LONDON, June 20, 2026, 21:03 BST
- Vodafone ended Friday at 107 pence, losing 1.6% for the session. Shares have fallen 7.6% in five days.
- The group finished a $3.5 billion, three-part dollar bond sale this week.
- Vodafone won’t report its next trading update until July 27.
Vodafone Group shares finished Friday at 107 pence, the stock’s weakest close since early June. Shares dropped every day this week, down 7.6% for the week compared to the FTSE 100’s 1% drop. More than 106 million shares changed hands Friday. The London market is now closed for the weekend.
The stock is down 18.4% off its 52-week peak of 131.1p from May 21. That’s pressuring investors to back Vodafone’s scale ambitions even though pledged savings and cash flow gains haven’t materialized yet.
Vodafone raised $3.5 billion in bonds Thursday, issuing $1 billion of 4.8% notes due 2031, $1 billion of 5.35% notes due 2036, and $1.5 billion of 6.1% notes maturing 2056. The bonds are unsecured, not tied to any assets. Vodafone put the expected net proceeds at about $3.47 billion and said funds will go to general corporate use.
Vodafone CEO Margherita Della Valle called on European governments to speed up merger approvals during a Reuters Next event this week. “Speed is always the challenge, and the faster the better,” she told the audience. “If we want this, we need more investment, which needs scale.” The ongoing talks over splitting France’s SFR between Orange, Bouygues, and Iliad’s Free have become a key test for regulators. Reuters
Vodafone’s UK push revolves around the deal announced in May. Vodafone said it will buy CK Hutchison’s last 49% stake in VodafoneThree for £4.3 billion, taking full control of the UK’s top mobile operator. Della Valle said this is “the right time to take full ownership”. Closing is set for the second half of 2026. The deal will raise Vodafone’s net-debt ratio by about 0.4 times, hitting about 2.6 times borrowing to annual cash earnings. Reuters
VodafoneThree is looking to spend £11 billion on its network over a decade and wants to cut £700 million a year in operating and capital expenses by year five. The merged company says it should begin boosting Vodafone’s adjusted free cash flow from the 2029 financial year. That’s the positive scenario, but hitting those targets means years of large outlays up front.
BT Group fell too, with shares down roughly 6.6% between the June 12 and June 19 closes. BT’s EE network is a competitor to VodafoneThree. Vodafone’s drop was steeper than both BT and the broader London market, pointing to extra worries over Vodafone’s funding and execution alongside the week’s risk-off mood.
Delays in scaling up could keep cash flow weaker for longer. Vodafone’s toughest market is still Germany. Extra cash is going into the UK network and the CK Hutchison deal, pushing near-term funding needs higher. “This turnaround is far from complete,” Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, wrote after the May results. If German pressure sticks, savings from VodafoneThree slip, and refinancing costs rise, that’s the downside scenario. HL
Analysts can’t agree on the stock. Their 12-month targets for it sit at a median of about 112.7p—just 5.3% above where shares finished on Friday—but price estimates run from about 86.7p up to 147.3p. The wide range shows the debate: the portfolio is simpler and seen as a possible growth story, but nobody agrees how fast that shows up.
Vodafone has no financial results on the calendar for next week. The first-quarter update and annual meeting come up July 27. Until then, the shares will move with bond yields, UK risk sentiment and shifts in European consolidation policy. The five-day drop has been steep, so market watchers are looking to see if the stock finds support around 107p or keeps falling from the May high.
