OREANDA-NEWS. H1 Group revenue up 8.9% to £20.8 billion; organic service revenue down 2.8% to £19.1 billon

Q2 Group organic service revenue down 1.5% compared to -4.2% in Q1 due to improved commercial performance and reduced impact of mobile termination rate ('MTR') cuts

Improved service revenue performance in all key markets in Q2: Germany -3.4%, Italy -9.7%; UK -3.0%, Spain -9.3%, India 13.2%; and Vodacom 0.3%

H1 EBITDA down 10% to £5.9 billion; organic EBITDA margin down 2.1 percentage points; reported margin 28.4%

Free cash flow2 break even (£0.0 billion) reflecting Project Spring investments; total capex £3.9 billion, up £1.6 billion year-on-year

Full year guidance: EBITDA now £11.6 billion to £11.9 billion, free cash flow remains positive. Guidance excludes Ono

Additional £5.5 billion deferred tax assets recognised

Net debt of £21.8 billion (or £18.6 billion including Verizon loan notes) including £5.8 billion in relation to Ono

Strong momentum on £19 billion Project Spring investment programme: mobile network deployment 40% complete; European 4G coverage up to 59%; 10.5 million 4G customers across the Group

16.1 million Vodafone Red customers; European contract base penetration 26%; ARPU dilution on Vodafone Red migrations continues to stabilise

H1 Group data traffic up 77% year-on-year, accelerating to +80% in Q2, driven by 4G in Europe and 3G in India

Unified communications capabilities strengthening: completion of Ono acquisition, ongoing integration of KDG, fibre build progress in Italy, Spain, Portugal and Ireland. Consumer launches announced in Netherlands and UK

Fixed: 11.2 million broadband customers including 1.6 million from Ono; organic growth 0.2 million in Q2, fixed now represents 23.7% of service revenue in Europe

Enterprise: strong performance in strategic segments: Q2 service revenue up 1% in Vodafone Global Enterprise and 24% in machine-to-machine

Vittorio Colao, Group Chief Executive, commented:

"We have made encouraging progress during the quarter. There is growing evidence of stabilisation in a number of our European markets, supported by improvements in our commercial execution and very strong demand for data. Our two year, £19 billion investment programme is well underway, and customers are beginning to see the benefits: in wider 3G and 4G data coverage, improved voice quality and reliability, and increased access to next generation fixed line services. Customers are showing an increasing propensity to trade up to bigger data allowances as a result of the 4G experience. In India, growth has accelerated, stimulated by investment in our 3G network. Our unified communications strategy continues to advance, with accelerating customer growth, further progress on fibre deployment, and the ongoing integration of recent acquisitions.

"Our markets continue to be highly competitive, and regulatory and macroeconomic risks remain. However, we are not yet half way through our investment programme, and there is still much more we will do to build a differentiated service for customers and improve perception. Today in Europe, only 6% of our customers are using 4G. In the next 18 months, we will reach 90% 4G coverage in Europe, giving us a great opportunity to increase penetration, stimulate data usage and grow customer spend. At the same time, we remain committed to shareholder returns, as the growth in the interim dividend demonstrates."