Telstra Group Limited (TLS) Q2 2026 Earnings Call

Investor webinar replay

Replay transcript excerpt

Good morning and welcome to Telstra's results announcement for the half year ending 31st of December 2025. I am Nathan Burley, Head of Investor Relations. I am joining today from the lands of the Gadigal people and on behalf of Telstra, I acknowledge and pay my respects to the traditional custodians of country throughout Australia and recognise the continued connection Australia's First Nations people have to land, waters and cultures. We pay our respects to elders past and present. This morning we will have presentations from our CEO, Vicky Brady, and our CFO, Michael Ackland. We will then open to questions from analysts, investors, and then the media. I will now hand over to Vicky. Thank you, Nathan, and good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us. I'll make some comments reflecting on Telstra's overall performance and our outlook. Michael will then cover the details of our financials. The first half of FY26 was a strong period for Telstra. We delivered ongoing growth in earnings, reflecting momentum across our business, strong cost control and disciplined capital management. We also made a positive start to our Connected Future 30 strategy, which will see us double down on connectivity, drive growth and play a critical role in enabling a prosperous digital future for Australia. In first half 26, reported financial performance compared to the prior period included EBITDA up 4.9% to 4.2 billion, EBIT up 9.2% to 2 billion, Profit for the period, or NPAT, up 8.1% to $1.2 billion. Earnings per share up 11% to $0.09. And return on invested capital up 0.8 percentage points to 8.8%. Our underlying growth more accurately reflects our financial performance compared to the prior period. Underlying financial performance showed underlying EBITDAL up 5.5% to $4.2 billi...