Irish shareholders advised to stick with Vodafone

Analysts in Britain have recommended that Irish shareholders hold onto their Vodafone stock, citing yesterday's interim results as an indication of future growth.

The group reported turnover growth of 13% for the six months to September 30.

Vodafone shares closed at £1.335 (€1.90) from £1.285 in London last night.

The price was significantly below the £1.75 (€2.49) per share paid by 450,000 Irish shareholders in May 2001. At that time they exchanged two Eircell shares for 0.948 Vodafone shares.

This valued the average Irish stake at £320.40 (€456.45), compared with the £420 (€598.35) they paid originally.

Gareth Jenkins of Deutsche Bank in London described the six-month performance as very strong, and said on the basis of those figures, the company had the potential to generate around £7bn (€9.97bn) in free cashflow in a full year.

He said the share price did not reflect the company's potential for growth, and that it would not be possible to predict how the share buyback programme would impact on the price.