- The blue-chip company has exited numerous markets in the past 12 months.
- Vodafone completed the sale of its Hungarian and Ghanaian divisions last year
Vodafone’s chief executive has said there is “much more to do” as the telecoms giant continues to offload assets as part of a simplification drive.
The blue-chip company has exited numerous markets over the past 12 months under a turnaround plan led by its new boss Margherita Della Valle, who is streamlining its operations in an effort to improve performance.
Last year, it completed the sale of its Hungarian and Ghanaian divisions and sold its stake in the Vantage Towers telephone masts business to a joint venture owned by KKR and Global Infrastructure Partners for around €8.6bn (£7.4bn). .
Changes: Vodafone has exited numerous markets over the past 12 months under a turnaround plan led by new boss Margherita Della Valle.
As a result, the company’s operating profits plummeted 74.6 percent to €3.7 billion in the year ending March.
However, revenue fell only 2.5 percent to 36.7 billion euros.
Revenue was further impacted by adverse currency fluctuations in Africa, which offset price increases and significant customer expansion across the continent.
But organic services sales rose 6.3 percent, supported by strong results in the United Kingdom and Turkey, and its biggest market by revenue, Germany, which returned to growth in the fourth quarter.
Organic profits rose 2.2 percent to around €11 billion by 2024, in line with forecasts.
“There is still a lot to do in the coming year,” said Della Valle, who previously headed Vodafone’s Italian division and was its finance chief until he was promoted to chief executive in January 2023.
“We will increase investment in our customer experience, improve our underlying performance in Germany and accelerate our momentum in the business, while continuing to simplify our operations across the group.”
The company intends to complete the £4.4 billion sale of its Spanish segment to Zegona Communications and the £6.8 billion sale of its Italian division to Swisscom later this year.
It has also made about 5,000 job cuts under a program to eliminate 11,000 positions over three years, equivalent to about a tenth of its global workforce.
Vodafone has struggled for years with poor performance and high net debt, which currently stands at €33.2 billion.
Mark Crouch, analyst at eToro, said: “Vodafone investors may have been bracing themselves for another tumultuous earnings report this morning, and while this may not have them jumping for joy, there are signs the business has turned a corner.” “.
The company is also hoping to receive approval from the Competition and Markets Authority for a £15bn merger with Three UK.
Last week, the Cabinet Office ordered Vodafone to establish a “National Security Committee” over concerns about the links Three’s Hong Kong-based parent company CK Hutchison has with China.
vodafone shares They rose 3.4 per cent to 72.4p early on Tuesday afternoon, making them the biggest risers on the FTSE 100 index, although they are still down around a fifth over the past year.