Vodafone reports 1.2% rise in full-year group revenues

Vodafone has reported a 1.2% rise in full-year group revenues, but has rowed back on medium-term growth targets due to constricting consumer spending patterns across Europe.

The London-headquartered giant said revenues grew to £46.4bn (€57.5bn) over the 12 months to the end of March.

However, adjusted operating profits were down 2.4% to £11.5bn and earnings per share fell 9.6% to 13.74p. However, its full- year dividend per share was up by 7% on the previous year to 9.52p.

The company took a £4bn impairment charge on its operations in southern Europe — namely Italy, Portugal, Spain and Greece — but group chief executive Vittorio Colao said focusing on the key growth areas of data, emerging markets and enterprise is positioning the business well in a difficult macro- economic climate.

“Our commercial performance and our ability to leverage scale continue to be strong, enabling us to gain, or hold, market share in most of our key markets and reduce the rate of margin decline,” said Mr Colao.

Ireland proved a good market for Vodafone, in the 12 months, with a 59% increase in the number of smart phones in use linked to its network. The company’s customer base topped 2.46 million by the end of March, which represented a 1.7% annual increase, retaining its number one position in the mobile market, with 2.22 million mobile customers recorded.

Vodafone Ireland now boasts more than 1.05 million mobile internet users, a figure that is up by 14% on the previous year and nearly 38% of its Irish subscriber base now own a smartphone. Vodafone also continued its investment strategy in Ireland.