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Technology Stocks : Vodafone (VOD) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: MrGreenJeans who wrote (4)	6/2/1998 5:49:00 PM
From: MrGreenJeans	Respond to of 109

Vodafone Part I Vodafone up,HSBC repeats "buy" ahead results LONDON, June 2 (Reuters) - Shares in Vodafone Group Plc (quote from Yahoo! UK & Ireland: VOD.L) jumped in early Tuesday trade as brokerage HSBC Securities reiterated its ''buy'' stance on the mobile phone company ahead of what are widely expected to be a strong set of results. By 0741 GMT the stock was up 13p, or 1.89 percent, at 701 on volume of 467,320. Vodafone has been on HSBC's top ten pick of stocks in Europe for the past year. Healthy domestic and international growth is expected to have generated annual pre-tax profits of at least 20 percent. Analyst are predicting pretax profits for the year in a range of 611 to 681 million pounds -- including a net 10 million exceptional charge -- compared to 539 million a year ago. Vodafone is due to release its year results at 1230 GMT.

To: MrGreenJeans who wrote (4)	6/2/1998 5:50:00 PM
From: MrGreenJeans	Respond to of 109

Vodafone Part II Vodafone rings up robust profits LONDON, June 2 (Reuters) - Vodafone Group Plc, Britain's biggest mobile telephone company, unveiled a 21 percent rise in annual pre-tax profits on Tuesday on the back of a healthy rise in domestic and international customers. ''Demand for mobile telephony is expected to continue to increase and the group's strong financial base will enable further progress to be made in 1997/98,'' chairman Ernest Harrison said in the results statement. Vodafone, whose shares hit a year high of 714p earlier in anticipation of strong results, posted pre-tax profits of 650.2 million pounds ($1.1 billion) compared with 539.1 million last year. Sales rose 41 percent to 2.47 billion pounds and Vodafone lifted dividends by 15 percent to 5.53 per share. The figures came in the middle of analysts' expectations of pre-tax profits of 611-681 million pounds and rise in dividends to 5.5p. Vodafone has stakes in 11 overseas licences and a worldwide proportionate customer base of 5.84 million, up 1.83 million on the year. It holds 38 percent of the UK mobile telephone market with 3.4 million customers, including 2.6 digital customers. Its international portfolio contributed 122.4 million pounds to group operating profit, up from 18.0 million the year before. Vodafone's rapidly maturing overseas operations are expected to make an increasingly strong contribution to earnings growth. Some analysts forecast international earnings margins to rise to around 20 percent from a current 9.3 percent over the next year alone. ($ equals 0.610 British Pounds)

To: MrGreenJeans who wrote (4)	6/2/1998 5:51:00 PM
From: MrGreenJeans	Respond to of 109

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.

To: MrGreenJeans who wrote (4)	6/2/1998 5:53:00 PM
From: MrGreenJeans	Respond to of 109

Vodafone Part IV Vodafone sees UK penetration surging LONDON, June 2 (Reuters)- Vodafone Group Plc (quote from Yahoo! UK & Ireland: VOD.L), Britain's biggest mobile telephone company, said on Tuesday it expected UK penetration levels to jump to 50 percent from 16 percent by 2005. Chief executive Chris Gent told Reuters that the market needed to see an acceleration in growth towards five percent per year -- and it looks like it was heading in that direction this year. ''We believe overall about half the population will adopt cellular by the year 2005,'' he said. Unveiling a 21 percent in annual pre-tax profits to 650.2 million pounds, Gent said he expected strong customer growth in the second quarter. Gent said he expected healthy Q2 subscriber growth this year to more than treble last year's Q2 figures. The company reported net new subscribers of around 50,000 in Q2 after changes in contract terms. Vodafone, which saw overseas operations contributing a total operating profit of 122.4 million pounds this year compared to 18 million last year, said it expected continued strong growth internationally and was actively seeking acquisitions. ''We are looking at a couple of things,'' said Gent, declining to divulge Vodafone's budget for international cellular acquisitions or pinpoint the company's target area. But he did say the group was interested in the Pacific Rim, Africa and western Europe. It is not interested in America, Latin America or eastern Europe. Gent also said Vodafone would bid for one of Britain's high-tech mobile licences, UMTS, which the government will auction next summer. Gent said the licence which will allow the company to offer products such as high-speed internet access and video services over a broad band cellular network was fundamental to the group's business. With three to five UMTS licences expected to be up for grabs, analysts had expected bids to be made by consortiums, but Gent said, ''We will be bidding alone.'' The group expects to spend around 200 million pounds per year on deploying UMTS alone.