JOHANNESBURG - South Africa's Vodacom reported a 22 per cent increase in full-year earnings and said its plans to pay a higher dividend would not prevent more acquisitions. Vodacom, majority-owned by Britain's Vodafone, said it would pay a dividend of 175 cents per share this year and plans to increase its dividend payout ratio in 2011. Vodacom's chief financial officer, Rob Shuter, said in a conference call with reporters that the company was still looking for acquisitions. "There is still massive capacity to leverage the balance sheet for large transactions," he said. The mobile telecom market in Africa is increasingly competitive, and analysts say that major players may need further acquisitions to protect market share. MTN, Africa's largest mobile phone company by subscribers, is currently in talks to buy assets from Egypt's Orascom Telecom , although it faces opposition from Algeria's government. Indian rival Bharti Airtel recently acquired the African assets of Kuwait telecom Zain. Vodacom, South Africa's largest mobile operator, said it was in talks to sell its stake in wireless broadband provider iBurst for an undisclosed amount. "We haven't concluded anything. It will be probably in the next quarter," Vodacom's chief executive officer, Pieter Uys, said in the same call. The company was also hit with a $35 million unexpected tax from the Democratic Republic of Congo, where it is currently involved in a dispute with its local partner. "We are confident DRC presents a good opportunity in the long term, but we need a stable operating environment to be successful," Uys said. Headline earnings per share for the year to end-March rose 22.3 per cent to 510 cents. Headline earnings, which strip out some one-off and non-trading items, are the main profit gauge in South Africa.
