London, June 23, 2026, 16:15 (BST)
Vodafone Group shares slipped 0.65% to 106.60 pence late Tuesday in London, continuing their drop for June. Investors are looking at the price of taking full control of VodafoneThree and measuring it against expected benefits. The share price was on a 20-minute delay.
The stock trades roughly 8% under its June 12 close of 115.75 pence. Shares have dropped in six of the last seven sessions. Monday saw a 0.3% bounce, but it faded quickly.
Vodafone is facing pressure while it gets ready to spend £4.3 billion in cash buying CK Hutchison’s 49% stake in VodafoneThree. The deal will bump up pro-forma net leverage by about 0.4 times—debt as a ratio of yearly operating earnings—and put Vodafone in full control of Britain’s biggest mobile operator.
London stocks got hit in early trade, with the FTSE 100 down 0.7% and touching its lowest level since June 12. Traders reacted to expectations for higher interest rates. Data out showed Britain’s services sector shrinking at the quickest rate since January 2023.
VodafoneThree is now the UK’s largest mobile operator, passing both BT’s EE and Virgin Media O2, which is owned by Telefónica and Liberty Global. The group says it will put £11 billion into its network and wants to cut £700 million in yearly cost and capex by fiscal 2030. Barclays analysts described the takeover price as attractive but flagged that Vodafone’s share buybacks are on hold for now.
CEO Margherita Della Valle called on European regulators to let network operators merge. “If we want this, we need more investment, which needs scale,” Della Valle said at the Reuters NEXT Europe summit last week. Reuters
Vodafone heads into the deal with better numbers at group level. Organic service revenue, stripping out currency and portfolio shifts, was up 5.4% for the year to March. Adjusted EBITDAaL climbed 4.5% to €11.4 billion. Adjusted free cash flow touched €2.6 billion.
Germany is still a challenge for Vodafone. The company reported a return to top-line growth after a long stretch of decline. Net debt stood at €25.4 billion at the end of March, with leverage at 2.2 times. The board lifted the full-year dividend by 2.5%, marking its first move under a progressive payout policy.
There’s a risk to watch. If VodafoneThree cost cuts take longer or Germany stumbles again, buybacks might stay on ice and there could be less scope to raise the dividend. Vodafone wants leverage in the lower half of its 2.25-2.75 times band, and it still needs UK national security clearance on the buyout.
Vodafone’s next trading update is set for July 27. The company plans to pay its final dividend of 2.3625 euro cents a share on July 30.
