9th Nov 11
Vodafone profits increase as 9.4 million new users sign up
by Natasha Redman
It's good to talk: Vodafone reaches new customer base across the globe
It's good to talk: Vodafone reaches new customer base across the globe
Vodafone beat expectations to announce a rise in revenues of 4.1 per cent to £23.5bn, with 9.4 million new customers signing up during the past six months.
In a tough UK market where Everything Everywhere, the market leader, has lost customers during recent quarters, the company added 325,000 customers to hit 19.331 million subscribers, revealed results published yesterday for the half year ending 30 September.
The figure includes roughly 244,000 from a now defunct mobile virtual network operator that had been using the Vodafone network. UK revenues increased by 2.7 per cent to £2.6bn and there was a rise in pre-tax profits of 5.7 per cent to £633m. Analysts had predicted that pre-tax profits would increase to £7.40bn, but the company delivered a rise of 2.3 per cent to £7.5bn in comparison with the same period in 2010.
Germany witnessed strong growth, with a net of 804,000 new customers. Italy, which has a heavily proportioned prepaid customer base, lost a total of 148,000 customers while Spain’s figure increased by 170,000. The company saw global subscribers increase by 2.5 per cent to hit 391 million, with the largest recruitment waves coming from Egypt, India and African subsidiary Vodacom.
The was growth of 3.7 per cent to £11bn in service revenues, with a decline of £270m in voice calls across Europe resulting in group revenues falling 2.7 per cent to £6.7bn. The loss was offset by smartphone revolution and the ongoing popularity of text messaging, which pushed data revenues – mobile internet traffic – up by £336m, or 27 per cent, to £1.6b. Almost 22 per cent of Vodafone’s European customer base now uses smartphones.
Vittorio Colao, the group’s chief executive, said that data represents the biggest opportunity for the company and the industry during the years ahead, and that they plan to continue providing stimulating data adoption to their customers.
Vodafone confirmed that Verizon Wireless, its US subsidiary, would pay a dividend of £2.8bn in January next year, and that £2bn of that would be handed to shareholders as a one-off dividend. This is due to be paid at 4p a share in February, as well as an interim dividend of 3.05p a share.
Mr Colao went on to say that they are gaining share in the majority of their major markets, as a result of their focus on an improved network quality and a better network experience. In addition, he added that they are achieving continuing growth in the key areas of enterprise, data and emerging markets.
He said that the group’s full year operating profit will end up between £11.4bn and £11.8bn, towards the higher end of expectations announced by the group in May.
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