UK-based telecoms giant Vodafone Group has published its financial results for the year ended 31 March 2018, reporting a 2.2% year-on-year decline in reported revenues to EUR46.571 billion (USD55.7 billion), down from EUR47.631 billion in the previous fiscal year. Vodafone attributed this decline primarily to the deconsolidation of Vodafone Netherlands and foreign exchange movements. Group service revenue was also down against FY2016/17, standing at EUR41.066 billion, compared to EUR42.897 billion, though Vodafone reported annualised organic service revenue growth of 1.6%, driven, it said, by ‘broadband market share gains, strong data demand with good data monetisation in emerging markets, and the benefit of ‘more-for-more’ propositions across several European mobile markets’.
Group adjusted EBITDA was up 4.2% y-o-y at EUR14.737 billion, with adjusted EBIT totalling EUR4.827 billion, which represented an annualised increase of 21.6%. Operating profit, meanwhile, rose to EUR4.299 billion, up from EUR3.725 billion, with the increase reportedly reflecting ‘operational leverage and the benefit of cost efficiency initiatives’. Vodafone Group posted a profit for the year of GBP2.788 billion in FY2017/18, bolstered by a EUR2.2 billion net of tax reduction in the carrying value of the Group’s operations in India, and a EUR1.9 billion increase in its deferred tax assets in Luxembourg.
In operational terms, Vodafone Group reported an aggregate mobile subscriber base of 273.433 million for the end of March 2018, up from 268.270 million a year earlier; this figure excluded those subscribers signed up to its units in the Netherlands, India, Australia and Kenya. Fixed broadband accesses continued to climb, meanwhile, with the company reporting a total of 16.076 million such connections at the end of the reporting period, representing year-on-year growth of just over 9%, from 14.737 million at end-March 2017.
Commenting on the company’s performance, Vodafone Group CEO Vittorio Colao said: ‘This was a year of significant operational and strategic achievement and strong financial performance. Our sustained investment in network quality supported robust commercial momentum: we added a record number of fixed NGN and converged customers in Q4, mobile data usage continues to grow strongly and we grew both revenues and margins in Enterprise, despite roaming headwinds, and continued to reduce operating costs.’