Vodafone reports fairly strong Q3 results

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Against the backdrop of a turbulent economic tide, Vodafone has reported strong results for its third quarter of 2008, announcing a 14.3 per cent increase in group revenue and European service revenues that have surged by 15 per cent.

Group revenue for the quarter was reported as £10.47 billion, with European services delivering a boost to overall results.

“Our underlying performance showed similar trends to the previous quarter, with pro forma service revenue up 1.4 per cent including India and at constant exchange rates. In the context of the current economic environment, we have continued to implement our strategy, with an emphasis on customer value, mobile data, Enterprise and fixed broadband,” said Vittorio Colao, Vodafone’s chief executive, in a trading statement.

“This has driven increased usage, 25 per cent organic growth in data revenue and over 280,000 fixed broadband additions in Europe. We have also made progress on our plans to reduce costs by £1 billion by March 2011. Underlying guidance is confirmed.”

“Vodafone's 3Q08 results have turned out to be a bit of an anticlimax, offering no surprises and little drama. While Europe continued to struggle with declining revenues, Vodafone's emerging market operations are no longer turning out sumptuous growth, creating potential concerns for the future,” said Ovum’s senior analyst Emeka Obiodu, in an analyst comment thread.

Obiodu added: “At a time of heightened economic worry, Vodafone's results are not bad. No surprises, no sticking points and little drama. The operator has managed to steady its business, and has avoided the sort of doom that was reported by the mobile handset makers... But it wasn't all good news for Vodafone. The group's performance in Spain deteriorated sharply, with revenues falling by 5.8 per cent in the quarter compared to 2.2 per cent in the previous quarter. Vodafone's Turkish operations also performed woefully, with its quarterly revenues declining significantly. Vodafone said it now has a new management team in place to turn around the business.”

For the full results, please visit here.

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