Vodafone Group has reported a 10 per cent increase in revenue for its fiscal year 2004, and said losses after exceptional items were down by 8 per cent.
In announcing its preliminary results for the year ended March 31, Vodafone said group operating profit before goodwill, amortisation and exceptional items rose 17 per cent. The company attributed the performance to strong customer growth and increasing use of data services.
Group revenue for the company rose to $US61.3 billion, compared to $US55.1billion a year earlier. For the year, 16.1 per cent of revenue came from data services, up from 14.6 per cent in the previous year, Vodafone said. The net loss shrunk from $US17.77 billion in fiscal year 2003 to $US16.31 billion for 2004, or a loss per share of $US0.24. Operating profit before goodwill, amortisation and exceptional items rose to $US19.4 billion from $US16.68 billion in fiscal year 2003.
Over the year, proportionate customer numbers increased by 13.7 million to 133.4 million, the company said. Vodafone counts subscribers in proportion to its holding in companies it does not wholly own.
Subscribers made 154.8 billion minutes of calls during the year on networks where Vodafone has a controlling stake, up 11 per cent on the previous year.
Vodafone CEO, Arun Sarin, expected worldwide mobile revenue to grow organically by a percentage in the high single digits during the next year.
