Total revenues for the first half were up 8.9 percent to GBP 20.75 billion, helped by currency effects. EBITDA increased 5.5 percent to GBP 5.88 billion. Adjusted operating profit was still down 29.5 percent to GBP 1.76 billion, and net profit dropped 69.5 percent to GBP 5.50 billion, hurt by a number of one-time charges for restructuring and acquisitions. Vodafone still raised its interim dividend 2 percent to 3.60 pence per share.
For the full year to March 2015, Vodafone now targets EBITDA of GBP 11.6-11.9 billion, at the high end of its earlier outlook of GBP 11.4-11.9 billion. This excludes the planned takeover of Ono in Spain. Free cash flow is expected to turn positive over the year, after a breakeven result in H1. Capital expenditure nearly doubled in the first half to GBP 3.9 billion as Vodafone's Project Spring investments got well under way.
Vodafone expects to spend a total GBP 16 billion on capex in the two years to March 2016. The operator took European 4G coverage to 59 percent at the end of September and now counts 10.5 million 4G customers across the group. This is still just a fraction of its total 438.5 million customers.
Vodafone said 4G was helping to stabilise ARPU. Other factors contributing to the slower drop in revenue in its European markets included more customers on postpaid, lower churn, increased data usage and a more stable pricing environment. Over a quarter of customers in Europe are now on contracts, helped by the roll out of the Red plans, which had 16.1 million customers at the end of September.Vodafone also reported data traffic up 77 percent year-on-year in H1 and 80 percent in Q2. This was led by 4G users in Europe, where 4G already accounts for 21 percent of data traffic, and the expansion of 3G services in India. In the AMAP region, data users were up 29 percent to over 103 million. Users of the money transfer service M-Pesa offered in the region also grew by 16 percent year-on-year to 18.5 million.
Among its other growth pillars, Vodafone grew fixed-line revenue to GBP 3.58 billion in H1, thanks to the acquisition of Kabel Deutschland. Organic revenue from fixed was still down 2.1 percent in Q2, with growth in Spain, Italy and Portugal offset by continued declines in Germany and the UK. Fixed revenue in Europe now accounts for 23.7 percent of total service revenue, compared to 18.1 percent in the prior year. The company counted a total 11.2 million fixed broadband customers at the end of September.
