It’s been quite a turnaround for Vodafone this half-year. The company reported an operating profit up 32.5% despite a fall in revenue of 4.1%. The results prompted an immediate boost in the company’s share price, rising 5% after the release of the latest report.
The figures are slightly misleading: the results six months ago were distorted by a writedown of the company’s Indian subsidiary, so it’s not such a dramatic turnaround as it seems at first sight.
Nonetheless, the company was bullish about the results. Vittorio Colao, group chief executive, said: “In the first half of the year we have maintained good commercial momentum. Revenue grew organically in the majority of our markets driven by mobile data and our continued success as Europe’s fastest growing broadband provider. “
Enterprise sales
Colao also drew attention to the rise in enterprise sales. “Enterprise revenues continue to grow, led by our Internet of Things (IoT), Cloud and Fixed services, and for the second year running we achieved an absolute reduction in our operating costs.
The results were also greeted positively by industry observers. Anna Bossong, analyst at Edison Investment Research said: the results should be greeted positively thanks to better than expected revenues. “The key factors in the improvement are stronger than expected European revenue growth and the late entrance of a new operator in Italy. In the UK increases in higher value contract customers and regulatory settlements were significant positives, that together with higher visitor revenues in the group business are expected to add around €0.3bn to full year EBITDA,” she said.
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