Vodafone’s annual net profits slumped dramatically but the performance was skewed by the sale of its stake in Verizon Wireless, the British company said yesterday.
Earnings after taxation collapsed to £5.76bn ($9.0bn, €8.0bn) in the year to March 31, the world’s second-largest mobile operator said in a results statement.
That compared with an enormous net profit of £59.25bn in the previous 2013/2014 financial year, when earnings were boosted by the sale of its 45% stake in Verizon Wireless to Verizon for $130bn.
The deal—one of the biggest transactions in global corporate history—was agreed in September 2013 but completed in February 2014.
In a separate development last week, US telecoms giant Verizon announced plans to buy faded Internet pioneer AOL for $4.4bn.
Vodafone added that annual revenues rose 10.1% to £42.2bn, aided by its purchase of Spanish cable firm Ono and Kabel Deutschland (KDG), the largest cable operator in Germany.
Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) meanwhile gained 7.5% to £11.9bn. The group also forecast that EBITDA would be in the range of £11.5bn to £12.0bn in the current 2015/2016 financial year.
