14th May 2019 07:24
LONDON (Alliance News) - Vodafone Group PLC met guidance for its recent financial year, it said Tuesday, though it has swung to a loss and slashed its dividend.
Vodafone's loss from continuing operations for the 12 months to March 31 was EUR4.11 billion, after a EUR4.76 billion profit the year before.
During the year, Vodafone booked a loss on the sale of Vodafone India, as well as EUR3.50 billion in impairments as announced back in November.
Vodafone's revenue slipped 6.2% to EUR43.67 billion, with the company adopting the IFRS 15 accounting standard compared to IFRS 18 previously.
This, alongside foreign exchange headwinds and the sale of Vodafone Qatar, hampered revenue growth, it said.
The revenue figure compares to analyst consensus of revenue of EUR45.15 billion.
Vodafone's service revenue, which makes up the large majority of the overall figure, fell 4.5% to EUR39.22 billion, but increased 0.3% organically.
Vodafone swung to a total loss of EUR7.64 billion from a profit of EUR2.79 billion the year prior. From continuing operations, the loss was EUR4.11 billion from a EUR4.76 billion profit.
Vodafone's adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation declined 4.1% to EUR13.92 billion, and fell 0.5% organically. On an underlying basis, growth was 3.1%, in line with guidance of "around" 3%.
Vodafone has rebased its dividend, returning a final dividend of 4.16 euro cents, taking the year's total to 9.00 cents, down 40%. In its prior year, Vodafone paid 15.07 cents, and consensus had been for a cut to 15 cents.
"The group is at a key point of transformation - deepening customer engagement, accelerating digital transformation, radically simplifying our operations, generating better returns from our infrastructure assets and continuing to optimise our portfolio," said Chief Executive Nick Read.
"To support these goals and to rebuild headroom, the board has made the decision to rebase the dividend, helping us to reduce debt and delever to the low end of our target range in the next few years."
Looking ahead, Vodafone sees adjusted Ebitda between EUR13.8 billion and EUR14.2 billion for its newly begun year, implying growth in the low single-digits.
Free cash flow pre-spectrum is guided at a minimum of EUR5.4 billion, having posted EUR5.5 billion in the recently ended year.
"We are making strong progress on the priorities I described in November, supporting our outlook for Ebitda growth in financial 2020, with improving momentum in the second half," added Read.
"Together with the strategic and financial benefits of the Liberty Global transaction, which we expect to close in July, this underpins our ambition to grow free cash flow and improve shareholder returns going forwards."
Vodafone, in a deal first announced May last year, is buying EUR18.4 billion worth of assets from Liberty Global.
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