Vodafone looses 14.9 Billion pounds (pre tax)

Dellas

SkyNews is reporting this morning that VF has lost 14.9 Billion pounds and it is to shed 400 jobs in the UK. I wonder how they could have lost so much!!!!

Hagar

How indeed!
The grip they have on the market is almost a licence to print money. What did they do? Mis-print it.?

MiCr0

yep
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/5028718.stm

Mobile operator Vodafone made a £14.9bn ($27.9bn) loss last year - a record for a British company - after it wrote down the value of key assets.

It incurred one-off costs of more than £23.5bn after writing down the value of German business Mannesmann, which it bought in 2000.

Vodafone said its overall performance had exceeded expectations, after it added 21 million new customers.

But the firm is cutting 400 jobs as it seeks to reduce costs aggressively.

Excluding one-off charges relating to the recalculation of its assets, Vodafone made a profit of £8.7bn over the past twelve months, compared with £7.8bn in the previous year.

Pressure growing

Vodafone warned earlier this year that its assets may be worth up to £28bn less than previously calculated and that it would be overhauling its operations in an effort to boost its growth.

Sales have been under pressure over the past year as the firm came up against tougher competition.


Vodafone has met or exceeded expectations, outperforming its competitors in an increasingly challenging marketplace
Arun Sarin, Vodafone chief executive

It decided to sell its Japanese business for £8.9bn after failing to make headway in the market there.

However, it saw continued growth in other key markets such as Germany, Italy, Spain and the United States.

Vodafone said its business was fundamentally healthy but that it needed to do more to meet customer demands for new products.

"Vodafone has met or exceeded expectations, outperforming its competitors in an increasingly challenging marketplace," said chief executive Arun Sarin.

New focus

A new strategic focus will see Vodafone concentrate on growing sales in emerging countries such as India, reducing costs in more mature European markets and seeking to be more innovative.

Mr Sarin has been under pressure from investors as the firm's previously buoyant sales growth has slowed.

He has sought to stamp his authority over the company by restructuring the firm's senior management and pulling out of markets such as Japan where Vodafone's position was uncompetitive.

BuffyBot

The grip they have on the market is almost a licence to print money. What did they do? Mis-print it.?

They're not talking about Vodafone in Ireland specifically. VF have had a pretty disastrous time in Japan, and have sold on Vodafone K.K. to cut their losses in that market. While they undoubtedly do well here and in the UK, not all their international ventures work out as well.