Vodafone CEO Sarin: US Operations Continue To Do Well

LONDON -(Dow Jones)- Vodafone Group Chief Executive Arun Sarin said Thursday that Vodafone continued to derive value from its U.S. Verizon Wireless joint-venture despite recent shareholder criticism from a small activist group.

Speaking on a call to journalists following the mobile operator's first-quarter trading update, Sarin said that he and the Vodafone Board continued to look at ways to maximize value from the Verizon Wireless assets, which it holds a 45% stake in, but said the company was doing well.

"The results we announced this morning are evidence that this business continues to grow well," said Sarin, adding that the U.S. mobile operator added 1.6 million new users in the quarter.

Chief Financial Officer Andy Halford added that he expected Verizon Wireless, majority-owned by Verizon Communications, to start paying dividends in the 2009 financial year.

Vodafone is currently facing pressures from an activist shareholder group called Efficient Capital Structures, which says the company could derive more value from its U.S. assets by creating a separate tracking stock or spinning off the business.

Sarin added the Verizon assets would begin to pay strong dividends to shareholders once the company turns a profit.

Vodafone's CEO added that he remained committed to its stake in France's mobile business SFR and Vodacom in Africa. He said he would be interested in possibly increasing the company's stake in Vodacom, should its joint-venture partner Telkom SA. decide to exit or decrease its ownership.

While Europe continues to remain a challenging, competitive market for mobile phone operators, Sarin said Vodafone's recent Hutchison Essar acquisition in India was already showing growth. In the first two months following the acquisition, Hutchison Essar has added 3 million customers, he said.

Sarin expects Hutchison Essar to become its largest business unit, where it owns majority control, within the financial year.

Company Web site: http://www.vodafone.com

-By Daniel Thomas, Dow Jones Newswires; 44-20-7842-9264; dan.thomas@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires"

Posted to the site on 19th July 2007