Vodafone to Separate European Tower Infrastructure Unit; 1Q Revenue Fell

   By Adria Calatayud 
 

Vodafone Group PLC (VOD.LN) said Friday that it will separate its European tower infrastructure business and consider monetization options, including via a potential initial public offering, as it posted a 2.3% fall in first-quarter revenue.

The U.K. telecommunications said its European tower infrastructure into a new organization, which will be operational by May 2020. The new business will comprise the company's 61,700 towers in ten markets. Preparations are under way for a variety of monetization alternatives to be executed over the next 18 months, including a potential IPO, Vodafone said.

Proceeds from the separation will be used to reduce the group's debt, Vodafone said. The company said the separation will depend on market conditions.

Separately, Vodafone said revenue for the quarter to June 30 fell to 10.65 billion euros ($11.87 billion) from EUR10.90 billion in the year-earlier period due to foreign-exchange movements, and backed its guidance for fiscal 2020

Quarterly organic service revenue--a closely-watched metric for Vodafone--was down 0.2%, following a 0.7% decline in the previous quarter, the company said.

The company confirmed that it is confident in delivering adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of between EUR13.8 billion and EUR14.2 billion and free cash flow, excluding spectrum costs, of at least EUR5.4 billion in fiscal 2020.

Write to Adria Calatayud at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 26, 2019 02:37 ET (06:37 GMT)

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