Vodafone returns to global revenue growth

LONDON, UK: Vodafone, the world's largest mobile operator by revenue, returned to growth in the first quarter with a 1.1 percent rise in organic service revenue helped by improvements in Germany, Britain and Turkey.

It also reiterated its full-year outlook.

Vodafone said on Friday its service revenue, which is made up of revenue related to ongoing services and is a key reporting metric, was 10.59 billion pounds ($16.05 billion), up 1.1 percent organically, compared with a 0.2 percent drop in the fourth quarter.

The performance shows a continuing improvement in the company's recent performance, as group organic service revenue declined by 1.2 per cent in the third quarter and by 3 per cent in the second quarter.

The European service revenue was down by 1.7 per cent but this was better than the previous quarter and reflected an improvement in Germany and Britain due to growth in data services for accessing the Internet.

Total group revenues for the period were 11.26 billion pounds. Analysts had been expecting service revenue of 10.5 billion pounds and total revenues of 11.2 billion pounds according to a Reuters poll.

"These are the first quarterly results to show service revenue growth since the global recession impacted," Chief Executive Vittorio Colao said.

"We have achieved these results through our continuing commercial approach in key European markets, focusing especially on data, and from strong growth in emerging markets, with India now cash positive at an operating level and our highest ever quarterly revenue in Turkey."