Vodafone announces results for the six months ended 30 September 2018

IFRS 15 was adopted on 1 April 2018 for our statutory reporting, without restating prior year figures. As a result, the discussion of our operating results is primarily on an IAS 18 basis for all periods presented.

Highlights

• Group revenue of €21.8 billion and loss for the financial period of €7.8 billion, primarily due to a loss on the disposal of Vodafone India (following the completion of the merger with Idea Cellular) and impairments
• Organic service revenue (excluding handset financing, IAS 18 basis) up 0.8%** and Q2 up 0.5%** with good commercial and financial performance in most markets offset by increased competition in Italy and Spain
• Growth drivers: good momentum in fixed broadband (384,000 net adds) and convergence (616,000 net adds); Vodafone Business grew 1.0%*, led by strong growth in IoT; Emerging Consumer up 7.4%* driven by data growth
• Organic adjusted EBITDA up 2.9%** (excluding handset financing and settlements, IAS 18 basis), supported by a third consecutive year of net reduction in operating expenses
• Updating full year guidance: underlying organic adjusted EBITDA growth narrowed to c.3% (previously 1-5%); Free cash flow (pre-spectrum) raised to c.€5.4 billion (previously ‘at least €5.2 billion’)
• Stable interim dividend per share of 4.84 eurocents; full year dividend per share expected to be in-line with FY18

Nick Read, Group Chief Executive, commented:

“Our performance in the majority of our markets has been good during the first half of the year, and we have taken decisive commercial and operational actions to respond to challenging competitive conditions in Italy and Spain. We are on track to reduce net operating expenses for the third year running, and we are confirming the mid-point of our EBITDA guidance range, with an increased outlook for free cash flow generation.

Looking ahead, my new strategic priorities focus on driving greater consistency of commercial execution, accelerating digital transformation, radically simplifying our operating model and generating better returns from our infrastructure assets. Our goal is to deepen customer engagement through a broader offering of products and services and to deliver the best digital customer experience, supported by consistent investment in our leading Gigabit networks. We expect that this will drive revenue growth, reduce churn and lower our European net operating expenses by at least €1.2 billion by FY2021.

As part of our effort to improve returns, we are creating a virtual internal tower company across our European operations, and we are reviewing the best strategic and financial direction for these assets.

Our focus on organic growth along with the strategic and financial benefits of the proposed acquisition of Liberty Global’s assets give confidence in the Group’s ability to grow free cash flow, which underpins our dividend.”

For further information:

Investor Relations
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Notes:

*    All amounts in this document marked with an “*” represent organic growth which presents performance on a comparable basis, both in terms of merger and acquisition activity and movements in foreign exchange rates. “Change at constant exchange rates” presents performance on a comparable basis in terms of foreign exchange rates only. Organic growth and change at constant exchange rates are alternative performance measures. See “Alternative performance measures” on page 48 for further details and reconciliations to the respective closest equivalent GAAP measure.

**  Organic growth excluding the impact of UK handset financing and settlements (see page 53 for further details).

1.   Following the adoption of IFRS 15 “Revenue from Contracts with Customers” on 1 April 2018, the Group’s statutory results for the six months ended 30 September 2018 are on an IFRS 15 basis, whereas the statutory results for the six months ended 30 September 2017 are on an IAS 18 basis as previously reported.

2.   Six months ended 30 September 2018 includes €3.5 billion of impairment charges in respect of the Group’s investments in Spain, Romania and Vodafone Idea and a €3.4 billion loss on the disposal of Vodafone India. See note 8 “Acquisitions and disposals” for further details.

3.   Alternative performance measures are non-GAAP measures that are presented to provide readers with additional financial information that is regularly reviewed by management and should not be viewed in isolation or as an alternative to the equivalent GAAP measure. Group service revenue, adjusted EBITDA and adjusted EBIT are presented on an IAS 18 basis. See “Alternative performance measures” on page 48 for reconciliations to the closest respective equivalent GAAP measure and “Definition of terms” on page 59 for further details.