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LONDON, May 12 (Reuters) - Vodafone, the world's
second largest mobile operator, met expectations with a 2.6%
rise in full-year core earnings to 14.9 billion euros ($16.10
billion), but did not give a current year outlook due to the
uncertainty caused by the coronavirus.
"We are experiencing a direct impact on our roaming revenues
from lower international travel and we also expect economic
pressures to impact our customer revenues over time," it said on
Tuesday.
"However, we are also seeing significant increases in data
volumes and further improvements in loyalty, as our customers
place greater value on the quality, speed and reliability of our
networks."
The company said given the uncertainties and impacts of the
global pandemic it was not able to provide adjusted core
earnings guidance for the current year.
But it said that based on assessment of the global economy,
it could be flat to slightly down, compared to a rebased 14.5
billion euros for 2020.
It did provide guidance for free cash flow before spectrum
costs, which underpins its dividend, saying it would be at least
5 billion euros.
Vodafone Chief Executive Nick Read cut the company's
dividend a year ago, relieving immediate pressure on the group's
balance sheet. It maintained its full-year payout at 9.00 euro
cents a share.
($1 = 0.9253 euros)
(Reporting by Paul Sandle; editing by Kate Holton)