
123
We believe that the evidence obtained as part of our limited assurance engagement, is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our
limited assurance conclusions expressed below.
Conclusions
Based on the work performed and subject to the limitations described above, nothing has come to our attention that causes us to believe that
the specified KPIs have not been prepared, in all material respects, in accordance with managements sustainability criteria for the year ending
31 March 2015.
Other matter
The maintenance and integrity of Vodacom Group Limiteds reporting website is the responsibility of Vodacom Group Limiteds management.
Our procedures did not involve consideration of these matters and, accordingly we accept no responsibility for any changes to either the
information in the Report or our assurance report that may have occurred since the initial date of presentation on Vodacom Group Limiteds
reporting website.
We believe that
investing in our
networks contributes
to the creation of
shareholder value, and
Vodacom has delivered
a TSR of 261%
since listing.
125
SHARE
INFORMATION
Total shareholding
March 2015 Institutional shareholding
# of shares % holding Ownership overview
24
21
16
10
10
10
9
8
8
7
6
5
4
0
PIC
(SA)
Lazard
(US)
Stanlib
(SA)
Old Mutual
(SA)
Schroder
(UK)
The Vanguard
(US)
BlackRock
(US)
Allan Gray
(SA)
GIC
(SG)
Sanlam
(SA)
126 Vodacom Group Limited Integrated Report for the year ended 31 March 2015
200
150
100
50 400
375
430
395
430
355
0
30 Apr
31 May
30 Jun
31 Jul
31 Aug
30 Sep
31 Oct
30 Nov
31 Dec
31 Jan
28 Feb
31 Mar
Commentary
Vodacom share price increased 2.1% for the year to close Total shareholder
atR132.69 on 31 March 2015 with a high of R139.20 on return
10April2014 and a low of R121.63 on 5 January 2015. Source: Bloomberg
1 May
1 Jun
1 Jul
1 Aug
1 Sep
1 Oct
1 Nov
1 Dec
1 Jan
1 Feb
1 Mar
NON-IFRS
INFORMATION
The auditors report does not necessarily cover all of the information contained in this report. Shareholders are
therefore advised that in order to obtain a full understanding of the nature of the auditors work they should
obtain a copy of that report together with the accompanying financial information from the registered office
of the Company.
This report contains certain non-IFRS financial information which Normalised growth
has not been reviewed or reported on by the Groups auditors. The All amounts in this report marked with an * represents normalised
Groups management believes these measures provide valuable growth adjusted for foreign exchange and at a constant currency
additional information in understanding the performance of the (using current year as base) (collectively foreign exchange).
Group or the Groups businesses because they provide measures Webelieve that normalised growth, which is not intended to be
used by the Group to assess performance. However, this additional asubstitute for or superior to reported growth, provides useful
information presented is not uniformly defined by all companies, andnecessary information to investors and other interested parties
including those in the Groups industry. Accordingly, it may not be for the following reasons:
comparable with similarly titled measures and disclosures by other It provides additional information on underlying growth of the
companies. Additionally, although these measures are important in business without the effect of certain factors unrelated to the
the management of the business, they should not be viewed in operating performance of the business;
isolation or as replacements for or alternatives to, but rather as It is used for internal performance analysis; and
complementary to, the comparable IFRS measures. It facilitates comparability of underlying growth with other
companies, although the term normalised is not a defined term
under IFRS and may not, therefore, be comparable with similarly
titled measures reported by other companies.
PG 90 PG 91 PG 89 PG 121 PG 76
for the reconciliation of for the reconciliations of for the reconciliation of for the auditors report for the reconciliation
EBITDA to the closest headline earnings per cash generated by on the KPIs linked to ofreported normalised
equivalent IFRS measure, share and adjusted operations, the closest the strategies. growth.
operating profit, is headline earnings per equivalent IFRS measure,
provided in note 1 of the share to the respective to operating free cash
summarised consolidated closest equivalent IFRS flow and free cash flow.
annual financial measure, basic earnings
statements. per share.
128 Vodacom Group Limited Integrated Report for the year ended 31 March 2015
CORPORATE
INFORMATION
Vodacom Group Limited Commercial bankers
(Incorporated in the Republic of South Africa) First National Bank (a division of FirstRand Bank Limited)
(Registration number 1993/005461/06) (Registration number 1966/010753/06)
(ISIN: ZAE000132577 Share code: VOD) Corporate Banking
(ISIN: ZAG000106063 JSE code: VOD008) 4 First Place, Corner of Pritchard and Simmonds Streets
(ISIN: US92858D2009 ADR code: VDMCY) Johannesburg 2001
(Vodacom) South Africa
(PO Box 7791, Johannesburg 2000, South Africa)
Secretary and registered office
The Standard Bank of South Africa Limited
of Vodacom Group Limited (Registration number 1962/000738/06)
Sandi Linford Corporate and Investment Banking
Vodacom Corporate Park 3 Simmonds Street
082 Vodacom Boulevard Johannesburg 2001, South Africa
Midrand 1685, South Africa (PO Box 61344, Marshalltown 2107, South Africa)
(Private Bag X9904, Sandton 2146, South Africa)
Telephone: +27 11 653 5000 Citibank, N.A.
Email: [email protected] (Registration number 1995/007396/10 Registered Bank)
(Incorporated under the National Banking Act
Sponsor of the United States of America)
145 West Street
UBS South Africa (Pty) Limited Sandown
(Registration number 1995/011140/07) Sandton 2196
64 Wierda Road East (PO Box 1800, Saxonwold 2132, South Africa)
Wierda Valley, Johannesburg 2196
South Africa
(PO Box 652863, Benmore 2010, South Africa) Transfer secretaries
Computershare Proprietary Limited
Debt sponsor (Registration number 2000/006082/07)
70 Marshall Street
Absa Bank Limited Johannesburg 2001
(acting through its Corporate and South Africa
Investment Banking Division) (PO Box 61051, Marshalltown 2107, South Africa)
15 Alice Lane
Sandton 2196
South Africa Group investor relations
Telephone: +27 11 653 5000
Auditors Email: [email protected]
Website: www.vodacom.com/main_ir.php
PricewaterhouseCoopers Inc.
32 Ida Street
Menlo Park Group media relations
Pretoria 0881 Telephone: +27 11 653 5000
South Africa Email: [email protected]
(PO Box 35296, Menlo Park 0102, South Africa) Website: www.vodacom.com/main_press.php
DISCLAIMER
Trademarks
Vodafone, the Vodafone logo, Vodafone Mobile Broadband, Vodafone WebBox, Vodafone Passport, Vodafone live!, Power to You, Vodacom,
Vodacom m-pesa, Vodacom m-pawa, Vodacom Millionaires, Vodacom4Less and Vodacom Change the World are trademarks of
VodafoneGroup Plc (or have applications pending). Other product names mentioned herein may be trademarks of Vodacom (Pty) Limited,
Vodafone Group Plc or their respective owners (or have applications pending).
The trademarks RIM, BlackBerry, are owned by Research in Motion Limited and are registered in the US and may be pending or registered in
other countries. Java is a registered trademark of Oracle and/or its affiliates. Microsoft, Windows Mobile and ActiveSync are either registered
trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the US and/or other countries. Google, Google Maps and Android are trademarks of
Google Inc. Apple, iPhone and iPad are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the US and other countries. Other product and company names
mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.
Forward-looking statements
This integrated report, which sets out the annual results for Vodacom Group Limited for the year ended 31 March 2015, contains
forward-looking statements, which have not been reviewed or reported on by the Groups auditors, with respect to the Groups financial
condition, results of operations and businesses and certain of the Groups plans and objectives. In particular, such forward-looking statements
include statements relating to: the Groups future performance; future capital expenditures, acquisitions, divestitures, expenses, revenues,
financial conditions, dividend policy, and future prospects; business and management strategies relating to the expansion and growth of the
Group; the effects of regulation of the Groups businesses by governments in the countries in which it operates; the Groups expectations as to
the launch and roll out dates for products, services or technologies; expectations regarding the operating environment and market conditions;
growth in customers and usage; and the rate of dividend growth by the Group.
Forward-looking statements are sometimes, but not always, identified by their use of a date in the future or such words as will, anticipates,
aims, could, may, should, expects, believes, intends, plans or targets. By their nature, forward-looking statements are inherently
predictive, speculative and involve risk and uncertainty because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that will occur in the
future, involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other facts or factors which may cause the actual results, performance or
achievements of the Group, or its industry to be materially different from any results, performance or achievement expressed or implied by
such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are based on assumptions
regarding the Groups present and future business strategies and the environments in which it operates now and in the future.
All subsequent oral or written forward-looking statements attributable to the Group or any member thereof or any persons acting on their
behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements above and below. Vodacom expressly disclaims any liability in
respect of the content of any forward looking statement and also expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to disseminate any
updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements contained herein or to reflect any change in their expectations with regard thereto or
any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such forward-looking statement is based.
130 Vodacom Group Limited Integrated Report for the year ended 31 March 2015
GLOSSARY
GLOSSARY continued
NOTICE OF
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
VODACOM GROUP LIMITED
(Incorporated in the Republic of South Africa)
(Registration number 1993/005461/06)
(ISIN: ZAE000132577 Share code: VOD)
(ISIN: ZAG000106063 JSE code: VOD008)
(ISIN: US92858D2009 ADR code: VDMCY)
(Vodacom or the Company)
Notice is hereby given that the twentieth annual general meeting of the Company will be held on Thursday 16 July 2015, at Vodacom World,
082 Vodacom Boulevard, Midrand, Johannesburg, South Africa at 10:00 to conduct the following business:
Copies of the full audited consolidated annual financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2015 are obtainable from the
Companys website www.vodacom.com.
2. Election of directors
To elect by way of separate resolutions:
2.1 Ms BP Mabelane as a director, having been appointed since the last annual general meeting of the Company is in accordance with
the provisions of the Companys memorandum of incorporation, obliged to retire at this annual general meeting.
2.2 Messrs DH Brown, IP Dittrich and M Joseph are obliged to retire by rotation at this annual general meeting in accordance with the
provisions of the Companys memorandum of incorporation. Having so retired, Messrs DH Brown, IP Dittrich and M Joseph are
eligible forre-election as directors.
The profiles of the directors up for re-election appear in this notice of annual general meeting:
Priscillah Mabelane is currently the Chief Financial Officer of BP Southern Africa (BPSA), a position she has held since 2011. Prior to
joining BPSA, Priscillah was the Executive Director of Finance at the Airports Company of South Africa (ACSA), responsible for the
development and implementation of financial strategies for the Group. She has held senior management roles in a number of large
companies. These include Ernst & Young where she was a Tax Director, Eskom Holdings Limited where she held various roles in
Finance, Tax and General Management. She also served as a Non-Executive Director at ACSA. Priscillah was appointed to the
Vodacom Group Board in December 2014.
David was appointed as Chief Executive Officer of Coal of Africa Limited effective from February 2014. He was previously the
non-executive Chairman from August 2012 and then the executive Chairman and is a non-executive director of Edcon Holdings
Limited aswell as Chairman of the Audit and Risk Committee. He is the former CEO of Impala Platinum Holdings Limited (Implats)
and was Chairman of Impala Platinum Limited and Zimplats Holdings Limited, the two major operating subsidiaries within the
Implats group. David was CEO from 2006 to 2012 and before that, he served as Chief Financial Officer from 1999. Prior to that, David
worked in the Information Technology sector for four years and for the Exxon Mobil Corporation in Europe for five years. He served
his articles with Ernst & Young. David was appointed to the Vodacom Group Board in January 2012.
Ivan joined the Group on 15 June 2012 from Datatec where he had been Chief Financial Officer since May 2008 and executive
director on the board of Datatec since March 2008. Ivan held a number of senior executive positions at Datatec, including that
ofgroup corporate director, corporate finance manager and Company Secretary, in a career that spanned over 13 years.
Hesuccessfully managed Datatecs dual listing in London in 2006. Prior to joining Datatec, Ivan worked for PricewaterhouseCoopers
in London and Deloitte in South Africa.
BSc (UCT), Member of the Institute of Electrical Engineering and Electronic Engineers,
Honorary Doctorate Letters from Africa Nazarene University
Non-executive director
Michael Joseph is employed by Vodafone Group Services Limited as the Director of Mobile Money. Previously, Michael was the CEO
of Safaricom Limited from July 2000 when the company was re-launched as a joint venture between Vodafone UK and Telkom
Kenya until his retirement in November 2010. He has extensive international experience in company start-ups, the implementation
and operation of large wireless and fixed-line networks, including operations in Hungary, Spain, Brazil, Peru, Argentina, Korea, the
USA, Australia and the Middle East. Michael has been the recipient of many awards, including CEO of the Year awarded by the Kenya
Institute of Management, the Moran of the Order of the Burning Spear and the Elder of the Order of the Burning Spear (awards given
by the President of Kenya to those who have made a positive impact in Kenya). He was appointed to the Vodacom Group Board in
May 2009.
136 Vodacom Group Limited Integrated Report for the year ended 31 March 2015
Shareholders are reminded that in terms of King III, the passing of this ordinary resolution is by way of a non-binding vote.
The profiles of the directors up for membership appear in this notice of annual general meeting:
Jabu is the non-executive Chairman of Brait SA and the Development Bank of South Africa. He is a former non-executive director of
Nedbank and former member of the Local Organising Committee 2010 FIFA World Cup. He is a former Deputy Minister of Finance
(2004 2008) and former MEC of Financial and Economic Affairs in the Gauteng Provincial Government (1994 2004). He is a director
ofseveral companies listed on the JSE Limited. Jabu was appointed to the Vodacom Group Board in November 2009.
6. Special business
6.1 General authority to repurchase shares in the Company
Special resolution number 1
RESOLVED THAT the Company, or any of its subsidiaries, be and they are hereby authorised, by way of a general authority, to acquire
ordinary shares in the Company, subject to the provisions of the Companies Act, No 71 of 2008, as amended (the Act), and the
ListingsRequirements of the JSE Limited (the JSE), provided that:
(a) the general authority in issue shall be valid only until the Companys next annual general meeting and shall not extend beyond
15(fifteen) months from the date of this resolution;
137
(b) any general repurchase by the Company and/or any of its subsidiaries of the Companys ordinary shares in issue shall not in
aggregate in one financial year exceed 5% (five percent) of the Companys issued ordinary share capital at the time that the
authority is granted;
(c) no acquisition may be made at a price more than 10% (ten percent) above the weighted average of the market price of the
ordinaryshares for 5 (five) business days immediately preceding the date of such acquisition;
(d) the repurchase of the ordinary shares are effected through the order book operated by the JSE trading system and done without
anyprior understanding or arrangement between the Company and the counterparty (reported trades are prohibited);
(e) the Company may only appoint one agent at any point in time to effect any repurchase(s) on the Companys behalf;
(f) the authorisation thereto is given by the Companys memorandum of incorporation;
(g) the Company or its subsidiary may not repurchase shares during a prohibited period unless it has in place a repurchase programme
where the dates and quantities of securities traded during the relevant period are fixed (not subject to any variation) andhas been
submitted to the JSE in writing. The Company must instruct an independent third party, which makes its investment decisions in
relation to the Companys securities independently and uninfluenced by the Company, prior to the commencement ofthe
prohibited period to execute the repurchase programme submitted to the JSE;
(h) the general authority may be varied or revoked by special resolution of the members prior to the next annual general meeting of
the Company; and
(i) should the Company or any subsidiary cumulatively repurchase, redeem or cancel 3% (three percent) of the initial number of the
Companys ordinary shares in terms of this general authority and for each 3% (three percent) in aggregate of the initial number
ofthat class thereafter in terms of this general authority, an announcement shall be made in terms of the Listings Requirements
ofthe JSE.
Having considered the effect on the Company of the maximum repurchase under this annual general authority, the directors are of the
opinion that:
the Company shall meet a solvency and liquidity test as contemplated in the Act;
the Company and the Group will be able to pay its debts for a period of 12 (twelve) months after the date of this notice of annual
general meeting;
the assets of the Company and the Group will be in excess of the liabilities of the Company and the Group for a period of
12(twelve)months after the date of this notice of annual general meeting which assets and liabilities have been valued in
accordance with the accounting policies used in the audited consolidated annual financial statements of the Group for the
yearended 31 March 2015;
the share capital and reserves of the Company and the Group will be adequate for the ordinary course of business purposes for
aperiod of 12 (twelve) months after the date of this notice of annual general meeting; and
the working capital of the Company and Group are considered adequate for ordinary business purposes for a period of
12(twelve)months after the date of this notice of annual general meeting.
The Board has considered the impact of a repurchase of up to 5% (five percent) of the Companys shares, being within the maximum
permissible under a general authority in terms of the JSE Listings Requirements. Should the opportunity arise and should the directors
deem it in all respects to be advantageous to the Company to repurchase such shares, it is deemed appropriate that the Company or a
subsidiary be authorised to repurchase the Companys shares. Any shares that may be repurchased for the time being shall be in
connection with awards made in the normal course in respect of the Companys Forfeitable Share Plan. During financial 2015, the
Company acquired 1 529 808 shares in the market for purposes of awards of the Forfeitable Share Plan.
138 Vodacom Group Limited Integrated Report for the year ended 31 March 2015
Page
Share capital
Authorised
4 000 000 000 ordinary shares of no par value
Issued
1 487 954 000 ordinary shares of no par value
Material change
There has been no material change in the affairs of or financial position of the Company and its subsidiaries since year end.
The effect of special resolution number 2 is the level of fees as set out above is increased with effect from 1 August 2015.
Notice in terms of Section 45(5) is hereby given that any financial assistance contemplated in special resolution number 3 will in all
likelihood exceed one-tenth of one percent of the Companys net worth at the date of adopting such a resolution. This notice is also
relevant for any trade union representing any employees of the Company.
Record date
T he record date for shareholders to be registered in the books of the Company for purposes of being entitled to attend, speak and vote at the
twentieth annual general meeting is Friday 10 July 2015.
In accordance with the Act, shareholders attending the annual general meeting will need to present reasonable satisfactory identification
such as an identity book, passport or drivers licence.
Ordinary shareholders may appoint a proxy to attend, speak and vote in their stead. A proxy need not be a shareholder of the Company.
In accordance with the Companys memorandum of incorporation, voting shall be by ballot only.
Special resolutions to be adopted at this annual general meeting require approval from 75% of the shares represented in person or by proxy at
this meeting. Ordinary resolutions to be adopted only require approval of a simple majority.
Shareholders holding dematerialised shares, but not in their own name must furnish their Central Securities Depositary Participant (CSDP)
or broker with their instructions for voting at the annual general meeting. If your CSDP or broker, as the case may be, does not obtain
instructions from you, it will be obliged to act in accordance with your mandate furnished to it, or if the mandate is silent in this regard,
complete the form of proxy enclosed.
Unless you advise your CSDP or broker, in terms of the agreement between you and your CSDP or broker by the cut off time stipulated
therein, that you wish to attend the annual general meeting or send a proxy to represent you at this annual general meeting, your CSDP
orbroker will assume that you do not wish to attend the annual general meeting or send a proxy.
If you wish to attend the annual general meeting or send a proxy, you must request your CSDP or broker to issue the necessary letter
ofauthority to you. Shareholders holding dematerialised shares, and who are unable to attend the annual general meeting and wish to be
represented thereat, must complete the form of proxy enclosed in accordance with the instructions therein and lodge it with or mail to
thetransfer secretaries.
Forms of proxy (which form may be found enclosed) should be forwarded to reach the transfer secretaries, Computershare Proprietary Limited
by no later than 10:00 on Wednesday 15 July 2015.
The completion of a form of proxy does not preclude any shareholder attending the annual general meeting.
Sandi Linford
Group Company Secretary
12 June 2015
141
FORM OF PROXY
VODACOM GROUP LIMITED
(Incorporated in the Republic of South Africa)
(Registration number 1993/005461/06)
(ISIN: ZAE000132577 Share code: VOD)
(ISIN: ZAG000106063 JSE code: VOD008)
(ISIN: US92858D2009 ADR code: VDMCY)
(Vodacom or the Company)
For use by certified and dematerialised shareholders who have own name registration of securities at the annual general meeting to be held at 10:00
at Vodacom World, 082 Vodacom Boulevard, Midrand, Johannesburg, South Africa on Thursday 16 July 2015.
being the holders of shares in the Company, hereby appoint (see Note 1)
the Chairman of the annual general meeting as my/our proxy to attend and speak and vote for me/us on my/our behalf at the annual general
meeting which will be held for the purpose of considering and, if deemed fit, passing the ordinary and special resolutions to be proposed and at each
adjournment of the meeting and to vote for or against the ordinary and special resolutions or to abstain from voting in respect of the shares in the
issued capital of the Company registered in my/our name/s, in accordance with the following instructions (see note 2).
(Indicate with an X or the relevant number of shares, in the applicable space, how you wish your votes to cast). Unless otherwise directed the proxy
will vote as he/she thinks fit.
Signed at on 2015
Completed forms of proxy must be lodged with Computershare Proprietary Limited by no later than 10:00 on Wednesday 15 July 2015.
Please read the notes on the reverse side of this proxy form.
142 Vodacom Group Limited Integrated Report for the year ended 31 March 2015
2. Please insert an X in the relevant space according to how you wish your votes to be cast. However, if you wish to cast your votes in
respect of a lesser number of shares than you own in the Company, insert the number of shares held in respect of which you wish to
vote. Failure to comply with the above will be deemed to authorise the proxy to vote or to abstain from voting at the annual general
meeting as he/she deems fit in respect of all the shareholders votes exercisable at the meeting. A shareholder or his/her proxy is not
obliged to use all the votes exercisable by the shareholder or by his/her proxy, but the total of the votes cast and in respect of which
abstention is recorded may not exceed the total of the votes exercisable by the shareholder or by his/her proxy.
3. Forms of proxy must be received by the transfer secretaries, Computershare Proprietary Limited (Computershare), 70 Marshall Street,
Johannesburg 2001 (PO Box 62053, Marshalltown 2107) by no later than 10:00 on Wednesday 15 July 2015. You may also email a
completed form of proxy to [email protected].
4. The completion and lodging of this form of proxy will not preclude the relevant shareholder from attending the annual general meeting
and voting in person at the meeting to the exclusion of any proxy appointed in terms of this form of proxy.
5. Documentary evidence establishing the authority of a person signing this form of proxy in a representative capacity must be attached to
this form of proxy unless previously recorded by Computershare or waived by the Chairman of the annual general meeting.
6. Any alterations or corrections made to this form of proxy must be initialled by the signatory/ies.
7. A minor must be assisted by his/her parent or guardian unless the relevant documents establishing his/her legal capacity are produced
or have been registered by Computershare.
8. The Chairman of the annual general meeting may accept any form of proxy which is completed other than in accordance with these
notes if he is satisfied as to the manner in which the shareholder wishes to vote.
Transfer secretaries:
Computershare Proprietary Limited
70 Marshall Street
Johannesburg 2001
PO Box 62053, Marshalltown 2107
Telephone: 011 370 5000
Call Centre: 086 110 0918
143
144 Vodacom Group Limited Integrated Report for the year ended 31 March 2015
Vodacom
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