Vodafone Dials Up Guidance But Says German Unit Needs Improvement — Update

By Adria Calatayud

Vodafone Group raised its full-year guidance, citing cost savings and a strong performance in its business-focused operations, but called out weakness in its German unit.

The U.K. telecommunications group has embarked on a major reshuffle of its portfolio, bolstering its African and U.K. arms through acquisitions while shedding its businesses in Spain and Italy. But Germany remains Vodafone's biggest market and the company continues to face pressure there amid intense competition.

Vodafone said Tuesday that it now expects adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization after leases--a closely watched profit metric in the industry--for the year ending March 31 to range from 13.2 billion to 13.4 billion euros ($14.82 billion-$15.04 billion). It previously expected a result at the upper end of the 13 billion to 13.3 billion euros range.

"I am very happy about our overall group performance, but Germany is not yet where it needs to be," Vodafone Chief Executive Margherita Della Valle said. "We have a clear action plan in progress, which is structurally simplifying our German operations and improving customer satisfaction across all of our services."

For the quarter ended Sept. 30, Vodafone said adjusted Ebitda after leases came to 3.52 billion euros, up 6.5% organically compared with the year-earlier period.

Revenue jumped 13% to 11.56 billion euros.

Quarterly revenue from services grew 6.4% on an organic basis, but Vodafone reported a 0.5% decline in Germany and its main top-line stream shrank again there after four consecutive quarters of growth.

The company on Monday said it would shed 2,300 jobs in Germany over the next two years, on top of cuts included in a broader European restructuring plan it launched in May, as it seeks to trim costs. Vodafone employed some 91,000 people globally as of March 31, with 15% of its workforce in Germany, according to the company's latest annual report.

Vodafone said it expects to recognize a provision on its restructuring in Germany in the second half of fiscal 2027. For the first, it booked a noncash impairment charge of 4.85 billion euros on its German business, attributing the hit to adverse changes in interest rates and the unit's performance.

The company also booked a write-down of 2.2 billion euros in the U.K. after the buyout of CK Hutchison Holdings' stake in VodafoneThree, as well as a 3 billion-euro accounting gain on its purchase of an additional stake in Kenya's Safaricom.

Overall, the group swung to a first-half net loss of 4.79 billion euros compared with a profit of 1.05 billion euros a year before.

Write to Adria Calatayud at adria.calatayud@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 10, 2026 06:18 ET (11:18 GMT)