Telstra shares have climbed to their highest level in nine years after Australia's biggest communications company beat earnings expectations and increased its payout to shareholders.
The telco giant on Thursday delivered a $1.1 billion net profit for the six months to December 31, up 9.4 per cent from the same time in 2024. Revenue climbed 0.3 per cent to $11.6 billion.
Telstra shares rose 3.6 per cent to $5.14, their highest level since early 2017, a result that will please the company's one million retail shareholders, the largest retail shareholder base in Australia.
Chief executive Vicki Brady said it was a strong period for Telstra.
"We delivered ongoing growth in earnings, reflecting momentum across our business, strong cost control and disciplined capital management," Ms Brady said.
Telstra's mobile business brought in $2.6 billion in earnings, up $93 million, or 3.6 per cent, from a year ago.
Its average revenue per mobile user rose 5.1 per cent to $45.47 after hiking prices in July, with the cost of most postpaid mobile plans climbing by between $3 and $5 a month.
Despite the price increase, Telstra added another 135,000 mobile customers during the half, to 14.7 million.
Telstra's mobile business remained the company's "engine room" and the division's income growth had comfortably beaten expectations, EToro market analyst Zavier Wong said.
"In a competitive three-player market, Telstra continues to show it can grow through pricing discipline rather than just chasing subscribers, and that's exactly what investors want to see," Mr Wong said.
Telstra's fixed-enterprise business continued to struggle, with income falling five per cent to $1.6 billion and earnings down nine per cent to $87 million despite continuing efforts to reset the division through cost-cutting, including the proposed layoff of 650 workers announced on February 11.
"We remain committed to this reset, with further changes proposed last week to continue removing complexity and cost," Telstra said.
The telco tightened its 2025/26 full-year underlying earnings guidance to between $8.2 billion and $8.4 billion, after previously forecasting earnings of between $8.15 billion and $8.45 billion.
The company said it would pay an interim dividend of 10.5 cents per share, with 9.5 cents franked and one cent unfranked, up from a fully franked 9.5 cent per share interim dividend a year ago.
Telstra is also increasing its on-market share buyback to up to $1.25 billion, from $1 billion, after completing $637 million in the first half.
"The on-market share buyback is expected to support earnings and dividend per share growth, and along with the increased interim dividend, reflects the board and management’s confidence in our financial strength and outlook," Ms Brady said.
