Vodafone Group Plc engages in telecommunication services in Europe and internationally. The company offers mobile services that enable customers to call, text, and access data; fixed line services, including broadband, television (TV) offerings, and voice; and convergence services under the GigaKombi and Vodafone One names to customers. It also provides value added services, such as Internet of Things (IoT) comprising logistics and fleet management, smart metering, insurance, cloud, and security services; and automotive and health solutions. In addition, the company offers M-Pesa, an African payment platform, which provides money transfer, financial, and business and merchant payment services; and various services to operators through its partner market agreements. Vodafone Group Plc has strategic partnerships with Open Fiber. As of March 31, 2021, it had approximately 315 million mobile customers, 28 million fixed broadband customers, and 22 million TV customers. The company was incorporated in 1984 and is based in Newbury, the United Kingdom.
Thu, October 21, 2021 LONDON (Reuters) - Vodafone said it would add nearly 7,000 software engineers to its workforce by 2025 to develop more of its own digital services across Europe and Africa. The British company said the investment would enable it to build products and services faster and cheaper in technologies including Internet of Things, smart networks and cyber security. Chief Technology Officer Johan Wibergh said Vodafone was focusing on digital services to help drive revenue growth in a challenging environment for core connectivity. He said the company was building a “global software brand” to provide superfast connectivity and digital products for its customers. The roles, which will increase Vodafone’s total number of software engineers to around 16,000, will be a combination of retraining existing staff, bringing skills in-house and recruiting around 700 new people. (Reporting by Paul Sandle; Editing by Kate Holton) https://finance.yahoo.com/news/vodafone-adds-7-000-software-085059545.html
10 Nov 2021 Vodafone Group Plc announces today that it has agreed to transfer its 55% shareholding in Vodafone Egypt to Vodacom Group Limited, its sub-Saharan African subsidiary. This transfer simplifies the management of Vodafone’s African holdings and further strengthens the delivery of connectivity and financial services in Africa. The transaction values Vodafone’s 55% shareholding in Vodafone Egypt at €2,722 million on a debt free, cash free basis, implying a multiple for the last twelve month period ended 30 September 2021 of 7.3x Adjusted EBITDAaL and 12.2x Adjusted OpFCF2. Based on Vodafone’s 55% share of the net debt in Vodafone Egypt as at 30 September 2021 the total equity consideration is €2,365 million (the “Purchase Consideration”). Approximately 80% of the Purchase Consideration (€1,892 million) will be settled by the issue of 242 million new ordinary Vodacom shares to Vodafone at an issue price of ZAR 135.75 per share. As a result, Vodafone’s ownership in Vodacom will increase from 60.5% to 65.1%. The remaining 20% of the Purchase Consideration (€473 million) will be settled in cash3. Under the terms of the sale and purchase agreement, the cash element of the Purchase Consideration will be adjusted for any movement in the net debt and agreed working capital of Vodafone Egypt between signing and closing. As such, Vodafone will be entitled to its 55% share of the cash generated by Vodafone Egypt between signing and closing. The Johannesburg Stock Exchange (“JSE”) has taken note that Vodacom’s JSE defined free float will be below 20% as a result of Vodafone’s increased ownership. Given the scale of Vodacom’s current liquidity on the JSE, the JSE has not asked for any remedial steps to be taken. Vodafone confirms that is has no current intention to dispose of any of its shares in the market to increase Vodacom’s free float. https://www.vodafone.com/news/press-release/egypttransfer
Lucy Harley-McKeown Thu, November 25, 2021, 1:04 PM Vodafone's new tech is self-powered and will be deployed across the UK if the trial is successful. Photo: Fabrizio Bensch/Reuters Vodafone (VOD.L) has developed and is trialling an off-grid mobile phone tower, a development which could help the telecoms giant hit net zero by 2027. The new tech is self-powered and will be deployed across the UK if the trial is successful. The so-called "Eco-Towers" will also enable the deployment of new mobile sites in the most remote locations, without the major challenge and cost of connecting to the electricity grid. For the last two years, Vodafone and Crossflow Energy have been working together on the development of Crossflow Energy’s unique and innovative wind turbine technology, combined with the latest in solar and battery technologies, to create a self-powered mobile network tower. “Our approach to managing our network as responsibly as possible is very simple: we put sustainability at the heart of every decision," said Andrea Dona, chief network officer, Vodafone UK. "There is no silver bullet to reducing energy consumption, but each of these steps forward takes us closer to achieving net zero for its UK operations by 2027.” Vodafone, alongside network partner Cornerstone, will now run a proof of concept to install Crossflow Turbine technology on rural mobile sites. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/vodafone-net-zero-plan-120422185.html
Exclusive-Vodafone and Iliad in talks to combine Italian units - sources By Pamela Barbaglia and Elvira Pollina LONDON (Reuters) - Telecom firms Vodafone and Iliad are in talks to strike a deal in Italy that would combine their respective businesses in a bid to end cut-throat competition in the euro zone's third-biggest economy, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. Discussions between the two companies are ongoing and both parties are actively studying ways to clinch a tie-up of their respective businesses in Italy, the sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Iliad, which will make its wireline broadband debut in Italy on Jan. 25, is working with investment bank Lazard on its strategic plans in Italy, one of the sources said, cautioning that a deal was not certain. If successful, a deal would create a telecoms powerhouse with a mobile market penetration of about 36% and combined revenues of nearly 6 billion euros ($6.80 billion). Iliad and Vodafone declined to comment while Lazard was not immediately available for comment. Iliad, led by billionaire founder Xavier Niel, has been reviewing options to further expand in Italy in recent months as it seeks to take advantage of deal fever in Italy's telecoms industry to accelerate consolidation and cease a price war that has been slashing its margins, the sources said. The discussions come as incumbent Telecom Italia is still assessing a 10.8 billion euro ($12.25 billion) takeover approach from U.S. fund KKR aimed at taking Italy's biggest phone group private. Niel, who founded Iliad in 1990 and sits on KKR's board as an independent board director, wants to play kingmaker in the fragmented Italian telecoms market where he started an aggressive price war in 2018 when Iliad made its first foray in Italy. Industry executives have repeatedly urged to pursue four-to-three telecoms mergers that could unlock cost synergies and lift margins by cutting the existing number of mobile operators in Italy, namely TIM, Vodafone, WindTre and Iliad. Iliad's Italy boss Benedetto Levi said on Jan. 13 that the French firm was open to buying a rival operator. "If a company, as a whole or in part, becomes available on the market we will consider it without any preconception," he told financial daily Il Sole 24 Ore. Previously, Vodafone's boss Nick Read said on Nov. 17 that consolidation was needed in Europe, particularly in Italy, Spain and Portugal where "all players are suffering." HURDLES Vodafone has annual revenue of about 5 billion euros in Italy and a 28.5% market penetration among mobile phone customers, according to Italy's communications watchdog AGCOM. Iliad is instead much smaller with its Italian unit reporting 674 million euros in annual revenue in 2020 and a mobile market share of about 7.7%, according to AGCOM. But the company has fared well during the pandemic, with third quarter sales up 21% to 207 million euros in 2021. Any tie-up between the two firms would need to win the blessing from both Rome - which sees the country's telecoms infrastructure as an asset of strategic interest - and European antitrust regulators who ruled against previous merger attempts in Europe including Three's takeover of Britain's O2 in 2016, one of the sources said. Iliad itself was allowed to enter Italy as part of the remedy package that Vimpelcom and Hutchison negotiated with European regulators to combine their Italian mobile operations in 2016 without altering the number of existing players. Last year, Niel made a 3.1 billion euro offer for full control of Iliad and subsequently delisted the company from the Paris stock market, signalling his intention to turn the group into a "leading telecommunications player in Europe." https://finance.yahoo.com/news/exclusive-vodafone-iliad-talks-combine-124506004.html
Vodafone rejects Iliad, Apax approach for Italian business LONDON, Feb 10 (Reuters) - Britain's Vodafone on Thursday rejected a preliminary approach for its Italian business from France's Iliad and Apax Partners, the first public skirmish in what could be a new wave of European telecoms deal making. Vodafone boss Nick Read, under pressure from new investor Cevian Capital and other shareholders, has been vocal in his wish to see European operators merge in local markets to build stronger companies that can invest in fibre and 5G networks. Reuters reported in January that Vodafone and Iliad discussed combining their businesses in the cut-throat competitive market of Italy, before the firm founded by billionaire Xavier Niel turned the tables by offering to buy Vodafone's local operations outright. A source close to the matter told Reuters on Wednesday that Illiad had offered more than 11 billion euros for Vodafone's Italian unit. Vodafone, the world's second largest mobile operator, said on Thursday that was not in the best interests of shareholders. "The board and management of Vodafone remain focused on delivering shareholder value through a combination of its organic growth strategy over the medium-term and ongoing portfolio optimisation," it said, adding that it was pursuing several "value accretive" deals. Vodafone did not disclose the size of the bid from Iliad and the private equity group in its statement https://bit.ly/3rFnte3 . Analysts at Jefferies said selling to Iliad, a disruptor in Italy that helped turn the market hyper competitive, would set the wrong precedent. "Difficulties in Italy are largely attributable to Iliad's market entry in May 2018, and could be rapidly resolved if Iliad were to adjust its commercial approach in search of profitability," they said. They argued a joint venture between the two would give Vodafone exposure to market recovery. Jefferies said the 11 billion euro figure implied an enterprise value to core earnings multiple of 7 times, a figure it described as underwhelming. The news from Vodafone comes as all European operators look at ways to reinvigorate their operations, with bankers reporting talks in multiple countries. Operators are hoping that regulators in Brussels will show greater awareness of the need to invest in networks after the pandemic. British regulator Ofcom said this week it was no longer ideologically-wedded to the need for four operators. Iliad's bid, which was first reported by the Financial Times, comes as Italy's biggest phone group Telecom Italia (TIM) is assessing a 10.8 billion euro takeover approach from U.S. fund KKR. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-vodafone-rejects-iliad-apax-141352519.html
