Vodafone, the world's largest mobile operator by revenue, raised its full-year profit outlook and said it had agreed to sell its interests in Japanese carrier SoftBank for £3.1 billion sterling.
The British carrier, which recently sold its stake in China Mobile for $6.5 billion, said today it would continue to dispose of assets it does not control, after some investors complained it was not delivering value.
Vodafone raised its guidance for the full year to the end of March, saying it now expected adjusted operating profit of £11.8-12.2 billion, compared to an earlier forecast of £11.2-12 billion, after sales grew faster than expected.
In Ireland, Vodafone said it added 31,700 customers from July to September this year. It said more than one in every two bill pay sales were now smartphones.
It also reported data revenue growth of 26% year-on-year.
First-half revenue rose 1.8% organically to £22.6 billion, beating expectations of £22.3 billion, as all regions performed well, including Verizon Wireless, its US joint venture with Verizon.
'We have also today announced an updated strategy, which positions Vodafone to realise further value from non-controlled assets, and take full advantage of the most valuable telecommunications growth opportunities ahead,' CEO Vittorio Colao said in a statement.
Vodafone said it will receive the payment from SoftBank in two tranches: 212.5 billion yen ($2.62 billion) in December, which it will use to pay down debt, and 200 billion yen in April 2012.
The payment relates to Vodafone's sale of its Japanese operations to SoftBank in 2006, as part of which Vodafone acquired loan notes and preferred stock and share acquisition rights issued by SoftBank subsidiaries.
Vodafone also said it would push the sales of data plans as demand for email and other mobile web services accelerates, aiming to become the leading operator in mobile data in Europe, India and Africa.
On an annualised basis, the group's mobile data business has grown to nearly £5 billion and fixed line revenue, primarily broadband, has grown to over £3 billion. Vodafone's total revenue last year was £44.5 billion.
The company took an £800m impairment for its operations in Greece, which is undergoing austerity reforms after being severely hit by the recession.
