LONDON, March 13, 2026, 13:45 GMT
Vodafone shares jumped in London on Friday, lifted by news of fresh share buybacks from the telecom group. By about 13:30 local time, market data pegged the stock at 110.70 pence—climbing from Thursday’s finish at 107.80 pence.
Vodafone remains nearly 8.5% shy of its Feb. 18 high at 120.95 pence, despite notching a 45% gain over the last year. For investors, the calculation now is whether buybacks, proceeds from asset sales, and the UK merger are enough to counter persistent doubts over Germany, which is still the group’s largest market.
Vodafone picked up another 2 million ordinary shares on March 12, paying an average 107.22 pence, and plans to keep them in treasury. According to a filing from the previous day, the company had already purchased 2 million shares on March 11 at 107.14 pence. With those buys, treasury holdings now stand at 1.7617 billion shares. That leaves 23.116 billion shares still outstanding, not counting stock held in treasury.
When a company buys back its own shares, it cuts the supply of stock available to investors. Vodafone kicked off its €500 million buyback in February, reporting third-quarter revenue up 6.5% and a 2.3% gain in adjusted core earnings. Full-year profit and free cash flow targets remained set for the top of the guided range.
Last month, Chief Executive Margherita Della Valle told analysts Vodafone was “on track to deliver the upper end of our FY26 guidance.” On Germany, though, that same call struck a more cautious note—management expects second-half performance to pick up, but stopped short of forecasting a return to positive EBITDAaL there just yet, referring to the company’s preferred core earnings metric. Vodafone
The UK remains a major pillar of the story here. VodafoneThree—the new outfit formed by Vodafone merging with Three, with Vodafone holding a 51% stake—plans to pour 1.3 billion pounds into its network during the first year. According to Reuters, this combined group is set to leapfrog BT’s EE and Virgin Media O2, grabbing the top spot in the UK mobile market. Management is targeting fiscal 2027 for the first substantial UK cost synergies to hit.
Back in February, Vodafone shored up its cash pile by cutting a deal to sell its 50% share of VodafoneZiggo to Liberty Global. The price tag: 1 billion euros in cash, plus a 10% stake in the future Ziggo Group. Liberty CEO Mike Fries touted the merged outfit as a “regional powerhouse.” Vodafone’s Della Valle described the sale as happening at an “attractive valuation,” with potential for “further value creation”. Reuters
Germany’s influence isn’t fading yet. On Feb. 5, Vodafone shares dropped more than 5% after the company reported just 0.7% service-revenue growth in Germany—short of some analysts’ hopes. Della Valle called out the “competitive” market, and management flagged ongoing headwinds from the German TV rule change. Costs tied to UK integration, they added, will hit before promised bigger savings show up. Reuters
Friday’s gain left Vodafone ahead of the FTSE 100, which was up just 0.17% according to Reuters market data. Still, shares are far off their February peak. Management, for now, is telling analysts to wait until May for a more detailed update on Germany and what’s next.
