Overseas growth supports Vodafone through challenging times

Sarin: We expect revenue around the bottom of the outlook range

Vodafone has reported interim results showing 19.1 per cent revenue growth to £9.8bn for the three months to the end of June 2008, but Europe was left behind by strong overseas markets.

Service revenue for Europe was up 15.7 per cent on strong foreign exchange, as Spain bore the brunt of economic and competitive effects.

Revenue for Eastern Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia and Pacific (EMAPA) was up 30.9 per cent, supported by growth from India of more than 50 per cent.

Diversity has helped Vodafone through the quarter, which brought challenging conditions, said chief executive Arun Sarin.

“Notwithstanding this more challenging operating environment, we continue to benefit from a diversity of assets and services, with strong revenue growth in EMAPA and another good quarter of data revenue growth offsetting weakness in Spain," he said.

"While we expect revenue around the bottom of the outlook range, our continued focus on cost reduction enables us to reiterate our operating profit and cashflow guidance for the year.”