Telstra Group Limited

Telstra reported EBITDAaL up 4% to $8.3 billion, net profit after tax up 2.7% to $2.4 billion, EPS up 5.3% to $0.199, cash EPS up 14% to $0.255, and cash earnings up 12% to $2.9 billion. Cash EBIT grew 8% to $4.7 billion, while underlying ROIC increased 0.5 percentage points to 9%. The Board declared a final dividend of $0.105 per share, taking the full-year dividend to $0.21 per share, and completed the $1.25 billion on-market buyback in June, while announcing a further on-market buyback of up to $1 billion. For FY27, management guided to underlying EBITDA of $8.5 billion to $8.8 billion, BAU CapEx of $3.35 billion to $3.65 billion, cash EBIT of $4.75 billion to $4.95 billion, and strategic investment of $0.2 billion to $0.3 billion.

Vicki Brady framed the year as one of rapid change, greater reliance on networks, and rising importance of AI and digital infrastructure. She said FY26 laid foundations for Connected Future 30, with stronger customer engagement, better network resilience, and growing demand for Telstra’s infrastructure assets. Her tone was confident but also candid: she acknowledged the July outage, took accountability, and said Telstra will keep investing in resilience, security, and digital infrastructure while staying disciplined on capital allocation.

Michael Ackland said FY26 delivered strong cash earnings growth, improved operating efficiency, and higher shareholder returns. He highlighted $55 million of net non-cash impairments and M&A impacts excluded from underlying results, $457 million of strategic investments, and cash EBIT of $4.7 billion supported by stronger products and cost control. He also pointed to a strong balance sheet, net debt at 1.9x on an underlying basis despite buybacks, average cost of debt at 4.8%, and an A-band credit rating target, while noting that FY27 should benefit from operating leverage, mobile price rises, and redundancy savings.

Analysts focused on whether mobile growth can continue if postpaid slows, how price rises affect churn and ARPU, and whether wholesale and prepaid can offset any postpaid softness. Management said mobile should be viewed as a portfolio, with strength in prepaid, wholesale, Boost and Belong, and noted wholesale ARPU grew 8.8% versus 3.8% for postpaid handheld ARPU. Questions also covered Aura’s higher spend and return profile; management said the extra up to $200 million is still within the original build scope, that inflation and project conditions drove the increase, and that the higher pipeline gives confidence in the mid-teens IRR and around 9-year payback. There was also heavy discussion of satellite and ACCC roaming risk; Brady said satellite is complementary today, but Telstra does not support mandated domestic roaming because it would weaken infrastructure investment incentives, especially in regional Australia.