LONDON (Alliance News) - Vodafone Group PLC on Friday reiterated its outlook for its current financial year, as the mobile telecommunications giant said it "continued to make good progress" during its first quarter.
In the quarter to end-June, Vodafone reported revenue of EUR13.38 billion, down 4.5% from EUR14.01 billion the year before, due to a 5.3% hit from foreign exchange movements.
However, Vodafone's preferred reporting measure, group organic service revenue, rose 2.2%, helped by a strong performance from Africa, the Middle East and Asia Pacific, and a stable performance in Europe.
Vodafone said Europe remained stable despite lower roaming fees, reporting 0.3% growth overall, including a stronger performance in Germany, Spain and Italy, offsetting a decline in the UK.
The company said that adoption of 4G continued to drive growth in data, with 4G customers doubled to 52.5 million in the quarter, and data volumes up 63%.
"We continued to make good progress during the first quarter. In Europe, our growth remains stable despite regulatory pressure on roaming revenue, with good performance in Germany, Spain and Italy while we are focussed on improving our performance in the UK," said Chief Executive Vittorio Colao in a statement.
"Our growth momentum in AMAP remains strong, with excellent performance in South Africa, Turkey and Egypt and ongoing recovery in India. Customers in multiple markets are attracted by our 'more-for-more' commercial offerings of larger data bundles and extra services, while we are seeing continued success with our fixed broadband and enterprise strategies," Colao added.
"Trading in the first quarter was consistent with management's expectations underlying the outlook statement for the 2017 financial year," Vodafone said in its statement. "The group therefore confirms its outlook for the 2017 financial year", ending March 2017.
By Hana Stewart-Smith; hanassmith@alliancenews.com; @HanaSSAllNews
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