Following a considerable increase in trade across the United Kingdom and Africa in the first quarter, Vodafone expects to meet its annual projections.
Compared to the same period last year, the telecommunications giant’s total revenue increased by 2.7% on an organic basis to €11.28 billion in the three months ended 30 June.
As a result of December’s legislative changes, tens of thousands of cable broadband and television customers were lost in Germany, the company’s largest market.
However, this was countered by a solid performance in the United Kingdom, where service income increased by 6.5% due to price increases on yearly contracts and the addition of 18,000 new mobile users and 22,000 new broadband subscribers.
The FTSE 100 business has also benefited from being allowed to reinstate new roaming charges for British citizens traveling within the European Union, as well as from increasing revenue at its mobile towers division.
The South African part of the company, Vodacom, also posted a solid performance, bolstered by increased demand for insurance services and a continued increase in the number of people using the money transfer network M-Pesa.
Therefore, the Newbury-based company anticipates reporting adjusted underlying earnings between €15 billion and €15.5 billion and adjusted free cash flow of around €5.3 billion for the current fiscal year.
Nick Read, the company’s chief executive, stated, “While we are not immune to the present macroeconomic headwinds, we remain on pace to generate financial results by our projection for the year.”
Our near-term focus remains on our operational and portfolio priorities.
We continue to pursue prospects with Vantage Towers and expand our market positioning throughout Europe.
Tomorrow, during Vodafone’s annual general meeting, Read may face opposition to his proposed £4.1million compensation package, an increase of nearly £600,000 from the previous year.
PIRC has asked investors to vote against the proposed payout, stating that it is ‘unacceptable’ in light of the company’s share price drop during his tenure as CEO.
Since taking over from Vittorio Colao in October 2018, Vodafone shares have declined by around one-fifth, and over the preceding five years, they have decreased by 42.6%. On Monday, they were unchanged at $1.29.
Nonetheless, two additional institutional advisers, ISS and Glass Lewis have expressed support for reading’s proposed compensation plan and are optimistic that a vast majority of shareholders will approve it.
Victoria Scholar, the head of investment at Interactive Investor, stated, “Long-term investors in Vodafone’s stock have had a rough time since the price’s 2015 top.”
Despite this, she added that ‘the stock is seeking to recoup at least a portion of those losses with shares outperforming the overall market since March’s lows, rebounding almost 10% from the lows’
