Long-suffering Spark shareholders have been rewarded by the company through increased dividend and a promise of a special dividend next year.
Spark, which resulted from the split of the former Telecom, has battled at times but is starting to feel the benefit of asset sales, according to Forsyth Barr broker Peter Young.
The asset sales of $32million were partly offset by about $12million to $15million restructuring and rebranding costs.
''Our key focus is always core underlying earnings. In this case there are several one-off adjustments that distort that position we must work through.''
Spark reported an operating profit from continuing operations of $962 million for the year ended June, up 2.8% on the $836million reported in the previous corresponding period (pcp).
Revenue fell 2.9% to $3.5billion from $3.6billion and the reported profit from continuing operations rose 16.1% to $375million from $323million.
Spark chairman Mark Verbiest said he was particularly pleased with the significant improvement in free cashflow which emerged in the second half of the year and which demonstrated the repositioning of the business was leading to better financial outcomes.
That had provided the board with the confidence to increase the dividend payment to shareholders from 17c per share last year to 20cps this year.
''The financial results support the board's view a return to long-term sustainable growth in free cashflow, revenue and earnings over the coming years is both realistic and achievable.''
As such, for the 2016 financial year, Spark anticipated paying an annual dividend of 22cps and a special dividend of 3cps as a means of returning excess capital - subject to there being no material adverse changes in the operating outlook, he said.
Looking at the financial results, mobile connections continued to grow, up 172,000 in the 12 months.
Spark had closed the connection number gap on its largest competitor, Vodafone, to about 150,000, having been about 600,000 behind Vodafone three years ago.
Total mobile revenue share grew by 2% to 41%, driven by growth in consumer revenue.
However, the market remained competitive, especially the business market, Mr Verbiest said.
Mr Young said mobile was the key for Spark's future and revenue. Connection growth had been strong and revenue was largely in line with expectations.
Fixed line revenue was down and while connections were largely in line with expectations, average revenue per user (arpu) had fallen.
''We remain concerned with the continuing decline in underlying revenue. The increased dividend payment reflects the strong cash flow balance. However, we question the long-term sustainability of these payments,'' Mr Young said.
Spark chief executive Simon Moutter said the the business had been stabilised and reset to reflect the fast-changing and increasingly digital world.
Spark had sold businesses which were no longer going to be part of the company's future and invested in the new core Spark brands, together with brands and new businesses like Skinny, Bigpipe, Revera, Qrious, Lightbox and Morepork.
''All up, Spark is in the best shape it's been in for many years. We're now shifting to the next phase of our strategy with even greater emphasis on digital self-service capability and leveraging our outstanding networks to ... generate sustainable margin and revenue growth.''
