Friday 22 July 2016 8:57 am

Vodafone beats expectations despite UK market decline

Vodafone has reported better-than-expected revenue in its first quarter, despite a decline in the UK.

Its share price rose three per cent on Friday morning, after it reported the results, to 232p.

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The figures

The company reported 2.2 per cent growth in group organic service revenue to €12.8bn (£10.7bn) in the three months to 30 June.

This was ahead of analysts’ expectations, according to Bloomberg, which expected 1.8 per cent growth.

Europe’s revenue growth of 0.3 per cent to €8.1bn was slower than the 7.7 per cent growth across Africa, the Middle East and Asia Pacific (AMAP).

But the European performance was ahead of analysts’ expectations, with a flat performance expected.

In the UK, service revenue was down 3.2 per cent.

On a reported basis, group service revenue was down 3.3 per cent.

Why it’s interesting

There was no mention of the UK’s vote for a Brexit in today’s trading update.

But the results have emerged shortly after Vodafone indicated it was considering moving its global headquarters out of London following the EU referendum result.

Its share price has been largely untouched by the referendum. It closed at 218p on 23 June and closed at 225p on Thursday.

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What the company said

Group chief executive Vittorio Colao:

We continued to make good progress during the first quarter. In Europe, our growth remains stable despite regulatory pressure on roaming revenue, with good performance in Germany, Spain and Italy while we are focussed on improving our performance in the UK.

Our growth momentum in AMAP remains strong, with excellent performance in South Africa, Turkey and Egypt and ongoing recovery in India. Customers in multiple markets are attracted by our 'more-for-more' commercial offerings of larger data bundles and extra services, while we are seeing continued success with our fixed broadband and enterprise strategies.