Vodafone on track at half-way stage

10th Nov 2009 07:24

Vodafone traded in line with expectations during the first half, raising revenue by over 9% and adjusted operating profit by 2.4%, and said it expects full-year profit to be between £11-11.8bn. Adjusted operating profit rose to £5.91bn in the six months ended 30 September, up from £5.77bn the year before, on revenue of £21.76bn versus £19.90bn in 2008. Pre-tax profit rose 3.6% to £5.48bn.Nomura Securities predicted revenue of £21.8bn and adjusted operating profit of £5.95bn. The mobile phone giant said a positive contribution from Verizon Wireless and foreign currency benefits offset lower profit in Europe. It also confirmed that expectations for capital expenditure for the 2010 financial year remain unchanged and similar to last year. There'll be "slightly" less spent in India and more in Europe."The group has performed in line with our expectations and we have made strong progress with our strategic priorities, in particular in mobile data and cash generation," said chief executive Vittorio Colao."The £1bn cost reduction programme is expected to be delivered a year ahead of plan and we have extended this to a further £1bn of cost savings by 2012."The interim dividend goes up by 3.5% to 2.66p a share.