Vodafone announces results for the six months ended 30 September 2012

Vodafone announces results for the six months ended 30 September 2012

13 November 2012

• H1 Group organic service revenue growth -0.4%*; N. Europe +1.5%*, S. Europe -9.8%*, AMAP +5.2%*
• Q2 Group organic service revenue growth -1.4%*; N. Europe +0.7%*, S. Europe -11.3%*, AMAP +4.1%*
• H1 EBITDA down -2.9%* to £6.6 billion; EBITDA margin down 1.0* percentage point
• Adjusted operating profit £6.2 billion, up 8.5%*; expected to be in the upper half of the guidance range for the full year
• Impairments totalling £5.9 billion for Spain and Italy as a result of challenging market conditions and changes to discount rates
• Free cash flow £2.2 billion; expected to be in the lower half of the guidance range for the full year
• Interim dividend per share of 3.27 pence, up 7.2%
• £2.4 billion dividend due from Verizon Wireless by the end of 2012; £1.5 billion buyback to commence after receipt
  
  

Financial highlights¹

• Continued strong growth in data +13.7%* and emerging markets² (India +11.0%*, Vodacom +4.6%*, Turkey +18.0%*) in Q2
• Smartphone penetration in Europe now 30.7%, with 45.5% of European mobile service revenue now in-bundle; new tariff plans launched across major European markets since September
• Enterprise revenue declined -0.4%*; continued strong growth in Vodafone Global Enterprise, M2M and Vodafone One Net offset by macroeconomic challenges in country-level enterprise units
• Continued execution of efficiency programme, with £300 million absolute reduction in European opex targeted in the 2014 financial year

Vittorio Colao, Group Chief Executive, commented:

"We have continued to make progress on our strategic priorities over the last six months, with good growth in data and emerging markets in particular. In the short-term, however, our results reflect tougher market conditions, mainly in Southern Europe.

"We remain very positive about the longer-term opportunities, and our Vodafone 2015 strategy reflects our confidence in the future. This is based on a new strategic approach to our consumer offer and pricing in Europe now being rolled out, an increasing focus on unified communications in enterprise, and an attractive and growing exposure to emerging markets. Fundamental to the success of this strategy will bean ongoing enhancement of the consumer and enterprise customer experience through continuous investment in high speed data networks, and an increased drive towards standardisation and simplification across the Group to maximise cost efficiency and accelerate execution."

For further information:

Investor Relations, Telephone: +44 7919 990230

Media Relations, Telephone: +44 1635 664444

Notes:

* All amounts in this document marked with an “*” represent organic growth which presents performance on a comparable basis, both in terms of merger and acquisition activity and movements in foreign exchange rates. From 1 October 2011 the Group revised its intra-group roaming charges. Whilst neutral to Group revenue and profitability, these changes have had an impact on reported service revenue by country and regionally since 1 October 2011. Whilst prior period reported revenue has not been restated, to ensure comparability in organic growth rates, country and regional revenue in the prior financial period have been recalculated based on the new pricing structure to form the basis for our organic calculations.

1 More information on non-GAAP measures can be found on page 41.

2 Emerging markets comprise India, Vodacom, Egypt, Turkey, Ghana, Qatar and Fiji.