Key highlights of the quarter ended 30 June 2008:
Group: Revenue of £9.8 billion, up 19.1% (organic +1.7%)
Group data revenue up 50.6% to £664 million (organic +29.4%)
Total communications services now at 15% of Group revenue
Proportionate mobile customer base of 269.0 million, up 8.5 million in the quarter
Europe: Service revenue up 15.7% driven by strong foreign exchange (organic -0.2%)
Spain particularly impacted by economic and competitive effects
EMAPA: Service revenue up 30.9% (organic +8.7%)
Strong total revenue growth from India of over 50%
Verizon Wireless: net customer additions of 1.5 million
Outlook(1):
Revenue now expected to be around the bottom of the £39.8 billion to £40.7 billion outlook range reflecting first quarter performance, recent economic weakness and lower than expected equipment revenue
Other outlook measures unchanged resulting from continued focus on cost reduction with adjusted operating profit in the range £11.0 billion to £11.5 billion, capitalised fixed asset additions of £5.3 billion to £5.8 billion and free cash flow of £5.1 billion to £5.6 billion
Results likely to continue to benefit from foreign exchange
Arun Sarin, Chief Executive, commented:
“Notwithstanding this more challenging operating environment, we continue to benefit from a diversity of assets and services, with strong revenue growth in EMAPA and another good quarter of data revenue growth offsetting weakness in Spain. Whilst we expect revenue around the bottom of the outlook range, our continued focus on cost reduction enables us to reiterate our operating profit and cash flow guidance for the year.”
Note:
(1) Foreign exchange rate assumptions of £1:€130 and £1:US$1.96 unchanged
