Vodafone said much of its growth was down to growth in Europe and Africa
Vodafone (LON:VOD) said its sales increased during the last quarter as its consumer and business operations saw improvements.
While the telecommunications company is not yet at pre-Covid levels, it made €11.1bn during Q1.
Upon the update by the company, the Vodafone share price is up by 2.2% during the morning session on Friday.
Its revenue from services, where Vodafone makes most of its money, rose by 3.1% to €9.39bn. The company said this was down to growth in Europe and Africa.
Revenue generated from selling handsets recovered from Covid-induced disruptions, rising by 5.7%.
Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell provided context to Vodafone’s results announcement:
“Full year numbers from Vodafone in May really created a stink. It fell short on profit and gave investors the unpalatable message that it would have to increase spending on its network, putting a dividend which had already suffered a heavy cut in 2019 potentially back in the firing line. Growth targets also left the market feeling distinctly uninspired,” said Mould.
“While the bad smell has hung around the stock since then, Vodafone’s first quarter trading statement has acted as a bit of an air freshener as it reports revenue growth across its consumer and business segments.”
Nick Read, chief executive of Vodafone, commented: “I am pleased to report that we are back to service revenue growth in Europe, as well as Africa. This growth was broad-based within both Consumer and Business segments, with the vast majority of our markets contributing. This is a result of our commercial and operating momentum built over the past 3 years as part of our strategic transformation,” said Read
“In Europe, the operating and retail environment has not yet returned to normal conditions, but we are delivering a good service revenue performance. In our Business segment, we are seeing stronger growth with our public sector and corporate customers, whilst further building a pipeline of demand for our digital services, such as IoT, security and cloud.”
“In May we announced, for the first time, our medium-term growth ambition. We have entered the year in line with this ambition, on track to deliver our guidance for the year, and with a continued focus to optimise our portfolio, to accelerate the delivery of shareholder value.”
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