BTC grew its sales as more people and businesses bought its data and internet services. However, many customers have not paid their bills yet. This includes the government, which is facing money problems due to falling diamond sales. Because some businesses depend on government contracts, they too have struggled to pay BTC, including small businesses. As a result, the company made less actual cash than it usually does, a situation made tougher by a hefty dividend payout.
BTC sells mobile and fixed data, internet and phone services to a wide range of customers:
- Every day people like me and you
- Small businesses
- Big companies
- and the government department
Enterprise Business
BTC brought in more projects from enterprise clients, including government departments, according to Interim CFO Abel Bogatsu.
During a presentation last week, he told investors:
“There was a flood of projects and enterprise services, especially government, we took a deliberate decision to bring in so that we secure our future.”
According to the company, about two-thirds of BTC’s revenue comes from these business and government customers.
Unpaid Bills
- BTC is waiting for a lot of its customers, including the government, to pay their bills.
- These unpaid bills are called receivables.
- Receivables grew by P150 million, ending the year at P380 million.
Bogatsu explained to investors:
“The receivables were largely due to the situation that we saw with government, especially after September (2024), where there was a slowdown in payments of bills, which continued all the way to the end of March (2025).”
He added:
“I guess we all know the situation with government, and all sectors are really affected by the situation. It’s not only government, because other enterprises as well, or parastatals or SMEs, also depend on government for business.”
This meant that these businesses have yet to pay the company.
Actual Cash Collections Fall
- The actual cash BTC collected fell sharply:
From P444 million last year to P290 million.
Shareholders Get Paid
- BTC paid shareholders a large dividend of P269 million, using a payout ratio that rose from 65% to 75%.
- After paying dividends, BTC was left with just P21.5 million in cash it made during the year, compared to P355 million the previous year.
Despite these cash flow issues, BTC said it still has a good safety net:
- It can turn about P973 million of assets into cash if needed.
- Its short-term bills total P456 million.
- That means it has more than twice what it needs to pay its short-term obligations.
The CFO reassured investors that BTC has “very good” money strength.
Receivables Counted in Revenue
- Even though customers have not yet paid, BTC still records these bills as sales revenue.
- BTC cannot freely spend this part until customers pay up.
Sales Up
- Overall, BTC’s sales rose 4% to P1.49 billion in the year ended March 2025.
- This was mainly driven by rising demand for mobile data and fixed internet connections.
Bogatsu disclosed that:
- Mobile data sales increased by 13%
- Fixed data by 8%
Protecting Margins
Bogatsu told investors that:
“We only really make up profit in terms of more sales and cost management at the bottom.”
BTC tries to protect its profits by managing costs instead of raising prices. The company hardly ever increases prices even when costs go up.
As Acting CEO Boitumelo Paya put it:
“Our market, if you go to any business, the consumer is always demanding a price that’s going down.”
- In other words, customers want better and better services, but do not often want price increases.
- BTC’s costs to provide its services dropped 5%, from P637 million to P603 million, thanks to cost controls.
Bogatsu explained:
‘On the top line, we are never allowed to make any inflationary increases, at least not in the moment….We have been able to control our costs despite our inflationary pressures.”
Profits Strong on Cost Containment
This resulted in profits after tax rising to P202 million from P157 million, growing faster than sales, thanks to this cost containment.
