Andy Penn’s parting gift to Telstra - the first dividend boost in seven years - says everything about Telstra’s certainty around increasing its earnings, writes Elizabeth Knight | OPINION
Nothing in the corporate world has see-sawed quite like opinions on the performance of Telstra’s outgoing chief executive, Andy Penn. But on Thursday as he delivered his final result in the top job, he must be deeply satisfied he muscled through the detractors to leave the telco on an earnings high note.
Telstra’s headline earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation, and income, were down 5 per cent and 4.7 per cent respectively, but the underlying earnings result was up 8 per cent. And it is the underlying measure, devoid of lots of distorting impacts including the NBN, which allows investors a closer look into the company’s ongoing performance.
The cost-cutting and productivity gains added a bit of positive juice to the earnings of most of its divisions, even those that produced underwhelming performances.
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