17th Sep 2018 06:55
LONDON (Alliance News) - Vodafone Group PLC Chief Executive Designate Nick Read is considering the sale of thousands of mobile masts to reduce the telecommunications firm's EUR31 billion debt pile, the Financial Times newspaper reported Monday.
Read, who is scheduled to take over the FTSE 100-listed group from Vittorio Colao next month, laid down that debt reduction plans at a Goldman Sachs conference in New York, following a trading update that reported a 0.4% revenue decline in Europe for the first quarter ended June 30.
Currently, Vodafone has 110,000 towers across Europe, half of which are directly controlled, and Barclays has calculated that the towers are worth EUR12 billion, according to the newspaper.
At the conference, Read said the Vodafone would also cut 1,700 jobs in shared service centres in Egypt, India and Romania this year, around 8.0% of its workforce as part of the plan to reduce costs by EUR8 billion as technology starts to take over back-office functions.
Read also said that a float of Vodafone's New Zealand business is expected to take place in 2019 as the group continues to sort out its global operations.
https://www.ft.com/content/507283e6-b821-11e8-bbc3-ccd7de085ffe
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