Vodafone posts £13.5bn pre-tax loss

Vodafone this morning posted a massive £13.5bn pre-tax loss, thought to be the biggest in UK corporate history.

The loss, which equates to £37m a day, was a result of paying over the odds for acquisitions made during the telecoms boom.

The company said the acquisitions in question were those of Japan Telecom and J-Phone and its £113bn takeover of German industrial group Mannesmann two years ago.

But it was not all bad news. Vodafone reported that proportionate revenues increased by 44 per cent to just over £10m.

The company's profit for the year ending 31 March before tax and one-off costs was £6.12bn, compared with £4.03bn a year earlier.

Turnover rose 52 per cent to £22.85bn, and Vodafone's full-year dividend was up five per cent to 1.47p per share.

The company also said it had seen continued growth in its customer base with a 22 per cent increase in proportionate registered customers to 101 million.

Chief executive Sir Christopher Gent was upbeat. "The past year has seen the group successfully execute its adjusted strategy, delivering very strong operational performance and exceptional financial results, including the generation of substantial free cashflow," he said.

Gent added that in the current year he envisaged net customer growth of just below 10 per cent, allowing for the expected disconnection of non-revenue generating handsets, and a "modest but real" improvement in average revenue-per-user in most of the company's major European markets.

"This combination should lead to double-digit revenue growth," he explained. "We have every confidence in the continued growth potential of the business.

"This year will see many exciting new developments which will sustain the long-term growth of Vodafone in the years to come."