Vodafone Q3 revenue up 10 pct

(AP) — Telecommunications company Vodafone Group PLC on Thursday reported that revenue rose more than 10 percent in the third quarter, supported by strong gains in its Asia-Pacific and Middle East operations.

For the three months ending Dec. 31, Vodafone said service revenue fell by 1.2 percent on a comparable basis, stripping out acquisitions, disposals and currency shifts. Still, the figure was an improvement on the 3 percent drop in the previous quarter, the company said.

Service revenue, which accounts for 93 percent of the company's total, includes revenue from voice, messaging, data and fixed-line services.

Vodafone did not report earnings in the trading update.

Revenue in the company's third quarter was 11.5 billion pounds ($18.3 billion), compared to 10.5 billion pounds a year earlier.

Revenue rose 10.4 percent in Asia-Pacific and the Middle East on a comparable basis, while European revenue fell 3.2 percent and Africa-Central Europe was down 0.5 percent.

The company upgraded full-year guidance for free cash flow — operating cash flow minus capital expenditure — by 500 million pounds to a range between 6.5 billion pounds and 7 billion pounds.

Vodafone shares were up 4.9 percent at 141 pence on the London Stock Exchange.

"In all, the company is making very steady progress, which has not been reflected in the share price of late over the last three months the shares have added just 0.2 percent versus a wider FTSE-100 gain of 3 percent," said Richard Hunter, analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown Stockbrokers.

"Expectations for Vodafone Q3 were low and we would expect the (small) improvement in underlying trading, plus raised free cash flow guidance to be well received especially after the recent share price declines," said Mark James, analyst at Evolution Securities.

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