By Stuart Condie
SYDNEY--TPG Telecom lifted annual earnings 18% and flagged a further rise following a year in which the Australian telecommunications operator sold off assets and paid down debt.
The Vodafone Australia brand operator on Friday reported earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization for the 12 months through December of 1.66 billion Australian dollars, equivalent to US$1.18 billion.
The increase was on a continuing-operations basis, stripping out impacts from the July's divestment of much of its fixed-line operations to privately held Vocus.
Further adjusting for new commercial arrangements with Vocus, Ebitda rose by 2.0% to A$1.64 billion. That compared with guidance for Ebitda of between A$1.605 billion and A$1.655 billion, and was in line with the average analyst forecast of A$1.64 billion, according to data compiled by Visible Alpha.
TPG said it expects 2026 Ebitda of between A$1.665 billion and A$1.735 billion, supported by growth in its mobile business and cost control.
The board held the final dividend at A$0.09 per share.
Continuing-operations revenue rose by 3% to A$5.04 billion. Mobile service revenue increased by 4.2% to A$2.42 billion as the number of subscribers rose by 228,000 to 5.7 million, and average revenue per user rose by 1.4%.
TPG said the rise was supported by its network-sharing agreement with Singapore Telecommunications-owned Optus, which expanded its reach beyond Australia's major cities and into regional areas.
"It expanded our reach, accelerated our mobile growth and we are confident it will drive higher revenue and improved earnings over coming years," TPG Chief Executive Inaki Berroeta said.
TPG reported a continuing-operations net profit of A$52 million, compared with a A$140 million net loss a year earlier. On a statutory basis, TPG swung to a A$461 million net profit from a A$107 million loss.
TPG Telecom ended the year with A$4.08 billion of net debt, down from A$6.26 billion thanks to divestment proceeds. It also returned about A$3 billion to shareholders, from whom it then collected A$373 million in a scaled-back equity raise.
In November, TPG said that demand had materially exceeded an initial A$550 million target for the institutional component of the raise, but that it scaled back the scheme on global equity market turmoil and publicity over the death of a customer who had been unable to call emergency services.
Write to Stuart Condie at stuart.condie@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 26, 2026 16:51 ET (21:51 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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