Vodafone: cuts dividend on large full-year loss

(CercleFinance.com) - British telecoms giant Vodafone cut its dividend on Tuesday after slumping to a 7.
6 billion euro loss in the past financial year.

The loss for the year ended March was primarily due to a loss made on the disposal of Vodafone India, following the completion of the merger with Idea Cellular, and impairments, as announced in November.

But the group also noted increased competition in Spain and Italy, and headwinds in South Africa, saying that these "challenges" have weighed on service revenue growth over the past year.

While group revenues fell by 6.2% to 43.7 billion euros, organic adjusted EBITDA was up 3.1%, meeting group guidance of "around 3%" growth, the operator said.

The group said that it has reached a "key point of transformation" - accelerating digital transformation and simplifying operations - prompting a dividend cut that is intended to reduce debt in the next few years.

Vodafone also announced its 2020 financial guidance, forecasting adjusted EBITDA of 13.8 billion euros - 14.2 billion euros for the new financial year, "implying low single digit organic growth."

The company's shares were up 1.4% on Tuesday, rebounding after a 5% fall on Monday, which was due to rumours of a dividend cut.

Copyright (c) 2019 CercleFinance.com. All rights reserved.