Vodafone says revenues resumed growing in Q1

[July 23, 2010]  LONDON (AP) -- Vodafone Group PLC, the world's largest mobile telephone company, said Friday that revenues grew nearly 1 percent on a comparable basis in its first quarter, the first period of growth since the recession hit.

Vodafone said revenue on an organic basis -- excluding the effect of acquisitions, disposals and currency movements -- was up 0.9 percent in the three months ending June 30.

The company said revenue rose 10.5 percent in its Asia, Pacific and Middle East area, and Africa/Central Europe revenue rose 3.7 percent. Revenue in Europe fell by 1.7 percent.

The strongest performances were in Turkey, where service revenue rose by 23.7 percent, and India where the company reported a 13.7 percent gain.

Vodafone did not report earnings figures for the period.

Company shares were up 0.7 percent in midmorning trading on the London Stock Exchange.

"We doubt Vodafone has significantly outperformed its competitors in any major market, but data trends and emerging market trends were, on the whole, positive," said Steve Malcolm, analyst at Evolution Securities, who rates the shares as "buy."

[Associated Press]

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