The Vodafone Group reported that its quarterly revenue increased by 8.4% to £44.5 billion for the fourth quarter of its 2010 fiscal year. Group service revenue increased by 8.9% to £41.7 billion. Q4 organic service revenue fell 0.2%, a second successive quarterly improvement. Group EBITDA was £14.7 billion, up 1.7%. The EBITDA margin declined in line with expectations. The results were driven by a strong performance from Verizon Wireless, which grew service revenue by 6.3% for the financial year.
At the end of the quarter, the Vodafone Group's proportionate mobile customer base was 341 million, with 8.5 million net additions in Q4.
Some highlights from the financial report:
- Europe service revenue declined 3.5%(*) to £28.3 billion. In Q4 service revenue declined 1.7%(*)(1), an improvement on Q3. Strong revenue growth continued in data and fixed broadband. In mobile, improvements were driven by data, enterprise and roaming, with voice usage and price trends broadly similar to the previous quarter
- Africa and Central Europe service revenue declined 1.2% to £7.4 billion. In Q4 service revenue increased by 2.4%(*), a 2.9 percentage point improvement on Q3, driven by strong revenue growth in Turkey (+31.3%(*)) and continued growth at Vodacom (+4.6%)
- Asia Pacific and Middle East service revenue increased by 9.8% to £6.1 billion. In Q4 service revenue increased by 5.0%, lower than the previous quarter due to the start-up of Indus Towers in Q1 2009. India again generated quarter on quarter revenue growth. Its customer base now exceeds 100 million. The award of six new national licences in India and the resulting intense price competition have led to an impairment charge of £2.3 billion, partially offset by a £0.2 billion reversal related to Turkey.
- Data revenue exceeded £4 billion for the first time, up 19.3%, with increased take up of data-enabled smartphones across Europe. The Group's active data users now exceed 50 million
- Fixed line revenue grew by 7.9% to £3.3 billion with strong broadband customer growth and increased market share. The Group's fixed broadband customer base is now 5.6 million
"Vodafone's financial results exceeded our upgraded guidance on all measures. Revenue trends have improved again in Q4 driven by growth in mobile data and fixed broadband. Cost reduction targets were delivered ahead of schedule enabling commercial reinvestment to improve market share and further strengthen our technology platforms. Free cash flow of £7.2 billion and confidence in Vodafone's prospects have enabled us to increase dividends by 7% and to target 7% per annum growth in total dividends per share for the next three years. We are
creating a stronger Vodafone, which is positioned to return to revenue growth during the 2011 financial year, as economic recovery should benefit our key markets," stated Vittorio Colao, Chief Executive.
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