Vodafone Group Plc, the second-biggest mobile-phone carrier by subscribers in the world, posted an eighth straight service revenue decline but revealed that its struggling markets on the territory of Europe are starting to improve.
Mr. Vittorio Colao said in the companys statement, which was cited by Bloomberg: “Our performance is beginning to stabilize quarter-on-quarter in several of our European markets, with customer appetite for 4G services clearly growing.”
Recently, the company has made several acquisitions across Europe. About 20 billion dollars were spent by Vodafone on cable operators based in Germany and Spain over the past twelve months in an attempt to expand its reach and consolidate its market positions.
According to Vodafone Groups statement, the companys revenue for the quarter ended June 30th fell 4.4% and reached 10.2 billion pounds (17.3 billion dollars), trailing analysts expectations that amounted to 10.35 billion pounds.
The mobile-phone carrier also shared that its revenue excluding handset sales and mergers and acquisitions over the first three months of the fiscal year decreased by 4.2% in comparison to the 4% fall over the fourth quarter and the 3.5% decline over the same period a year ago.
Vodafones Chief Executive Officer Mr. Colao said in a telephone call with reporters, which was cited by Bloomberg: “We said that the first half would be a tougher repair period and we counted to have better performance in the second half. It is encouraging that some markets seem to be stabilizing, but I think it’s early to call any low point.”
Vodafone Group Plc was 2.19% up to trade at 202.17 pence per share by 11:33 GMT, marking a one year change of +1.94%. The market capitalization of the company was 52.32 billion pounds as of yesterday. According to the information published on the Financial Times, the 23 analysts offering 12-month price targets for Vodafone Group Plc have a median target of 230.00, with a high estimate of 265.00 and a low estimate of 130.00. The median estimate represents a 16.75% increase from the last price of 197.00.