Vodafone Losses Fall, and Profits Rise"

Vodafone has reported a net loss of US$16.15 billion over the past year - while also showing pre-write off profits of US$17.9 billion. The company wrote off a total of US$27.2 billion as it downgrades the values of assets acquired at the height of the telecoms boom.

The company increased its customer base by 13.7 million to 133.4 million and revenues rose to just over US$60 billion.

The company has already spent US$2 billion on a share purchase programme and says that a further US$5.4 billion of purchases are planned over the next year.

Julian Horn-Smith, Group Chief Operating Officer, commented "Strong customer growth and escalating take up of data services have driven double digit growth in revenues once again. Our ongoing efforts to drive cost efficiencies have offset increased competitive and regulatory pressures to further increase margins. Overall, these results demonstrate the underlying operational strength of the Group. As we transition to 3G, we will continue to enhance the customer experience, driving up brand preference and customer loyalty and building on Vodafone's success as a market leader."

ARPU was up 4% and 6% in Italy and the UK respectively, and down 7% and 1% in Japan and Germany respectively, compared with the year ended 31 March 2003. Usage of data services continued to increase in the Group's controlled mobile businesses, with revenues from data services increasing by 25% over the year to US$8.1 billion. Data revenues represented 16.1% of service revenues for the year ended 31 March 2004 compared with 14.6% for the year ended 31 March 2003.

Vodafone ended the financial year with US$15.2 billion of debt, down on the US$24.8 billion a year ago."

Posted to the site on 26th May 2004