LONDON (Alliance News) - Vodafone Group PLC Tuesday narrowed its guidance in a positive direction for the 2015 financial year and upped its interim dividend, as it saw revenue rise in the half year to end-September, and noted that its GBP19 billion Project Spring investment programme saw "strong momentum".
Vodafone now expects earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation for the current financial year, ending March 2015, to be between GBP11.6 billion and GBP11.9 billion, and free cash flow to be positive after all capital expenses, excluding its acquisition of Grupo Corporative Ono SA in March.
At the time of its full-year results in May, the company had guided an EBITDA range between GBP11.4 billion and GBP11.9 billion for the year.
The company raised its interim dividend to 3.60 pence, up from 3.53 pence in the previous year.
Vodafone posted a pretax profit of GBP406 million for the half year, down from GBP1.51 billion a year before, as revenue rose to GBP10.75 billion from GBP19.06 billion, due to a big uptick in administrative costs, including a GBP637 million charge for the amortisation of its acquired customer base and brand intangible assets.
On an adjusted basis, excluding this amortisation, Vodafone posted an adjusted operating profit of GBP1.8 billion, down from GBP2.5 billion a year before, due to the integration Kabel Deutschland and the consolidation of Vodafone Italy.
Vodafone said that it had traded in line with expectations overall in its first half, but noted that competitive, macroeconomic and regulatory pressures continued, particularly in Europe.
It said it was seeing "some signs of stabilisation" in its commercial performance and operating trends, and some early benefits from the Project Spring investment programme.
It expects its investments to lead to further improvements in its network performance, and "customer perception" in the coming quarters, which it hopes will boost average revenue per user, and help customer churn in the medium term.
By Hana Stewart-Smith; hanassmith@alliancenews.com; @HanaSSAllNews
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Vodafone (VOD)