Vodafone Group PLC (LSE:VOD) has kept its full-year outlook unchanged but halved its interim dividend as the processes to approve its major transactions in the UK and Italy rumble on.
The telecoms giant grew service revenue by 1.7% to €15.1 billion in the first half of the year, or 4.8% on an organic basis.
Service revenue in the second quarter of €7.64 billion was in line with expectations, despite a decline in Germany of 6.2%, worsening from the 1.5% in the first quarter.
The FTSE 100 group said this was as anticipated, primarily due to the impact of a law change that prohibits landlords from passing cable TV fees onto tenants in multi-dwelling units.
Excluding this impact, service revenue in Germany declined by 2.4% in Q2, again worse than the 0.3% fall in Q1, which was blamed on customers having left following price increases in the prior year.
Group adjusted earnings (EBITDAaL) grew 3.8% to €5.4 billion in the first half, in line with expectations.
The interim dividend was cut to 2.25 euro cents, down from 4.5 cents a year ago, while the second €500 million tranche of its last buyback is "almost complete".
Chief executive Margherita Della Valle said the deals to merge UK operations with Three and sell off Vodafone Italy are "nearing conclusion" and will complete the board's disposal programme to "reshape the group for growth".
She felt the group delivered a good performance across its markets, with the exception of Germany, where "we have been impacted as expected by the TV law change".
"I am confident that the actions we are taking will deliver growth for Vodafone this year and a further acceleration into FY26."