Telkom turnaround continues after slashing nearly 4‚000 jobs

06 June 2016 - 18:17 By Mpho Sibanyoni

Telkom parted ways with close to 4‚000 workers at a cost of R2.2-billion as the company implemented a controversial restructuring process aimed at cutting costs. The company said the R2.2-billion severance package was responsible for the group recording a profit after tax of R2.4-billion‚ which was 25.4% lower than the previous period. “During the year‚ 3‚878 employees accepted voluntary severance packages and voluntary early retirement packages and a further 437 employees were affected by outsourcing. As a result‚ Telkom company employee expenses reduced by 10%‚” said the company in a statement.Big bill for cable theft sees Telkom increasing efforts to migrate customers to wireless technologiesTelkom is ramping up efforts to migrate customers to wireless and fibre technologies to tackle cable theft syndicates. The JSE-listed parastatal also saw its normalised headline earnings per share increase by 15.5% to R6.58.The group’s revenue rose by 13.9% to R37-billion from R33-billion.Minister of telecoms and postal services Siyabonga Cwele said: “It is most pleasing to see the strong performance Telkom has achieved in such a competitive national and global environment.“We welcome that Telkom has performed steadily over the past four years‚ especially given that there were suggestions that it be sold. The current share price is a demonstration of the correctness of government’s decision to keep its investment in the company.“The board and management team have done well to change the fortunes of Telkom in this period. But‚ more work still needs to be done‚” said Cwele.He said the transformation at Telkom provided pointers on how to change the fortunes of state-owned companies.“Government and other shareholders decided to give Telkom a strong board of directors‚ who‚ in turn‚ appointed a capable management team to improve the performance and sustainability of the company.“It is noteworthy that the board and management did not request a capital injection to change the fortunes of Telkom.“As shareholders‚ all we gave Telkom was a level of autonomy while ensuring accountability of this SOC‚” he said...

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