Press Release | 03 Feb 2021

Vodafone Group: Third quarter 2020/21 financial year trading update

Vodafone Group has reported its results for the third quarter of the 2020/21 financial year, showing a return to service revenue growth.

  • Resilient trading performance, with service revenue growth of 0.4%* (Q2: -0.4%*).

  • Continued commercial momentum, despite further lockdown measures.

  • Germany service revenue growth of 1.0%* (Q2: -0.1%*), with growth across all segments in the market.

  • Deepening customer engagement with year-to-date Europe mobile contract churn 1.1 percentage points lower year-on-year.

  • Strong demand for high-speed connectivity, with 330,000 Next Generation Networks (NGN) broadband customer additions in Europe during the quarter, bringing year-to-date total NGN additions to over 1.1 million.

  • Underlying trends excluding the impact from lower roaming and visitors were broadly similar quarter-on-quarter.

  • Reaffirming FY21 guidance with Adjusted EBITDA expected to be between €14.4 – €14.6bn and free cash flow of at least €5bn (pre-spectrum and restructuring).

Nick Read, Group Chief Executive, commented:

“I am pleased the Group returned to service revenue growth in Q3 as a result of the continued commercial momentum across our business, including our largest market Germany. Our good trading performance underscores our confidence in the outlook for the full year. We have made further progress on our strategic priorities, including the IPO of Vantage Towers in early 2021, which remains firmly on track and will now include our 50% shareholding in the UK towers joint venture with Telefonica.

“Our networks have successfully delivered another quarter of record data traffic as many countries continue to endure COVID-19 lockdowns and customers depend on our services. We have achieved this while further reducing our carbon footprint and we are making fast progress towards our important target of having our European networks wholly powered by renewable electricity by July this year.

“I continue to be proud of the hard work of my colleagues, and that of the industry more broadly, who have kept societies connected and supported key sectors such as education and healthcare. Vodafone has now contributed over €150 million since the start of the pandemic, through direct contributions and in-kind services to those in need, and we will continue to help society recover and build back stronger.”

Further details about the Q3 FY21 trading update are available on the Vodafone Group website.

About Vodafone UK

Vodafone UK is a technology communications company that connects people, businesses and devices to help our customers benefit from digital innovation. Our services span mobile, fixed-line connections, home and office broadband, and the Internet of Things (IoT).

We have a strong track record as a tech pioneer, making the UK’s first mobile phone call, sending the first text message, and making the UK’s first live holographic call using 5G in 2018. We were the first to start carrying live 5G traffic from a site in Salford, Greater Manchester and now have 5G in locations across Germany, Ireland, Italy, Spain as well as the UK. Meanwhile, our 4G network coverage currently reaches over 99% of the UK population.

Today, Vodafone serves more than 18 million mobile and fixed-line customers in the UK. Vodafone is the largest provider of full fibre in the UK – our superfast broadband services are now available to nearly 12 million homes across the UK.

Sustainability is also at the heart of what we do: as of 1 July 2021, 100% of the grid electricity we use in the UK is certified to be from renewable sources.

For more information about Vodafone UK, please visit: www.vodafone.co.uk.

Vodafone UK Media Relations

Telephone: +44 (0) 1635 693 693

Email: ukmediarelations@vodafone.com

Twitter: @VodafoneUKNews

Website: https://vodafone.co.uk/newscentre/

Vodafone Limited

Registered Office: Vodafone House, The Connection, Newbury, Berkshire RG14 2FN

Registered in England No: 1471587