Vodafone expects higher profits after strong quarterly growth

Feb 3, 2011, 11:10 GMT

London - Mobile phone giant Vodafone Thursday raised its profit guidance for the current financial year following strong revenue growth in emerging markets in the third quarter, which ended on December 31, 2010.

Vodafone said that strong results in India and Turkey, accompanied by a 'higher smartphone penetration' in traditional European markets, had led to a 3-per-cent increase in revenue in the third quarter to 11.89 billion pounds (19.3 billion dollars).

The company now expected operating profits for the year to March 31 to rise to 11.8 billion pounds, from an earlier forecast of 12.2 billion pounds in November.

In India, the company recorded a service revenue growth of 16.7 per cent in the third quarter, whereas growth in Turkey was 31.7 per cent.

'Our performance has been driven by the effective execution of our strategy to strengthen our businesses and deliver growth, particularly in data services and emerging markets,' said Vodafone.

Earlier this week, the company appointed Gerard Kleisterlee, the former boss of electronics concern Philips, as its new chairman.