2/9/2012 4:33 AM ET
(RTTNews) - British telecom giant Vodafone Group Plc (VOD: News ,VOD.L: News ) said Thursday its revenues for the third quarter ended December 31 declined 2.3 percent from last year, amid competitive market conditions and a particularly challenging southern Europe. The company also confirmed its full-year 2012 guidance.
The company's third-quarter revenues were 11.62 billion pounds (about $18.4 billion). However, organic revenue increased 1.6 percent from the previous year.
Group service revenues decreased 3.2 percent to 10.61 billion pounds, but grew 0.9 percent organically. Excluding the impact of mobile termination rate cuts, Group service revenue grew 3.1 percent from the prior year.
In Europe, service revenues declined 3.1 percent. In Turkey, the pace of service revenue growth remained broadly stable at 23.5 percent driven by continued expansion of the contract customer base, Vodafone said.
Africa, Middle East and Asia Pacific reported a 1.5 percent decline in service revenues, while they improved 7.6 percent organically. In India, the company experienced a strong service revenue growth, with a 20 percent increase.
In its US associate, Verizon Wireless, there was continued strong growth, and service revenue grew 6.8 percent, helped by strong customer and data revenue growth as a result of increased smartphone penetration, the company stated.
According to Vodafone, fixed revenue increased 3.9 percent and represented 8.5 percent of Group's service revenue. At the end of the period, the company had 8.8 million fixed line customers including 6.4 million fixed broadband customers.
Vittorio Colao, chief executive of the company said, "We are continuing to make progress in the key strategic areas of data, enterprise and emerging markets. Despite the further deterioration of the southern European economic environment during the quarter, our broad geographic mix is delivering a resilient overall performance. Our improved value perception, strong cash generation and healthy balance sheet give us confidence that we can continue to execute well."
Further, Vodafone reiterated its full year 2012 guidance for adjusted operating profit and free cash flow.
Adjusted operating profit for the year is still expected to be in the range of 11.4 billion to 11.8 billion pounds. The company continues to expect a full year EBITDA margin decline at a lower rate than that experienced in the prior financial year. Free cash flow is still expected to be in the range of 6 billion to 6.5 billion pounds, excluding the 2.8 billion pound dividend received from Verizon Wireless in January this year, the company added.
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