Vodafone Group Plc.
VODAFONE ANNOUNCES STRONGEST ORGANIC CUSTOMER GROWTH FOR 3 YEARS (Part 1 of 4)
Ad-hoc-announcement processed and transmitted by DGAP.
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
——————————————————————————–
Part 1 of 4
VODAFONE ANNOUNCES STRONGEST ORGANIC CUSTOMER GROWTH FOR 3 YEARS
Vodafone Group Plc (“Vodafone”) announces today key performance indicators for
the quarter ended 31 December 2003. The main highlights are:
– Over 4.3 million organic net additions in the quarter, increasing the
proportionate customer base to over 130.4 million
– Blended annual ARPU up EUR4 to EUR359 in Italy, stable at EUR311 in Germany
and reduced JPY1,901 to JPY82,917 in Japan, compared to September 2003.
Excluding the GBP4 uplift from acquiring Singlepoint, ARPU in the UK was up
GBP2 to GBP299
– Total data revenues increased to 15.9% of controlled service revenues for the
year to December 2003 from 13.9% for the prior year
– 4.5 million controlled Vodafone live! customers at the end of December, with
a further 0.4 million customers in non-controlled operations
– Mobile Connect Card customers in controlled operations increased to 167,000
For further information:
Vodafone Group
Tim Brown, Group Corporate Affairs Director
Tel: +44 (0) 1635 673310
Investor Relations
Melissa Stimpson
Darren Jones
Tel: +44 (0) 1635 673310
Media Relations
Bobby Leach
Ben Padovan
Tel: +44 (0) 1635 673310
Tavistock Communications
Lulu Bridges
Justin Griffiths
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7920 3150
end of ad-hoc-announcement (c)DGAP 28.01.2004
Issuer’s information/explanatory remarks concerning this ad-hoc-announcement:
Arun Sarin, Chief Executive of Vodafone, commented: “These are a great set of
KPI’s, recording our strongest organic customer growth in 3 years. We continue
to be delighted with the progress of Vodafone live! which has proved to be a
real point of difference during the last quarter in many of our markets.”
“Overall, these figures are slightly better than our expectations and are
consistent with the outlook we gave at our interim results. This solid
performance provides a strong platform for the year ahead.”
Customer Growth
In total, over 5.1 million registered proportionate customers were added in the
quarter, including 0.8 million from stake changes, primarily in Greece. The
total proportionate base increased to 130.4 million, up nearly 16% on December
2002.
A strong competitive performance in Germany and Italy showed through in
proportionate net additions of 888,000 and 507,000 respectively. In the UK, net
additions of 464,000 were at the highest level since March 2001, demonstrating
the increased level of investment in growth.
Vodafone live! customers increased to 4.5 million in controlled operations.
The UK passed 1 million customers during the quarter, reaching 1,030,000
customers by 31 December 2003, with Germany at 1,580,000 and Italy at 780,000.
Vodafone live! is now available in 15 countries, including 2 associates in
France and Switzerland, and will be launched in Belgium during 2004. Since its
launch on 29 October 2003, SFR in France added 330,000 customers by the end of
the year.
In addition, the Group has a further 12.8 million Vodafone live! customers
following the rebranding of J-Sky in Japan on 1 October 2003. Over 86% of
Vodafone K.K.’s registered customer base has a Vodafone live! enabled handset.
Active customers in the Group’s controlled businesses were unchanged at 93% of
total customers.
Registered Blended ARPU
Blended ARPU in the UK increased to GBP303 for the year to December 2003, up
from GBP297 for the year to September 2003. The increase in blended and contract
ARPU benefited by GBP4 and GBP10 respectively from the acquisition of
Singlepoint, which was completed on 22 September 2003. Prepay and contract ARPU
also improved as a result of increased usage.
In Italy, blended ARPU increased from EUR355 to EUR359, driven by the continued
focus on higher value customers, particularly in the corporate segment.
Blended ARPU in Germany remained stable at EUR311, with lower usage, but lower
subsidy, contract tariffs remaining popular.
In Japan, blended ARPU continued to reduce, reflecting the success of the prepay
offering, the competitive environment and increasing penetration in the Japanese
market.
Data as a percentage of service revenues
For the Group’s controlled operations, data as a percentage of service revenues
continued to grow, increasing to 15.9% for the year to December 2003, up from
15.5% for the year to September. Data in the month of December 2003 was 17.3%,
up from 16.0% in December 2002.
Excluding Japan, the percentage of service revenues from non-messaging data
revenue has increased from 0.7% in December 2002 to 1.6% in December 2003,
demonstrating the initial benefits from Vodafone live! and new business
services during 2003.
End of Part 1
——————————————————————————–
WKN: 875999; ISIN: GB0007192106; Index: Stoxx 50
Listed: Amtlicher Markt in Frankfurt (General Standard/Dt. Zert.); Freiverkehr
in Berlin-Bremen, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Hannover, München und Stuttgart
281113 Jän 04
Aktuelle News
Aktuelle Berichte
Keine Berichte gefunden
Anstehende Events
Keine Events gefunden
Webcasts
Keine Webcasts gefunden