Vodafone Share Chat (VOD)

Hi Longish,

Thanks. It's certainly bullish looking ahead. Especially regarding growth in earnings & more cost-saving rationalisation. If they can reduce debt whilst maintaining dividends after the full year, little question here that it won't recover to much higher levels.

All in all, this continues to be a firm hold for me only as I have little spare cash to add more. - Regards.

I think the irony of it all is that even with Brexit...the EU Rules will be transfered over into the Uk law and I would take a good guess that a high % will remain there and only a small % will be debated and changed ...and over time....There isnt going to be this initial bonfire of regulation.

No other European press seems to make quite the fuss about the EU as what the British press does ...whilst there is an awareness that nothing is perfect and you deal with the good and the bad ...the overall attitude is just to get on with it

All this talk about sovereignty and freedom is in an overall sense just nonsense...we live in a global world with global problems with global issues.

It seems Brexiteers like Johnson seem quite at ease telling other countries what they should and shouldnt do in terms of their laws but is quite adamant that no one be telling the UK what rules to follow

Those Germans must have quite a laugh when he bought those clapped out water cannon vehicles ..and he thinks he can get a better deal on Brexit....do me a favour Boris....jeez

Hi Compass

Yes we do!

I also bought more in the 140's to average down. 9% div has confirmed that was a good decision

Thank you Jack,

Could this be why Mr Jeffries was able to sell at 185 - as a reward for his turnaround of the UK. Impressive given the legacy issues he inherited. Good evidence that there is strength and depth in the Vod management team.

Nothing is certain, of course, but I imagine the SP will recover with each reporting period showing continuing evidence of commercial execution NR spoke of in H1 results

Lets be honest, there was no mandate to go ahead with the results of the first ref. It was only a consultation. Now people are beginning to realise the fall-out, only sensible option is for another. And all this anti-democratic rubbish - can't you change your mind in a democracy? We do all the time and that's why we have elections and vote for different parties. Same thing here. We no longer like Brexit so lets vote again. We no longer like the Cons, so lets vote again. IT should be obvious to everyone now that it would have been easier, cheaper and better to remain. Oh you say, lets just have trade deals with loads of other nations - sure - and how long will that take? Certainly isn't from one week to the next. Many months or even years. Scaremongering is the next argument - I prefer to call it being blind to reality - as if the fall in the pound and all the high street closures wasn't enough. But you say employment is at a record high! Yes if you massage the statistics to your advantage sure it is - or maybe its the result of lots of people leaving the island like rats fleeing a sinking ship. Funny how you can change statistics to prove anything one way or another.

You have to laugh the way it starts to rise nicely and then its as if they suddenly think cant have this and drop it again

The rest of it with link. Cheers.

Vodafone has moved to acquire cable assets in other markets but not in the UK. It struck a deal with Liberty Global earlier this year to buy its German and eastern European networks but not its UK business, Virgin Media, which has long been seen as a natural fit. The decision to exclude Virgin Media and Vodafone UK from the talks was driven partly by difficulties in valuing the businesses, which are both at separate stages of restructuring and investment, according to people with direct knowledge of the talks.

Robert Grindle, an analyst at Deutsche Bank, said the UK business had “lost its way” in recent years but that Mr Jeffrey had managed to “reset” it. The company had also benefited from Ofcom’s efforts to increase competition in the broadband market, he said.”

https://www.ft.com/content/001114be-e9b6-11e8-885c-e64da4c0f981

Though little new & mostly light reading, a fairly bullish article for VOD in yesterday’s FT Times. - GLA.

Nic Fildes, Telecoms Correspondent. YESTERDAY.

“Vodafone expects its long-suffering UK business to report stronger profits in the second half of the year as it reaps the benefits of a wide-ranging restructuring in its home market.

The company has struggled for a decade in the UK as attempts to revive growth in its local mobile phone business have failed to bear fruit.

The UK business, which has 19m customers, has been known as the “weakest link” in Vodafone’s European empire by analysts. The 2012 acquisition of struggling Cable & Wireless Worldwide dragged down the financial performance in the UK and a botched upgrade of its systems caused customer complaints, reputational damage and gave rise to a hefty £5m fine from regulator Ofcom.

Vodafone’s first-half results, published last week, appeared to give little cause for cheer. Service revenue dropped 5 per cent to €2.9bn due to the cost of financing handsets, while earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation fell 13 per cent to €809m.

Yet Nick Read, chief executive of Vodafone and a former head of the UK business, said that underlying ebitda grew 12 per cent in the first half, as the UK business cut its costs by 6 per cent and improved the profitability of its business unit by shutting down 15 legacy networks it inherited from Cable & Wireless that were not making money.

He told the Financial Times on the sidelines of a telecoms conference in Barcelona that he expected the rate of underlying ebitda growth to accelerate in the UK as more cost savings came through thanks to a “radical simplification” of the business that was in line with his wider strategy for the company.

Mr Read is also on a charge to introduce more digital elements to Vodafone operations to reduce costs. The UK business, for example, has developed a chatbot that is used to sell handsets and SIM-only plans and could be expanded to answer questions about customer accounts.

Vodafone UK, which added 181,000 contract customers in the first half compared to 59,000 in the year before, is in the middle of a three-year programme under Nick Jeffrey, head of the UK business, who has pledged to get the unit’s “mojo” back. That has involved devolving some decision-making to hubs outside its Newbury headquarters and establishing a stronghold in London to attract younger digital specialists to work at the company.

Vodafone has moved to acquire cable assets in other markets but not in the UK. It struck a deal with Liberty Global earlier this year to buy its German and eastern European networks but not its UK business, Virgin Media, which has long been seen as a natural fit. The decision to exclude Virgin Media and Vodafone UK from the talks was driven partly by difficulties in valuing the businesses, which are both at separate stages of restructuring and investment, according to people wit

Yes I hold VOD and will continue to do so I bought quite a few more in the low 1.40s to get my average down I always thought the divi would be safe for the time being and now have a little more confidence that it will hold...cartoon fine I dont mind we all have our views and are entitled to them after all we live in a democracy "dont we"

No more dumb politics stuff here, VOD is a good buy........hold for 200p!

If there's a 2nd referendum, the rhetoric around the campaigning will lead to extreme politics in the UK. People will interpret it as a breakdown of democracy, there's no mandate to reverse the first result. Also the noise around a no deal Brexit is ridiculous, if the EU make it difficult to trade, the UK market will move to other markets and trade there. I don't mind driving an SUV from India, or China. The EU has a lot to lose, as German industry know. May's deal wont get through parliament anyway. The whole debacle has been handled badly from the beginning, WT should have been the UK baseline and negotiated up from there. I'm sick of May, buy i'd still never vote Labour with Corbyn in charge.

Compass,

Do you hold Vodafone to minimise risk/ losses in any of the Brexit eventualities or are you locked in due to the recent declines like many of us?

Saw this cartoon and hope you don't mind..

https://g8fip1kplyr33r3krz5b97d1-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Kal-econ-11-17-18-synd-1079x720.jpeg

oh yes I am very much "for real" it would be much more democratic to have another vote when we know the full facts of what were signing up to....a lot of very large companies are and have already planned their exit strategy away from the UK....and many more will follow they are not scare mongering I can assure you....its happening now so in answer to your question I AM FOR REAL....

But can you all stop reprinting stuff that anybody, apart from a complete idiot, can read for them self from this l.s.e site , or from a newspaper. Your opinion however on it, is very welcome!

Sorry pokerchips, but why do you post something that anybody can read in the the news, we have already read it. something new would be good!! What is your point? do you agree/ disagree?

Reasonable article but its not all risks. There are opportunities too. Daily Mail is on board with the draft brexit agreement. What politician would miss out owning Vodafones success in Europe over the next 12 months. Lets NR know there is no wriggle room. One bit of good news that loosens the noose around NRs kneck will send the SP soaring...

Jerry Dellis, an analyst at Jefferies, suggests that the decision to leave dividends flat on last year, while aiming to decrease debt, 'leaves little margin for error as competitive conditions and spectrum outcomes remain largely outside management's control'.

Analysts at Bernstein called the results 'expectedly wretched', but said the full-year earnings guidance and maintained dividend were 'positive and good news for investors in this beleaguered name'.

Berenberg analyst Usman Ghazi said: 'It's perfectly fine if you want to cut the dividend and tell investors you're going to do a certain thing with the headroom you've created.
Ghazi believes investors will be rewarded further if they have the patience to stick around. 'We don't see risk to the dividend,' he says. 'But you've got to be patient.'

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/investing/article-6398827/INVESTMENT-EXTRA-Vodafone-regret-saving-dividend.html

Don't panic Mr mainwaring,they don't like it up em! I do however agree, we should not have been given a vote about something, we (including me), had very little understanding of. I think the government however, just thought it would be a dead cert vote to stay in, so took a gamble, thinking it would boost there mandate.

Civil war? Another vote? Are you for real? We had a vote, we got a result, we will keep calm and carry on, because we are British and that's what we do.

I expect a nice little bounce Monday back to the 160s

Little sell off nothing to do with Vodafone

Dividend is too Joicy next 7 months here gives a return of nearly 9 % yield is unbelievable

BTW I upped my stake here on Friday :-)

The UK public should have never been given the vote in the first place......and certainly not at that stage no one new enough about it and most of the facts banded about were dam right lies.... so we now find ourselves with a divided nation and that as you say will take time to heal....however I do feel another vote coming and I think it is just when we know all the facts on our exit strategy....but I also think it will divide our nation further and cause even more problems perhaps even civil war a bit extreme I know but quite possible...

Reading the Weekend FT Databank this morning.
£100k buys me c£4.5k annuity and if I die tomorrow, nothing..
£100K VOD buys me £8.6k by June 2019 and if I die tomorrow, the share price and the dividend stream..

How lucky are we! Not luck, common sense?

Interesting.

The short interest (number of OPEN short positions divided by the total float) is not available. I wonder if that is a big number and worrying shorters more than Vod equity owners

Security VOD / Vodafone Group Plc (92857W308)
Latest Market Date 2018-11-15
Short Volume 844,128
Market Volume 20,531,800
Short Percent 4%

Apparently the short % was as high as 20% in August

https://fintel.io/ss/us/vod

Has 2 amazing talents, 1. the amazing ability of hindsight . & 2. Stating the bleeding obvious. i.e. Wish I had sold the lot at 1.61 & bought back at a lower price.