Vodafone

123jump.com Staff
27 May, 2008
New York City

Vodafone, reported annual profit that topped analysts'' expectations and added that European Union plans to slash call charges will negatively impact the group

Vodafone reported group revenue increase of 14.1% for fiscal year ended March 2008 to £35.5 billion compared to £31.1 billion for the year ended 2007.

Operating profit was £10.05 billion or 12.50 pence diluted earnings per share compared with loss of £1.5 billion or 9.84 pence diluted earnings per share for the fiscal year ended 2007.

Gross profit increased to £13.6 billion from £12.4 billion. Organic growth was 4.2%. Vodafone invested £5.1 billion in capitalised fixed asset additions, including £1.0 billion in our operations in India and now company has over 260 million proportionate mobile customers worldwide with strong growth during the year in EMAPA region, particular in new business of India has been successfully and now has over 44 million customers, with over 50% pro forma revenue growth.

Verizon Wireless operating profit was up 20.3% driven by 14.5% revenue growth. Over the year group data revenue has increased 52.7% to £2.2 billion, with organic growth of 40.6%. Europe revenue growth was 2% with outgoing usage up 20.1% and data revenue up 35.7%.

Data revenue growth is being enabled by the investment in company’s 3G networks which now offer up to 3.6 Mbps and by the end of the year will begin to offer 14.4 Mbps. At the end of the year Vodafone had 3.6 million fixed broadband customers in 13 markets, principally in Germany and in our newly acquired businesses in Italy and Spain.

Vodacom recorded constant currency revenue growth of 16.9% from its market leading position in South Africa. See constant currency revenue growth of 29.9% in Egypt and 20.3% in Romania as well as pro forma growth of 24% in Turkey. China Mobile has increased by over 60% since the beginning of the year to £4.8 billion currently with its customer base increasing 24% to 392.1 million and market penetration at 41%.

Arun Sarin, Chief Executive, said on declaration of full year result “Our strategy is continuing to deliver strong results and is reinforcing our leadership position in the communications industry.”

Outlook for 2009

The company expects revenue growth of £39.8 to £40.7 billion with adjusted operating profit of £11 billion to £11.5 billion.

[R]9:30AM New York - The unexpected rise in April new home sales, overshadowed data that showed consumer confidence dropped to a 16-year low in May.[/R]

According to the S&P''s/Case Shiller index Prices of US single-family homes plunged 14.1% in the first quarter, accelerating five times from the last housing recession.

Bank of America sees a second-quarter loss for Lehman Brothers and slashed its earnings forecast for Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs.

Vodafone posted a profit of 6.76 billion pounds as revenue jumped 14% to 35.48 billion pounds. Vodafone’s CEO Arun Sarin will step down in July.

European Markets

European stocks declined by midday on Tuesday as investors were discouraged by the financial concerns with the credit market crisis. Brewer SABMiller climbed after acquisition talks. Britain''s FTSE declined 0.5%, France''s CAC fell 0.8% and Germany''s DAX slipped 0.5%.

The FTSEurofirst 300 index declined 0.62% to 1,311.39, while the pan-European stock index lost 1.6% this month vs. an increase of 6% in April, hit by worries over banks. Societe Generale lost 0.7%, Deutsche Postbank fell 1.6% and Royal Bank of Scotland dropped 1.9%.

Commodity stocks lost ground hit by profit-taking. Rio Tinto and BP lost 1% each and Total lost 0.3%.

Vodafone announced it has met full-year forecasts but declined 1.5% after the news that CEO Arun Sarin was leaving.

Asian Markets

In Tokyo Nikkei 225 Index closed 203.12 higher or 1.48% to 13,893.31; in Hong Kong, Hang Seng index increased 154.73 or 0.64% to close at 24,282.04.

In Australia ASX 200 index rose 7.40 or 0.13% to close at 5,714.40. In Malaysia the KL Composite index increased 0.87 or 0.07% to close at 1,274.24.

In South Korea Kospi Index increased 24.65 or 1.37% to close at 1,825.23; in Thailand the SET index closed 1.20 or 0.14% lower at 855.60. Indonesia JSE Index decreased 22.73 or 0.94% to 2,397.00.

Sensex index in India decreased 72.91 or 0.45% to 16,275.59.