Dividend boost for Vodafone shareholders

Vodafone promised a 15% hike in its payout to shareholders today after customer numbers grew to 171 million and underlying earnings rose 58%.

The world’s biggest mobile-phone company described the half-year figures as strong, although Vodafone sounded a more cautious note about growth next year.

Earnings before one-off items reached £6.7bn (€10bn) in the six months to September 30, but the impact of a write-down following the sale of operations in Sweden meant the bottom-line figure dipped to £4.1bn (€6.1bn), from £4.54bn (€6.7bn).

Shareholders will get a dividend of 2.2p a share – equivalent to £1.4bn (€2.1bn) and up 15% on a year ago – while Vodafone will increase the amount it plans to buy back in shares, by £2bn (€3bn) to £6.5bn (€10bn) in this financial year.

Meanwhile, Vodafone Ireland’s customer base grew to 2,013,000, with the addition of 32,000 new customers.

The company now has 93,800 Irish subscribers to its 3G service.

Blended monthly ARPU grew from €51.40 for the quarter to June 30, 2005, to €53.10 for the quarter ending September 30, 2005.

Vodafone Ireland CEO Teresa Elder said: “Today’s figures are a testament to Vodafone’s leadership of the mobile market.

“Our continuing growth is based upon our ability to deliver customer-focused, easy-to-use, value-for-money mobile services.

“Vodafone has continued to deliver increasing value to its customers during the period, with the launches of Perfect Fit, Perfect Fit for Business and Vodafone Passport, all of which are proving to be extremely popular with our customers.”