Vodafone suffered a net loss of €4.79 billion in the six months to the end of September, compared to a profit after tax of €829 million in the first half of its 2025/26 fiscal year. The group booked a €4.85 billion impairment in Germany, where it also announced plans late on Monday to axe 2,300 jobs.
Chief executive Margherita Della Valle stated that she was very happy about the overall group performance, but noted that Germany is not yet where it needs to be. The telecoms group explained that the Germany impairment was primarily driven by adverse changes in interest rates, alongside recent struggles caused by German legislation stopping housing associations bundling TV contracts with rent.
Offsetting the latest writedowns, which included €2.2 billion linked to taxation in the UK, total revenue grew 11.4% to €21.9 billion in the first half. This growth was largely driven by the consolidation of VodafoneThree following the buyout of CK Hutchison's stake in the UK joint venture, as well as the integration of Kenya's Safaricom and Telekom Romania.
Looking ahead, Vodafone raised its expected adjusted earnings to between €13.2 billion and €13.4 billion for the full year, up from a previous range of €13 billion to €13.3 billion. The company made savings of more than €200 million in its first half while cutting 3,000 staff across Europe, following a sweeping overhaul launched by Della Valle in 2023.
French tycoon Xavier Niel paid €5.1 billion in July to become Vodafone's largest shareholder. Following the earnings update, Vodafone's share price dropped 0.8% after initially rising on London's benchmark FTSE 100 index, with AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould noting that continuing struggles in Germany remain the next big hurdle to overcome.
Source: Euronews. Read the original report ↗