LONDON-Vodafone Group plc said it will increase its cash returns to investors by buying back $4.2 billion of its shares and increasing its dividend per share by 20 percent following strong financial results for the six months from April through September. The results are the first announced since Arun Sarin took over as chief executive of the global mobile operator in July.
The company announced a turnover increase of 13 percent to $28.7 billion, and its free cash flow after $3.7 billion in capital expenditure increased by 61 percent to $7.8 billion.
“Vodafone has delivered outstanding results for the six months in a challenging, competitive market place,” said Sarin. “We have passed the milestone of 125 million proportionate customers and produced strong, double-digit growth in turnover and EBITDA and significant growth in free cash flow.”
The company said it had more than 3 million Vodafone Live! customers in 15 countries as of Nov. 13. Live! is the operator’s mobile multimedia service first launched earlier this year. The customer added 5.7 million proportionate customers since March 31.
Vodafone said it expects full-year growth in average proportionate mobile customers to exceed 10 percent, leading to similar growth in mobile revenues. Full-year free cash flow is expected to be more than $11.9 billion, up from the company’s previous expectation of $8.8 billion. However, free cash flow is expected to be lower in the second half of the year, the operator said.
