LONDON, March 17, 2026, 17:06 GMT.
Vodafone shares closed 1.4% higher at 111.1 pence in London on Tuesday, with investors digesting a fresh filing tied to the group’s buyback plan, which lets a company repurchase its own stock. The shares remain below their 52-week high of 120.9 pence. 1
That matters now because Vodafone is leaning on buybacks and asset sales to support the shares while its operating recovery is still uneven, especially in Germany. Tuesday’s filing lifted treasury stock to 1.7657 billion shares, and the current repurchase programme is due to run no later than May 11. 2
The backdrop shifted again in Britain on Tuesday when Ofcom set the rules for the next phase of fibre roll-out. The regulator said BT’s Openreach would face price caps on wholesale lines up to 80 megabits per second for retailers such as Vodafone, widening the current limit from 40 megabits, while faster products stay unregulated. 3
Vodafone said it bought 2 million ordinary shares from Goldman Sachs International on March 16 at a volume-weighted average 110.29 pence, with trades ranging from 109.6 pence to 111 pence. The shares will be held in treasury — kept by the company before later cancellation or use in employee awards — leaving 23.11 billion shares in issue excluding treasury stock. 2
The repurchase is part of a programme worth up to 500 million euros that started on Feb. 5 and runs until no later than May 11. Vodafone said the aim is to reduce share capital, after already completing 3.5 billion euros of buybacks since May 2024. 4
Asset sales remain part of the script too. On Feb. 18 the group agreed to sell its 50% stake in VodafoneZiggo to Liberty Global for 1 billion euros in cash and a 10% holding in a new Ziggo Group, a deal Chief Executive Margherita Della Valle said offered “potential for further value creation.” 5
The operating picture is less settled. Vodafone said on Feb. 5 that third-quarter revenue rose 6.5% and that full-year profit and free cash flow — cash left after capital spending — should come in at the top end of guidance, but the shares still fell more than 5% that day as analysts focused on a slower-than-expected recovery in Germany. 6
“Every quarter customer experience goes one step higher,” Della Valle told reporters after that update, referring to Germany. She added that “the market remains competitive”, a reminder that the turnaround story is not done. 6
Morgan Stanley analyst Emmet Kelly flagged another weak point, saying Turkey’s service-revenue growth had turned negative in euro terms because lira weakness was eating into translation, even though local-currency growth stayed robust. 7
The risk for shareholders is straightforward: buybacks can steady the stock, but they do not fix Germany or foreign-exchange swings. Vodafone’s next major test comes with FY26 results on May 12, according to the company’s shareholder calendar. 6
