LONDON, July 4, 2026, 20:02 BST
- Vodafone finished the week at 98.70p, dropping 6.6% from June 26. The FTSE 100 added 1.6%.
- The drop wiped out about £1.6 billion in equity value on a voting-share basis, nearly matching Vodacom’s €1.81 billion Safaricom cash spend if you use Vodafone’s FY27 euro-sterling conversion.
- Vodafone’s Q1 FY27 update and AGM are set for July 27, and investors are likely to focus on Germany, cash flow, and VodafoneThree costs.
Vodafone Group Public Limited Company LON:VOD slipped last week while the London market climbed, giving up ground after an earlier bounce in the spring. Shares ended Friday at 98.70p, down 6.6% from 105.65p on June 26. Over that stretch, the FTSE 100 (INDEXFTSE:UKX) added 1.6% to hit 10,679.03.
Look at the value lost. Vodafone reported 23.03 billion voting rights as of June 30, according to its July 1 statement. Last week’s 6.95p slide in the share price wiped around £1.6 billion off the equity tied to those voting shares. That lines up with the £ value of the KES 272 billion cash spent on Vodacom’s Safaricom stake buys, referencing Vodafone’s FY27 rate of €1 to 87p.
| Measure | Latest figure | Investor read |
|---|---|---|
| Vodafone close, July 3 | 98.70p | Dropped back under 100p after slipping earlier this week |
| Vodafone move, June 26-July 3 | -6.6% | Lagged FTSE 100 by 8.2 pts |
| FTSE 100 move, June 26-July 3 | +1.6% | London index gains didn’t help |
| Voting-share value lost | ~£1.6 bln | Almost equal to the converted Safaricom cash top-up spend |
Vodafone didn’t get much of a bump for a larger Africa stake the same week it wrapped up a deal handing its Vodacom Group Ltd JSE:VOD arm 55% of Safaricom PLC NAIROBI:SCOM. The market isn’t saying Safaricom is just worth that figure. Vodafone said after the deal, Safaricom will be fully consolidated by both Vodacom and Vodafone.
Vodafone said on June 30 that Vodacom picked up 15% of Safaricom from the Kenyan government for KES 204 billion, and another 5% from Vodafone itself for KES 68 billion. Vodafone also told investors the deal would bump up pro-forma 12-month FY27 adjusted EBITDAaL by €1.5 billion if Safaricom is consolidated, with no impact on adjusted free cash flow.
The stock is moving as investors focus on cash, not just higher earnings numbers. Vodafone is guiding for adjusted EBITDAaL of €11.9 billion to €12.2 billion and adjusted free cash flow of €2.6 billion to €2.9 billion for FY27. Restructuring and integration costs should hit about €0.7 billion in FY27, with about €0.4 billion of that from the VodafoneThree deal.
| Company | Ticker | June 26 close | July 3 close | Five-day move |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vodafone | LON:VOD | 105.65p | 98.70p | -6.6% |
| BT Group | LON:BT.A | 195.00p | 188.45p | -3.4% |
| Deutsche Telekom | ETR:DTE | €26.25 | €25.14 | -4.2% |
| Orange | EPA:ORA | €16.98 | €15.86 | -6.6% |
| Telefónica | BME:TEF | €3.651 | €3.550 | -2.8% |
The peer table suggests the selloff wasn’t limited to Vodafone, but Vodafone’s drop was steeper than BT Group PLC (LON:BT.A), Deutsche Telekom AG (ETR:DTE), or Telefónica SA BME:TEF. Orange SA EPA:ORA lost roughly the same.
Germany is still the weak spot. Barclays downgraded Vodafone to “equal weight” from “overweight” on June 11, and also cut its price target to 110p from 120p, pointing to ongoing softness in its biggest market. Barclays said German contract mobile ARPU dropped to €16.48 in Q4, down from €17.08 a year ago, and fixed broadband net adds stayed negative all year. Investing
CEO Margherita Della Valle said the turnaround is gaining traction. In results published in May, Della Valle described Vodafone as “a simpler company with a stronger growth outlook.” She pointed to strategic changes leading to higher service revenue, profit, and cash flow at the upper end of guidance. She also said Vodafone is back to top-line growth in Germany, adding the company is “well set for mid-term growth.” Investegate
UK is the next test. Vodafone said in May it would buy CK Hutchison Holdings Ltd’s (HKG:0001) 49% of VodafoneThree for £4.3 billion, which gives it full control of Britain’s largest mobile operator. Della Valle at the time called it the “right time” to move to full ownership and push the UK network strategy. Reuters said the deal would raise Vodafone’s net debt ratio by about 0.4x to 2.6x, excluding any VodafoneZiggo contribution. Reuters
Not much on the company news calendar this week. Vodafone’s Q1 FY27 trading update lands July 27, which is also the AGM. The final FY26 dividend—2.3625 euro cents a share—gets paid July 30.
