David BurrowsVodafone group reveals that total revenue slipped 3.6% to €11.8bn for the fourth quarter, largely due to the sale of its subsidiary Vodafone Netherlands and FX movements.
The group sold Vodafone Netherlands to Deutsche Telekom subsidiary T-Mobile Nederland in December 2016.
The deal was to satisfy EU regulators in order to receive the green light for the merger of its Dutch operations with Liberty Global's Dutch subsidiary Ziggo.
European growth moderated to 0.3%, or 1.9% for Q4 excluding the drag from regulation and UK handset financing.
Robust performance in Germany was offset by lapping of tariff changes in Italy and higher promotional intensity in Spain.
Competition in India
Outside of Europe, India declined by 23.1% due to intense price competition and lower termination rates.
In March 2017, the company announced a deal to combine its Vodafone India subsidiary with Idea Cellular, joining forces to tackle a price war in the world's second-largest mobile-phone market.
“While the competitive and regulatory environment in India remains intense, we continue to make good progress in securing the required approvals for the merger with Idea Cellular, and we have taken steps to strengthen the combined company's financial position,” said chief executive Vittorio Colao.
Full year guidance
Vodafone left its full year guidance unchanged as trading in the third quarter was in line with expectations.
The group expects full year organic adjusted underlying earnings growth of 10%, implying a range of €14.75bn to €14.95bn, and predicts free cash flow pre-spectrum will exceed €5bn.
“Overall, this consistent performance underpins our confidence that we will meet our guidance for the full year,” said Colao.
Vodafone sales were down 2.67% in late morning trading to slightly lower in early morning trading – to 218.44.