Vodafone Announces Results for the Year Ended 31 March 2013
- Group revenue down -4.2% to £44.4 billion; full year organic service revenue decline -1.9%*; Q4 -4.2%*
- EBITDA down -3.1%* at £13.3 billion; organic EBITDA margin down -0.1* percentage points excluding restructuring costs
- Verizon Wireless (‘VZW’) service revenue up 8.1%*; our share of profits up 30.5%* to £6.4 billion
- Adjusted operating profit above guidance, up 9.3%* at £12.0 billion; adjusted EPS +5.0% at 15.65p
- H2 impairment charge of £1.8 billion, giving a full year total of £7.7 billion in Italy and Spain
- Free cash flow towards the higher end of guidance at £5.6 billion after capital additions of £6.3 billion
- Final dividend per share of 6.92 pence, giving total dividends per share of 10.19 pence, up 7.0%
| Financial highlights | Change year-on-year | ||
| Year ended 31 March 2013 | Reported | Organic | |
| £m | % | % | |
| Group revenue | 44,445 | -4.2 | -1.4 |
| Group service revenue | 40,942 | -4.5 | -1.9 |
| Northern and Central Europe | 18,768 | 2.8 | -0.2 |
| Southern Europe | 9,635 | -16.7 | -11.6 |
| Africa, Middle East and Asia Pacific ('AMAP') | 12,345 | -3.2 | 3.9 |
| Profit for the financial year | 673 | ||
| Adjusted operating profit | 11,960 | 3.7 | 9.3 |
| Free cash flow | 5,608 | -8.1 | |
| Earnings per share | 0.87p | ||
| Adjusted earnings per share | 15.65p | ||
| Total ordinary dividends per share | 10.19p | 7 |
- Further good progress on data: organic revenue growth 13.8%*; European contract smartphone penetration 54.8%, up 9.9 percentage points year-on-year
- Vodafone Red now in 14 markets; 4.1 million customers as at 12 May 2013; 67.1% of consumer contract revenue in our European markets from integrated plans in Q4
- Unified communications strategy accelerated: acquisitions of Cable & Wireless Worldwide (‘CWW’) and TelstraClear; fibre deployment planned in Spain and Portugal; wholesale access agreement in Germany
- VZW dividend: £2.4 billion dividend received in December 2012; £2.1 billion due in June 2013, to be retained in the business
- Aiming to reach ten million Vodafone Red customers by March 2014, and to extend our 3G footprint at 43.2 Mbps and LTE coverage across our five major European markets to around 80% and 40% respectively by March 2015
Guidance for the 2014 financial year
- Adjusted operating profit in the range of £12.0 billion to £12.8 billion.
- Free cash flow of around £7.0 billion, including the £2.1 billion VZW dividend to be received in June 2013.
Vittorio Colao, Group Chief Executive, commented:
“Thanks to further strong progress this year in our key areas of strategic focus − data, enterprise and emerging markets − and an excellent performance from VZW, we have achieved good growth in adjusted operating profit and adjusted earnings per share. However, we have faced headwinds from a combination of continued tough economic conditions, particularly in Southern Europe, and an adverse European regulatory environment.
“I remain very excited about our longer term prospects, as customer appetite for high speed data grows rapidly, and companies look to embed mobility into their corporate strategies. The launch of Vodafone Red has been very successful, providing a solid underpinning for future revenue as customers take advantage of the best of the Vodafone experience. Our new targets for high speed mobile network coverage, announced today, combined with our growing capabilities in next generation fixed line access, strengthen our Vodafone 2015 strategy.
“With the announcement of today’s 7% increase, the ordinary dividend per share has grown over 22% in the last three years. The Board remains focused on balancing ongoing shareholder remuneration with the long-term investment needs of the business, and going forward aims at least to maintain the ordinary dividend per share at current levels.”
For further information:
Investor Relations: +44 7919 990230
Media Relations: +44 1635 664444
Notes:
* All amounts 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. There have been two one-off items impacting organic growth rates in the year. For details see the full announcement.
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