6th Dec 2018 08:26
LONDON (Alliance News) - Vodafone Group PLC said Thursday it will buy back GBP300 million worth of outstanding bonds as as part of an "opportunistic liability management exercise".
The telecommunications company has launched an offer for half of the outstanding GBP600 million zero-coupon equity-linked bonds due 2020. The offer is expected to close on Friday.
In November, Vodafone's Chief Executive Officer Nick Read said, in an interview, that the company's struggling UK division is expected to record growth as more cost savings are put forward in a "radical simplification" of the business.
In an interview with the Financial Times newspaper on the sidelines of a telecoms conference in Barcelona, Read said he expects the rate of underlying earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation growth to accelerate for the UK business. Read formerly was the head of the UK unit.
Vodafone sunk to a pretax loss of EUR2.89 billion for the six months to September 30, from a profit of EUR2.16 billion the year prior. Revenue fell 5.5% to EUR21.80 billion from EUR23.08 billion the year before.
Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation dropped 4.2% to EUR7.08 billion from EUR7.39 billion the year prior.
Shares in Vodafone were trading 0.7% lower at 161.92 pence each on Thursday morning.
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