Telkom SA Ltd. shares dropped more than 7% at the JSE on Friday after the telecoms group forecast an abrupt decline in their annual profit.

Telkom, whose controlling share belongs to the government, was down 3.45% at R23.50 in afternoon trade. It however recouped, gaining some ground after an initial downturn of more than 7%.

According to the company,headline earnings per share (EPS) possibly fell by at least 25% in the year to the end of March.

Telkom also indicated basic EPS, which includes one-off items, would likely show at least a 90% decline because of R950m in losses from the sale of Multi-Links Telkom, its Nigerian unit,  and a R550m writedown on its broadband unit iWayAfrica.

Telkom is Africa’s largest integrated communications company, providing integrated communications solutions to an entire range of customers. It recently launched cellphone business in South Africa also took a R2.2bn loss

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