Vodafone Group plc Touches 8-Week High After H1 Earnings Rise

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Vodafone released the earnings results from the first half of its fiscal year this morning, posting the first increase in earnings for the first half of the year in four years. The mobile carrier reported adjusted earnings of 2.51 pence per share and basic losses of 6.4 pence per share. Group revenue declined 2.3% to £20.3 billion for the first half of the year.

Vodafone’s capital expenditures finally pay off

This was the fifth quarter in a row in which revenue trends improved. Group organic service revenue increased 1.2% to £18.43 billion, including a 1% decline in Europe and a 6.7% increase in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia Pacific. EBITDA returned to growth in the first half of the year, rising 1.9% to £5.8 billion. Net debt was £28.9 billion or £25.4 billion in net £5.2 billion Verizon loan notes.

Net losses for the first half of the fiscal year were £1.584 billion, while free cash outflow was £0.5 billion as Vodafone continued to spend more on updating its mobile networks to 4G service. Now 80% of Vodafone’s European customers have access to 4G service. The mobile carrier had 29.9 million 4G subscribers at the end of the first six months of the fiscal year.

Mobile data traffic grew 75% year over year, with the average usage per European customer rising 39% compared to last year during the second fiscal quarter. The company had 12.5 million broadband subscribers and marketed its high speed broadband to 66 million European homes.

Vodafone also had 2.7 million mobile contract net adds and 0.5 million net new broadband customers at the end of the first half of the year. During the second fiscal quarter, enterprise machine-to-machine revenue climbed 29.2%, while Vodafone Global Enterprise revenue rose 7.3%.

Vodafone provides guidance

For the full year, Vodafone management now expects EBITDA to be between £11.7 billion and £12 billion. They expect to be cash flow positive in the current fiscal year.

The mobile carrier is now preparing for an initial public offering in India and is planning a move to reporting in the euro for the 2017 fiscal year.

Shares of Vodafone climbed by as much as 5.04% to $33.98 per share in premarket trades on the NASDAQ this morning.

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