Vodafone targets £2.5bn of benefits

Mobile phone giant Vodafone today put a figure of £2.5bn (€3.7bn) on benefits expected from a major programme to tackle costs and improve revenues.

Details of the One Vodafone initiative emerged as the blue-chip group met analysts and investors at its headquarters in Newbury, Berkshire.

Vodafone said it expected £2.5bn (€3.6bn) of annual pre-tax operating improvements by the year ending March 31 2008 – with £1.4bn (€2.1bn) coming from cost savings and the rest from revenue initiatives.

The company did not immediately provide details of where the savings will be achieved, although chief executive Arun Sarin told guests that the current financial year was proceeding in line with hopes set out in May.

He went on to confirm that Vodafone expected to reduce mobile capital expenditure to less than 10% of mobile revenues in the year to March 2008.

The analyst and investor day featured a series of presentations by senior management from Vodafone’s largest operating companies and from Verizon Wireless, the company’s major interest in the United States.