Chorus lifts FY26 dividend to 60c, sees copper gone by 2028

Chorus has lifted FY26 EBITDA to $726 million from $705 million, while the share of premises taking fibre reached 76.2%. Shareholders were also told the company now expects copper to be fully shut down by 2028.

Chair Mark Cross addressed the annual shareholders' meeting in Auckland on Wednesday, reporting 1,147,000 fibre connections, a 3% rise on FY25, and net operating cash flows up 4% at $740 million. Net profit came in at $37 million, which is $33 million higher than the year before. Cross said the company's fibre base "continued to grow, up 3% vs FY25 and we continued to see improvements across our key financial metrics".

Unimputed dividends for the year totalled 60 cents per share, up 2.5 cents or 4.3%. For FY27 the board guides to at least 62 cents per share, partially imputed, which Cross said represents a 3.3% increase and fits a policy of dividends that grow in real terms. Cross said the aim is to move uptake from 76.2% toward 80% by 2030, and that the board regards a credit rating of at least 'BBB' or equivalent as suitable.

Chief Executive Mark Aue said the company is well into Horizon Two, a programme running to the end of 2030 with growth, simplicity and efficiency as its themes. He said copper keeps declining and, because alternative products are available, Chorus now forecasts complete retirement by 2028. Copper connections dropped by 48,000 over the year, leaving under 40,000 nationwide, nearly all where fibre is unavailable. Recycling of copper has grown from a trial into a scaled operation, adding $4 million to FY26 EBITDA, with cumulative returns from FY25 to 2030 estimated at $50 million to $70 million.

Aue said the Equity Fibre product, which combines fibre access with retail services capped at $30 per month, has almost 4,000 connections and is still growing. He said 85% of customers are on plans of 500Mbps or faster, 25% are on 1GB plans, and average monthly use reached 741GB per connection.

On regulation, Aue said the Government's final telco sector review report set out 22 opportunities to simplify older rules, among them scrapping the shareholder caps of 10% and 49.9%. Shareholders were asked to approve that change by special resolution at the meeting. Aue said FY27 guidance is unchanged and he is confident about the long-term outlook, pointing to an estimate that AI will account for around 30% of global traffic over the coming decade.