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| Vodafone FY09 profit up 16.7% on strong India revenues |
| Press Trust of India / London May 19, 2009, 16:13 IST |
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Global mobile phone major Vodafone Group Plc today reported 16.7 per cent increase in operating profit at 11.8 billion pound for the year ended March 31, 2009, on higher revenues from emerging markets — mainly India.
The company's operating profit stood at 10.07 billion pound in the financial year 2008.
Vodafone Group Plc witnessed 15.6 per cent jump in revenues at 41 billion pound for the year ended March 31 against 35.47 billion pound in the FY 2008, a company statement said.
"These results demonstrate the impact of the early actions we took to address the current economic conditions and highlights the benefits of our geographic diversity. The business continues to generate cash strongly and we have made good progress in implementing the strategy announced in November (2008)," Vodafone Group Plc Chief Executive Vittorio Colao said.
In Asia-Pacific and Middle East, the company's revenue increased by 19 per cent on a pro forma basis, reflecting a strong contribution from India where revenue grew by 32.9 per cent on a pro forma basis, the statement added.
"During the financial year 2009, the company added 24.6 million customers in India and ended the year with the highest rate of net additions in the market," it added.
The company's revenues in India stood at 2.68 billion pounds, while from the entire Asia-Pacific region revenues were at 5.81 billion pound for the fiscal 2009, the statement said.
"We have continued to drive penetration in India, generating strong revenue growth from our brand and commercial offers and a substantial investment in network coverage, Calao said.
"Indus Towers, our infrastructure joint venture with Bharti and Idea, began operating during the financial year. We expect Indus Towers will enable Vodafone to increase its capital efficiency in India and also to benefit from revenue generated from selling capacity to other operators," he added.
Further, the Group saw 41.7 per cent drop in operating profit at 5.8 billion pound for the year ended March 31, 2009 from 10.04 billion pound in the previous fiscal.
Further, the company is accelerated in its approach on one-billion pound cost reduction programme and expects that over 65 per cent of it would be achieved in the financial year 2010.
"Our one-billion pound cost reduction programme is ahead of plan and we continue to explore further ways to cut cost," Vodafone Group Chief Executive Vittorio Colao added.
However, Vodafone expects that the 2010 financial year would be challenging. In its outlook or FY 2010, the company said it is projecting operating profit in the range of 11- 11.8 billion pound and free cash flow in the range of 6-6.5 billion pound.
In the Asia-Pacific and Middle East, EBITDA increased by 6 per cent on a pro forma basis including India, with a decline in the EBITDA margin as licensing costs increased and network expansion continued, primarily in India. In Europe, the company organic service revenue decreased by 1.7 per cent. In contrast to Europe, Vodafone said results in Africa and India remained robust driven by continued but lower GDP growth and increasing penetration.
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