03/05/2002

Investors express concern over Vodafone's future

Shares in Vodafone slumped to less than £1 on Friday morning, in light of the company's decision to cut its forecasts for its Italian and German operations.

Analysts had forecasted profits in the region of £4 billion for the combined operations of Vodafone's D2 and Omnitel, but in a recent statement, Vodafone revised the figure to £3.7 billion.

While the company moved swiftly to assure that the trimmed figure was only a "revision" of the company's trajectory based on future prospects, observers have interpreted this to mean troubled times ahead.

The numbers of German subscribers have recently declined despite Vodafone's claims of an increase of 1.3 million in customers in the first quarter of 2002, taking its global customer base to just above 101 million.

It seems investors have yet come to their own conclusions about the future stability of a company hard hit by the downturn in the telecoms market and squeezed ever tighter by increasing levels of competition.

(CL)


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