London, May 13, 2026, 14:02 BST
Vodafone Group Public Limited Company shares steadied in London on Wednesday, rising about 1% to 113.15 pence around midday after sliding 7.02% on Tuesday, as investors weighed a stronger profit outlook against fresh customer losses in Germany.
The move matters because Chief Executive Margherita Della Valle has largely finished the big portfolio reset: Vodafone has left Spain and Italy, agreed to sell its Dutch joint-venture stake and moved to full control of VodafoneThree in Britain. The narrower group now has less room for excuses, with Germany, Britain and Africa doing more of the work.
Vodafone reported total revenue up 8.0% to 40.5 billion euros for the year to March 31, while service revenue rose 8.8% to 33.5 billion euros. Adjusted EBITDAaL — earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation after lease costs, a core profit gauge used by telecoms companies — rose 4.5% on an organic basis, meaning comparable growth excluding currency, deals and other adjustments.
For the new financial year, the company guided for adjusted EBITDAaL of 11.9 billion to 12.2 billion euros and adjusted free cash flow of 2.6 billion to 2.9 billion euros. Alliance News, carried by AJ Bell, said Vodafone’s adjusted earnings of 11.35 billion euros missed company-compiled consensus of 11.48 billion euros, which helped explain the sharp initial share reaction.
Germany was the drag. Vodafone lost 77,000 mobile contract customers and 90,000 broadband customers in the fourth quarter, Bloomberg reported, even as management argued the unit was showing signs of revenue repair. Germany contributes about 37% of group adjusted EBITDAaL, making even small slips there hard for investors to ignore.
The German business has been hit by a change in TV rules that ended the bulk sale of cable television contracts to apartment blocks. That law change has forced Vodafone to recontract customers one by one, while price competition in mobile has stayed tough.
Britain is the other big swing factor. Vodafone agreed last week to buy CK Hutchison’s 49% stake in VodafoneThree for 4.3 billion pounds, giving it full ownership of what it calls the UK’s largest mobile operator and one of the country’s fastest-growing broadband providers.
That puts VodafoneThree more squarely against BT’s EE and Virgin Media O2 in the UK market. Reuters reported the deal is expected to close in the second half of 2026, subject to UK national security approval, and that VodafoneThree plans heavy network investment while targeting 700 million pounds of annual savings by 2030.
Africa gave the update a cleaner growth line. Vodafone’s presentation showed Africa service revenue up 12.9% in FY26, while the UK delivered 0.3% service revenue growth and 4.5% adjusted EBITDAaL growth after the Vodafone-Three merger was consolidated for most of the year.
Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, wrote that “the turnaround is starting to take shape,” but added that “this turnaround is far from complete.” He called Germany “Vodafone’s toughest nut to crack,” citing pressure on both pricing and subscribers. Hargreaves Lansdown
But the downside case is still plain. Net debt has risen again, the VodafoneThree buyout adds a large cash call, and Germany needs to prove that fourth-quarter revenue growth can survive without more customer leakage. Richard Hunter, head of markets at interactive investor, said the market reaction showed “the corner is far from having been turned just yet.” Interactive Investor
For now, Vodafone has a simpler map and a clearer story. The test is whether Germany stops consuming management time just as the UK integration starts consuming capital.
