Vodafone Group PLC (LSE:VOD) investors still have no clearer picture of how the business will look once the widespread restructuring underway settles down.
A planned merger in the UK with Hutchison’s 3 has, as was widely expected, got stuck in the weeds of a regulatory investigation.
Iliad’s second offer to merge the two companies’ Italian businesses, meanwhile, was rejected with little else than a vague suggestion Swisscom might also be interested.
One deal that does seem to be going ahead is the disposal of the Spanish operation to Zegona, which received approval from the authorities in Europe and Spain this week.
Now widely regarded as the Vodafone telecoms investment trust (on a huge discount), analysts predict next week’s third-quarter update will again contain a lot of good intentions, minimal revenue growth and any (underlying) earnings improvement to come from self-help measures.
First-half results from the company showed revenue shrank 4% to €21.9 billion due to currency swings and disposals.
Interim operating profit tumbled 44% to €1.66 billion and, at the pre-tax line, it swung to a loss of €155 million from a €1.2 billion profit a year ago.