Vodafone Plc results for the year ended 31 March 2003

Vodafone Plc just released its results for the year ended 31 March 2003. Some of the highlights in the report:

• Turnover increased 33% to £30,375 million, including the effect of a first full year’s results from the Group’s Japanese operations, with Group data revenues increasing 73% to £3,622 million. Proportionate turnover increased 14% to £33,926 million
• Profit on ordinary activities before taxation, before goodwill amortisation of £14,056 million and exceptional items of £581 million, increased 36% to £8,429 million
• Loss for the financial year of £9,819 million, compared to £16,155 million for the prior year

Group highlights
• Sustained improvement in ARPU in many key markets in Europe, driven by increased usage of both voice and data services, combined with better than expected ARPU levels in Japan
• Continued strong progress in data, with revenues from data services increasing by 73% to £3,622 million, representing 14.6% of service revenues for the year ended 31 March 2003 and 15.6% of service revenues for the month of March 2003. Data service revenues expected to exceed 20% of mobile service revenues in 2004
• Worldwide customer base of 119.7 million proportionate registered customers, representing growth of 18.6 million or 18.4% since 31 March 2002, including 10.7 million organic net additions. Venture registered customer base of 296.0 million
• Tangible fixed asset additions of approximately £4,800 million, lower than expected due to rephasing and cost efficiencies

Vodafone Live!
• European launch of Vodafone live!, with over one million live! customers at 31 March 2003
• Now launched in thirteen countries
• Critically acclaimed by the industry, receiving awards from the GSM Association for best consumer application, advertising and mobile handset

Other commercial initiatives
• Launch of the first global service from Vodafone’s business proposition, Mobile Office from Vodafone, called Mobile Connect Card, offering a Vodafone-branded solution for secure remote connection of laptops to a corporate network using a Vodafone-enabled GPRS data card and customised software
• Launch of new services: prepaid top-ups, allowing customers to top-up their prepaid mobile phones when travelling abroad; Eurocall Platinum, aimed at high-usage business travellers in Europe; and GPRS roaming, enabling seamless access to Vodafone live! and Mobile Connect Card across Vodafone and Vodafone’s partner networks