Vodafone today reported strong overall preliminary results despite the gloomy economy, but it admitted that it is suffering from weakened voice and messaging revenues in Europe.
While group revenue was up 15.6 per cent to 41 billion and European-generated revenue boosted by 13.6 per cent, a drop in calling levels and prices have dented finances.
Vodafone's results have also been hit hard by change in the corporate space. Less business - and leisure - travel has affected its roaming cash flow, while redundancies and belt tightening among its business customers have somewhat stunted revenue growth.
However, data is still seen as a rising star when it comes to revenue, with a 43.7 per cent increase. And Vodafone's outlook was rosier in less mature markets such as Africa and India, where performance is still pretty solid.
"These results demonstrate the impact of the early actions we took to address the current economic conditions and highlight the benefits of our geographic diversity," said Vodafone's chief executive, Vittorio Colao, in a statement.
"The business continues to generate cash strongly and we have made good progress in implementing the strategy announced in November. Data revenue grew to 3 billion for the year and our broadband and enterprise businesses continue to perform well," he added.
"Our 1 billion cost reduction programme is ahead of plan and we continue to explore further ways to reduce cost. We maintain our tight focus on capital discipline and returns to shareholders."
