In Ireland, Vodafone said it increased service revenue on the back of “a higher average customer base” and it annual contractual price increases. Photographer: Jason Alden/BloombergVodafone reported on Tuesday a 2.2 per cent rise in organic earnings for 2024, meeting market forecasts, after it returned to top-line growth in the final quarter helped by gains in Britain, Germany and Ireland.
Germany is the group’s biggest market and chief executive Margherita Della Valle said Vodafone was delivering growth in all of its markets across Europe after her decision to sell its struggling operations in Spain and Italy, and was growing across Africa as well. When it announced the Italian deal in March, Vodafone said it would halve its dividend to 4.5 cents a share for the year that started in April, reflecting the lower cash flow from its smaller footprint, and buy back shares worth €4 billion.
Germany returned to growth with service revenue increasing by 0.2 per cent for the full year and 0.6 per cent for the fourth quarter, the company said, but adjusted core earnings dropped by 5.8 per cent due to higher energy and other inflationary costs.“We will step up investment in our customer experience, improve our underlying performance in Germany and accelerate our momentum in Business, whilst also continuing to simplify our operations.