Telstra FY26 Underlying EBITDAaL Up 4% to $8.3 Billion

Telstra Group Limited (ASX:TLS) reported FY26 results for the year ended 30 June 2026, with reported EBITDAaL up 3% to $8.2 billion, net profit after tax up 2.7% to $2.4 billion and earnings per share up 5.3% to 19.9 cents. On an underlying basis, which the company said excludes guidance adjustments such as material one-offs, underlying EBITDAaL rose 4% to $8.3 billion, cash earnings per share rose 14% to 25.5 cents and underlying return on invested capital rose 0.5 percentage points to 9%; Telstra noted the tax figure in the underlying ROIC calculation was $41 million in FY26 against $10 million in FY25, representing the tax effect of guidance adjustments and, in FY26, the recognition of deferred tax assets arising from changes in tax law. Mobile service revenue grew across postpaid, prepaid and wholesale handheld, mobile broadband and IoT, and mobile users grew by more than 270,000, or 1.9%. The Board resolved to pay a final dividend of 10.5 cents per share, taking the FY26 total to 21 cents per share, which Telstra said represents a 10.5% increase on the prior year on a cash basis; the final dividend is 90.5% franked, comprising a franked amount of 9.5 cents and an unfranked amount of 1 cent per share, against a fully franked 19 cents per share in FY25.

Telstra said it completed its $1.25 billion on-market share buy-back in June 2026 and has announced a further on-market share buy-back of up to $1 billion. It said it is over halfway through the build of its Aura Network, with more than 8,500 kilometres of fibre in the ground and six routes ready for service, and that long-term contracts have been signed across its Aura Network, subsea cable or long-haul fibre assets, including with Google, AWS, Firmus and Microsoft as foundational partner on the Aura Network. Total strategic investment, including for Viasat, is now expected to be around $1.8 billion from FY23 to FY28, compared with a previous estimate of around $1.6 billion, which Telstra attributed to a combination of inflationary pressures and project-specific factors. For FY27, Telstra guided to underlying EBITDAaL of $8.5 billion to $8.8 billion, BAU capital expenditure 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. The guidance excludes material one-offs such as mergers and acquisitions, disposals, impairments, spectrum and restructuring costs, and BAU capex is measured on an accrued basis excluding spectrum, strategic investment, externally funded capex and capitalised leases.