Vodafone Part III
Vodafone stays firm after strong results
LONDON, June 2 (Reuters) - Shares in Vodafone Group Plc (quote from Yahoo! UK & Ireland: VOD.L) were up on Tuesday, but off the day's high, after the mobile phone company posted robust annual results in line with expectations, analysts said.
By 1254 GMT the stock was up 18p or 2.62 percent at 706p, having earlier touched a fresh year high of 714p. Volume was 6.6 million shares.
Vodafone posted pretax profits of 650.2 million pounds for the year, compared with 539 million a year ago. Analysts had forecast pretax earnings in a range between 611 and 681 million pounds.
''There's nothing in there that's surprising,'' said John Tysoe, analyst at SG Securities. ''We've got the group hitting virtually all of its targets in virtually all of its main operating areas,'' he added.
Tysoe said he was encouraged by the fact that the average revenue per customer for the UK had remained the same for the second time running, despite industry concerns that the figure might show a decline.
''One might have expected the margins in the UK business to come under pressure as Vodafone takes on more lower spending customers, but that seems not to be the case,'' said another analyst who did not wish to be named.
He said that the figures were positive at most levels, but on the negative side, the balance sheet was becoming increasingly stretched.
''We're talking about an excess of 300 percent gearing now and capex rising further still, but I don't think anyone's going to be too concerned about that given the prowess with which Vodafone has deployed its assets to date,'' he added. |
