Archived article
Please note that tax, investment, pension and ISA rules can change and the information and any views contained in this article may now be inaccurate.
Telecom company Vodafone swung to a first-half profit after the previous year's result was marred by losses at its Indian business, though its underlying earnings fell on lower roaming revenue.
Pre-tax profit for the six months through September amounted to €1.56 billion, compared to a loss of €1.89 billion year-on-year.
Telecom providers are making less from their roaming services due to travel restrictions imposed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Vodafone's revenue fell 2.3% to €21.43 billion, though its operating profit jumped to €3.47 billion, up from €577 million.
The company held its interim dividend steady at 4.5c per share.
Group services revenue, an underlying measure preferred by the company, fell 0.8% to €18.42 billion, while adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation fell 1.9% to €7.02 billion.
On its outlook, Vodafone said it expected to post full-year adjusted EBITDA of between €14.4 billion and €14.6 billion.
'Today's results underline increased confidence in our full year outlook,' chief executive Nick Read said.
'We are reporting a resilient first-half performance and we continue to see good commercial momentum across the group.'
Read said the pandemic and reduction in roaming revenues was obscuring the company's underlying commercial progress, with second-quarter service revenue growing by 1.5% excluding roaming.
'We are now two years into our longer-term strategy to transform Vodafone into a business that enables a digital society, generating both sustainable growth and attractive returns,' he added.
'We are executing at pace, but there remains more to be done to achieve our goals.'