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Pin to quick picksVodafone Share News (VOD)

Share Price Information for Vodafone (VOD)

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Share Price: 68.44
Bid: 68.40
Ask: 68.44
Change: 0.62 (0.91%)
Spread: 0.04 (0.058%)
Open: 67.96
High: 68.74
Low: 67.82
Prev. Close: 67.82
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Vodafone fails to reassure despite improvements in Italy, Spain

Fri, 25th Jan 2019 07:12

(Sharecast News) - Vodafone managed to keep underlying growth positive in the third quarter as it stemmed some of the customer losses in Italy and Spain, though it could not provide much needed reassurance over a number of ongoing investor concerns.Directors reiterated their full-year target of growing adjusted operating profits around 3% and generating €5.4bn of cash before payments in mobile spectrum launches.Reported revenue of €11bn in the three months to 31 December was down 7% year-on-year as a 6% decline in Europe was surpassed by a 11% contraction in the rest of the world. But strip out foreign exchange movements, asset sales and accounting changes, and then organic service revenues grew 0.1% to €9.8bn, which while slowing from the 0.5% in the second quarter. Total service revenues were down 0.8%, which was worse than analyst expectations for a decline of 0.7%, mostly due to a misfiring price promotion at South Africa's Vodacom that had been revealed a day earlier.European consumer service revenues fell 1.1% or 1.3% if excluding UK handset financing or rising 2.4% if excluding Italy and Spain, where Vodafone has been badly bruised by stiff price competition, though this was said to have moderated as the quarter went on, allowing "improved commercial momentum".German growth unexpectedly slowed, which was a particular disappointment as this market will become one of the largest in the group once the acquisition of assets from Liberty is completed. UK was fairly consistent, with service revenue growth slowing to 0.9% from 1.1% in the preceding quarter, or down 4.5% if including the drag from mobile handset financing.Expansion of service revenues from the rest of the world was more encouraging, at 4.9%, as the decline in South Africa was blamed on pricing initiatives was offset by good growth in Turkey, Egypt and other African markets.Across the group, mobile contract churn reduced 2.0 percentage points year-on-year, with net additions of 747,000 mobile and 341,000 broadband contracts, with the converged base up by 190,000 in the quarter.Chief executive Nick Read, who took over at the helm at the start of October but has seen the shares continue their slump to near a decade low due to worries about cash, debt and sustainability of the dividend, was encouraged by the lower mobile contract churn and improved customer trends in Italy and Spain, though he acknowledged that these have not yet translated into financial results."We are moving to implement a radically simpler operating model and to accelerate our digital transformation, as demonstrated by the organisational changes we have announced in Spain and the UK," he said, also referring to this week's announcement about an extend of the current network sharing agreement with Telefonica O2 into 5G.He added that after these arrangements have been finalised, the companies also intend to "explore opportunities to monetise our UK tower assets", as has been mooted in the press recently.Vodafone shares fell to a new low on Friday, just above 140p, down 34% over the past 12 months to the lowest in almost 10 years. Analysts at RBC Capital Markets noted that a decline of 0.8% in organic service revenues was slightly below consensus of 0.7%, though this was not unexpected after Vodacom's results on Thursday.The European business was broadly in line at -2.1% compared to the consensus forecast of -2.2%, though Germany missed with revenue of +1.1% versus consensus of +1.5%.George Salmon, analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said if Read sells the UK towers assets, Vodafone would then be squarely focused on its mobile and broadband offerings. "That might sound sensible, but there are two obvious problems.""There's not much to choose between the different providers these days, other than the price they charge. That makes them particularly vulnerable to competition, something Vodafone's found out the hard way in markets from India to Italy."We also can't help but feel part of the motivation for selling the towers businesses would be to shore up a balance sheet that's creaking under the weight of close to €30bn of net debt. So, while a yield of close to 9% will surely turn a few heads, investors shouldn't forget the combination of weak revenue growth and a balance sheet laden with debt mean these are testing times for Vodafone."Michael Hewson at CMC Markets noted that the shares have fallen over the past year due to concerns about the size of its debt, the size of the dividend as well as future costs with 5G licences coming up for bidding.The dividend yield of 9% "in the longer term isn't sustainable" as it is not fully covered by profits, he noted, "which means that the company is having to fund the payout by way of borrowing".Hewson observed that the trading update doesn't appear to have convinced investors much over many of those worries, only on the improved customer trends in Europe.
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2 May 2024 07:03

Swisscom posts steady Q1 profit, says Vodafone Italia deal on track

May 2 (Reuters) - Telecoms group Swisscom reported a slightly lower first-quarter core profit on Thursday, but beat market expectations, as business in its core Swiss and Italian markets continued to develop positively.

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2 May 2024 06:35

Swisscom plans completion of Vodafone Italia takeover in Q1 2025

May 2 (Reuters) - Swiss telecoms group Swisscom said on Thursday its takeover of Vodafone Italia is on track and expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2025.

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16 Apr 2024 08:41

Vodafone appoints SAP's Marika Auramo as CEO of Business arm

(Alliance News) - Vodafone Group PLC on Tuesday said Marika Auramo has been appointed as chief executive of Vodafone Business.

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16 Apr 2024 07:46

Vodafone taps SAP executive to lead business division

(Sharecast News) - Vodafone announced the appointment of Marika Auramo as chief executive of Vodafone Business on Tuesday, effective from 1 July.

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4 Apr 2024 15:58

London close: Stocks manage gains ahead of US payrolls report

(Sharecast News) - London markets closed higher on Thursday, driven by a robust showing from the mining sector and as investors contemplated the UK services sector's latest figures.

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4 Apr 2024 08:47

LONDON MARKET OPEN: Shares rise despite US interest rate unease

(Alliance News) - London's FTSE 100 edged higher on Thursday morning, despite lingering US interest rate worries hanging over equities, while gold notched another record high in earlier trade.

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4 Apr 2024 07:43

LONDON BRIEFING: Vodafone-Three deal faces deeper UK probe

(Alliance News) - London's FTSE 100 is called to open higher on Thursday, despite remarks from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell failing to soothe lingering interest rate worries.

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4 Apr 2024 07:37

CMA to launch in-depth probe into Vodafone's merger with Three

(Sharecast News) - The Competition and Markets Authority said on Thursday that it will launch an in-depth investigation into the planned £15bn merger between Vodafone and CK Hutchison's Three that was announced last year.

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28 Mar 2024 15:05

Directors dealings: Vodafone chairman follows in CFO's steps, buys shares

(Sharecast News) - Vodafone's chairman bought a big batch of shares in the telecommunications outfit just ahead of the Easter break.

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28 Mar 2024 13:54

IN BRIEF: Vodafone Chair Boxmeer buys GBP570,000 in shares

Vodafone Group PLC - Berkshire, England-based telecommunications provider - Chair Jean-Francois van Boxmeer buys 823,500 shares at GBP0.69 each, worth GBP568,215, in London on Wednesday.

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27 Mar 2024 09:40

LONDON BROKER RATINGS: Sainsbury's, Petershill Partners upped to 'buy'

(Alliance News) - The following London-listed shares received analyst recommendations Wednesday morning and Tuesday:

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26 Mar 2024 11:21

Vodafone Germany to cut 2,000 jobs in revamp

FRANKFURT, March 26 (Reuters) - Vodafone Germany aims to save around 400 million euros ($434.48 million) over the next two years as part of a restructuring that will hit some 2,000 jobs, the company said on Tuesday.

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26 Mar 2024 11:15

UPDATE: Vodafone Germany cuts 2,000 jobs as part of savings programme

(Alliance News) - Vodafone GmbH is cutting and relocating around 2,000 jobs in a bid to save EUR400 million in the next two years, the Dusseldorf, Germany-based subsidiary of Vodafone Group PLC announced on Tuesday.

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26 Mar 2024 10:43

Vodafone Germany: 400-mln-eur restructuring to affect 2,000 jobs

BERLIN, March 26 (Reuters) - Vodafone Germany said on Tuesday that it aims to save around 400 million euros ($434.48 million) over the next two years as part of a transformation programme that will affect some 2,000 jobs.

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26 Mar 2024 10:42

Vodafone Germany cutting 2,000 jobs as part of savings programme

(Alliance News) - Vodafone GmbH is cutting and relocating around 2,000 jobs in a bid to save EUR400 million in the next two years, the Germany, Dusseldorf-based subsidiary of Vodafone Group PLC announced Tuesday.

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