Form 6-K

 

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549

 

Report of Foreign Private Issuer

 

Pursuant to Rules 13a-16 or 15d-16 of

the Securities Exchange Act of 1934

 

Dated July 28, 2003

 

VODAFONE GROUP

PUBLIC LIMITED COMPANY

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

 

 

VODAFONE HOUSE, THE CONNECTION,
NEWBURY, BERKSHIRE, RG14 2FN, ENGLAND
(Address of principal executive offices)

 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant files or will file annual reports under cover Form 20-F or Form 40-F.

 

Form 20-F ý         Form 40-F o

 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant by furnishing the information contained in this Form is also thereby furnishing the information to the Commission pursuant to Rule 12g3-2(b) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

 

Yes o                             No ý

 

If “Yes” is marked, indicate below the file number assigned to the registrant in connection with Rule 12g3-2(b): 82

 

 

                This Report on Form 6-K contains a press release issued by Vodafone Group Plc on July 28, 2003, entitled “Vodafone Announces Strong First Quarter Performance”

 

28 July 2003

VODAFONE ANNOUNCES STRONG FIRST QUARTER PERFORMANCE

 

Vodafone Group Plc (“Vodafone”) announces today key performance indicators for the quarter ended 30 June 2003.  The main highlights are:

 

•                  Increase in proportionate customer base to 122.7 million, including 2.5 million organic net additions in the quarter

 

•                  Blended annual ARPU up €4 to €351 in Italy, up £5 to £297 in the UK, stable at €313 in Germany and down ¥976 at ¥86,183 in Japan, compared to March 2003

 

•                  Data revenue increased to 15.0% of controlled service revenues for the year to June 2003

 

•                  Vodafone live! customers at end of June of 1.75 million, with over 580,000 in Germany, over 420,000 in the UK and over 300,000 in Italy

 

•                  Vodafone Mobile Connect Card sales over 80,000 at the end of June and over 100,000 today

 

Sir Christopher Gent, Chief Executive of Vodafone, commented: “These figures demonstrate continued strong operational performance and are in line with or slightly better than our expectations when we provided our outlook for the financial year.  In particular, we are well on track to achieve more than 10% growth in average proportionate customers and a similar growth in revenues.  We are also encouraged with the progress of Vodafone live! where today we have more than 2 million customers and expect further adoption and usage from the forthcoming wider range of lower priced handsets.”

 

Customer Growth

 

In total, 3 million registered proportionate customers were added in the quarter, including over 0.5 million from stake changes.  The total proportionate base has increased to 122.7 million, up over 18% on June last year.

 

 

 

Proportionate net additions in Germany of 321,000 and in Italy of 136,000 demonstrate a strong competitive performance in those markets.  Following the Competition Commission’s ruling, Vodafone UK reduced contract subsidies and increased prepay tariffs, which resulted in net additions of 13,000.  In the UK, the acquisition of Cellular Operations has increased the proportion of contract customers directly managed by Vodafone from 57% to 63%.

 

Active customers in the Group’s controlled businesses were unchanged at 93% of total customers.

 

Registered Blended ARPU

 

Blended ARPU in the UK increased to £297 for the year to June 2003, up from £292 for the year to March 2003, with both prepay and contract ARPU improving as a result of increased usage as well as tariff changes in prepay.

 

In Italy, blended ARPU increased from €347 to €351, driven by an increased focus on higher value customers, particularly in the corporate segment.  Blended ARPU in Germany remained stable at €313 reflecting the continuing popularity amongst new customers of lower usage, but lower subsidy, contract tariffs.

 

In Japan, blended ARPU continues to reduce as expected, in part due to the success of the prepay offering as well as penetration in the Japanese market surpassing 60%.

 

Data as a percentage of service revenues

 

For the Group’s controlled operations, data as a percentage of service revenues continues to grow, increasing to 15% for the year to June 2003, up from 14.6% for the year to March.  Data in the month of June 2003 was 15.3%, up from 14% in June 2002.

 

- ends -

 

For further information:

Vodafone Group

Tim Brown, Group Corporate Affairs Director

Tel:  +44 (0) 1635 673310

Investor Relations

Melissa Stimpson

Darren Jones

Tel:  +44 (0) 1635 673310

Media Relations

Bobby Leach

Ben Padovan

Tel:  +44 (0) 1635 673310

Tavistock Communications

Lulu Bridges

John West

Tel:  +44 (0) 20 7600 2288

 

 

Cautionary note regarding forward looking statements

 

This release contains certain “forward-looking statements” with respect to the Group’s expectations regarding customer and revenue growth and the usage of our service offerings.  By their nature, forward-looking statements are inherently predictive, speculative and involve risk and uncertainty because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that will occur in the future.  There are a number of factors that could cause actual results and developments to differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements.  Some of the factors which may cause actual results to differ from these forward-looking statements can be found by referring to Risk Factors and Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward Looking Statements in our Annual Report and Accounts on Form 20-F for the year ended 31 March 2003.

VODAFONE GROUP PLC — MOBILE TELECOMMUNICATIONS BUSINESSES

PROPORTIONATE NET CUSTOMERS — 1 APRIL 2003 TO 30 JUNE 2003

				CUSTOMER BASE
COUNTRY(1)		PERCENTAGE OWNERSHIP(2)		AT 1 APRIL 2003		NET ADDITIONS		STAKE CHANGES(3)		AT 30 JUNE 2003		PREPAID(4)
		(%)		(000s)		(000s)		(000s)		(000s)		(%)
NORTHERN EUROPE
UK		100.0	%	13,300		13		—		13,313		59	%
Ireland		100.0	%	1,740		25		—		1,765		71	%
Netherlands		99.8	%	3,183		45		84		3,312		58	%
Sweden		99.1	%	1,313		18		—		1,331		30	%
Others				6,909		99		—		7,008		51	%
TOTAL				26,445		200		84		26,729		55	%
CENTRAL EUROPE
Germany		100.0	%	22,940		321		—		23,261		53	%
Hungary		87.9	%	799		109		44		952		87	%
Others				1,858		—		—		1,858		45	%
TOTAL				25,597		430		44		26,071		52	%
SOUTHERN EUROPE
Italy		76.8	%	14,908		136		—		15,044		92	%
Albania		83.0	%	322		39		3		364		97	%
Greece		65.4	%	2,166		159		48		2,373		71	%
Malta		80.0	%	130		(4	)	—		126		91	%
Portugal		100.0	%	2,912		42		175		3,129		73	%
Spain		100.0	%	9,096		88		—		9,184		57	%
Others				537		15		—		552		64	%
TOTAL				30,071		475		226		30,772		78	%
AMERICAS
United States(5)		44.3	%	14,792		540		—		15,332		7	%
Others(6)				703		(28	)	—		675		83	%
TOTAL				15,495		512		—		16,007		11	%
ASIA PACIFIC
Japan		69.7	%	9,702		333		—		10,035		7	%
Australia		100.0	%	2,564		29		—		2,593		52	%
New Zealand		100.0	%	1,289		60		—		1,349		78	%
Others(6)				4,129		179		—		4,308		61	%
TOTAL				17,684		601		—		18,285		56	%
MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA
Egypt		67.0	%	1,358		86		165		1,609		83	%
Others				3,059		154		—		3,213		87	%
TOTAL				4,417		240		165		4,822		86	%
GROUP TOTAL				119,709		2,458		519		122,686		54	%

(1)                                  All countries now operate under the Vodafone brand with the exception of the United States (Verizon Wireless) and Japan (J-Phone Vodafone).

 

(2)                                  All ownership percentages are stated as at 30 June 2003 and, subject to (6) below, exclude options, warrants or other rights or obligations of Vodafone Group Plc to increase or decrease ownership in any venture.  Ownership interests have been rounded to the nearest tenth of one percent.

 

(3)                                  Represents stake increases in Vodafone Netherlands from 97.2% to 99.8%, Vodafone Hungary from 83.8% to 87.9%, Vodafone Greece from 64.0% to 65.4%, Vodafone Portugal from 94.4% to 100.0%, Vodafone Albania from 82.4% to 83.0% and Vodafone Egypt from 60.0% to 67.0%.

 

(4)                                  Prepaid customer percentages are calculated on a venture basis.  At 30 June 2003, there were 305.2 million total venture customers.

 

(5)                                  The Group’s proportionate customer base has been adjusted for Verizon Wireless’s proportionate ownership of its customer base across all its network interests of approximately 98.4% at 30 June 2003.  In the absence of acquired interests, this proportionate ownership will vary slightly from quarter to quarter dependent on the underlying mix of net additions across each of these networks.

 

(6)                                  At 30 June 2003, the Group had agreed to sell, subject to conditions, its 34.5% stake in Group Iusacell, S.A. de C.V. (Mexico) and its 20.8% interest in RPG Cellular Services (India). Group total proportionate customers at 30 June 2003 includes 675,000 and 37,000 proportionate customers respectively for these markets.

VODAFONE GROUP PLC — MOBILE TELECOMMUNICATIONS BUSINESSES

CONTROLLED ACTIVE CUSTOMER INFORMATION AS AT 30 JUNE 2003

		CONTROLLED ACTIVE(1)
COUNTRY		PREPAID(%)		CONTRACT(%)		TOTAL(%)
NORTHERN EUROPE
UK		88	%	95	%	91	%
Ireland		100	%	100	%	100	%
Netherlands		92	%	99	%	95	%
Sweden		97	%	95	%	95	%
TOTAL		91	%	96	%	93	%
CENTRAL EUROPE
Germany		91	%	94	%	93	%
Hungary†		88	%	97	%	89	%
TOTAL		91	%	94	%	92	%
SOUTHERN EUROPE
Italy		94	%	93	%	93	%
Albania		94	%	96	%	94	%
Greece		73	%	95	%	79	%
Malta		99	%	98	%	99	%
Portugal		83	%	99	%	87	%
Spain		92	%	94	%	93	%
TOTAL		91	%	95	%	91	%
ASIA PACIFIC
Japan(2)		N/A		N/A		98	%
Australia		92	%	92	%	92	%
New Zealand		97	%	100	%	97	%
TOTAL		94	%	93	%	97	%
MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA
Egypt†		97	%	100	%	97	%
TOTAL		97	%	100	%	97	%
CONTROLLED GROUP TOTAL		91	%	95	%	93	%

 

CONTROLLED ACTIVE CUSTOMER INFORMATION — HISTORY

		CONTROLLED ACTIVE CUSTOMERS AS AT
COUNTRY		JUNE 2002(%)		SEPTEMBER 2002(%)		DECEMBER 2002(%)		MARCH 2003(%)		JUNE 2003(%)
Germany		92		92		92		92		93
Italy		93		94		95		95		93
Japan		99		99		99		98		98
UK		91		93		92		91		91
Controlled Total		93		94		94		93		93

(1)                                  Active customers are defined as customers who have made or received a chargeable event in the last three months or, where information is not available, defined as customers who have made a chargeable event in the last three months (indicated by †).

 

(2)                                  Customer activity information for Japan is only available on a total customer basis.

 

 

VODAFONE GROUP PLC — MOBILE TELECOMMUNICATIONS BUSINESSES

MONTHLY REGISTERED BLENDED ARPU FOR THE 15 MONTHS TO 30 JUNE 2003

Country				Apr		May		Jun		Jul		Aug		Sep		Oct		Nov		Dec		Jan		Feb		Mar		Apr		May		Jun
Germany		EUR		25.2		26.5		26.5		27.9		27.7		26.8		27.4		25.4		25.4		25.6		23.2		25.8		25.4		26.2		26.1
Italy		EUR		27.9		29.4		28.9		31.9		28.6		29.0		29.3		28.0		29.5		29.3		26.5		29.1		29.4		30.1		30.7
Japan		JPY		7,310		7,400		7,160		7,670		7,410		7,180		7,350		7,120		7,360		7,120		6,840		7,270		7,050		7,040		6,850
UK(1)		GBP		22.9		24.6		22.7		24.9		24.7		24.9		25.5		24.3		23.5		24.7		23.4		25.6		24.4		25.2		25.5

 

ARPU INFORMATION FOR THE 12 MONTH PERIOD TO 30 JUNE 2003

		ARPU(2)
COUNTRY		CURRENCY		REGISTERED PREPAID		REGISTERED CONTRACT		REGISTERED TOTAL
NORTHERN EUROPE
UK(1)		GBP		128		533		297
Ireland		EUR		345		1,098		565
Netherlands		EUR		176		871		449
Sweden		SEK		915		6,138		4,610
CENTRAL EUROPE
Germany		EUR		131		509		313
Hungary		HUF		43,263		175,307		58,300
SOUTHERN EUROPE
Italy		EUR		302		833		351
Malta		MTL		89		903		155
Portugal		EUR		179		682		324
Spain		EUR		159		630		368
ASIA PACIFIC
Japan		JPY		N/A		N/A		86,183
Australia		AUD		295		874		607
New Zealand		NZD		319		1,866		666
MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA
Egypt		EGP		677		2,899		1,025

 

ARPU — HISTORY

				REGISTERED TOTAL ARPU FOR THE 12 MONTH PERIOD TO
COUNTRY		CURRENCY		JUNE 2002		SEPTEMBER 2002		DECEMBER 2002		MARCH 2003		JUNE 2003
Germany		EUR		302		308		312		313		313
Italy		EUR		345		345		347		347		351
Japan		JPY		90,302		89,193		88,238		87,159		86,183
UK(1)		GBP		278		282		287		292		297

(1)                                  During the period from 1 October 2002 to 31 March 2003, Vodafone UK operated under interim commercial terms with one of its service providers. Final terms were agreed in April 2003. Recognising revenues on a consistent basis during the interim period to the bases before and after this period would result in additional service revenues of £74 million. For consistency and comparability purposes, these revenues have been included in the calculation of UK ARPU but have been excluded from Group turnover in accordance with UK GAAP.

 

                                                The impact of the inclusion of these amounts has been to increase ARPU for the 12 months to 31 December 2002, 31 March 2003 and 30 June 2003 from £284, £286 and £291 to £287, £292 and £297 respectively.

 

(2)                                  ARPU is calculated as total revenues excluding handset revenues and connection fees divided by the weighted average number of customers during the period.

 

VODAFONE GROUP PLC — MOBILE TELECOMMUNICATIONS BUSINESSES

NON-VOICE SERVICES AS A PERCENTAGE OF SERVICE REVENUES

PROPORTIONATE BASIS
		12 MONTHS TO 30 JUNE 2003						JUNE 2003 (MONTH ONLY)
COUNTRY		MESSAGING		DATA		TOTAL		MESSAGING		DATA		TOTAL
NORTHERN EUROPE
UK(1)		13.6	%	1.1	%	14.7	%	13.2	%	1.4	%	14.6	%
Others		9.8	%	0.6	%	10.4	%	9.6	%	0.9	%	10.5	%
TOTAL		11.8	%	0.9	%	12.7	%	11.3	%	1.1	%	12.4	%
CENTRAL EUROPE
Germany		15.8	%	0.9	%	16.7	%	15.8	%	1.1	%	16.9	%
Others		8.9	%	1.4	%	10.3	%	9.8	%	1.7	%	11.5	%
TOTAL		15.0	%	1.0	%	16.0	%	15.0	%	1.2	%	16.2	%
SOUTHERN EUROPE
Italy		11.2	%	0.6	%	11.8	%	11.8	%	0.7	%	12.5	%
Others		9.5	%	0.4	%	9.9	%	9.7	%	0.6	%	10.3	%
TOTAL		10.4	%	0.5	%	10.9	%	10.7	%	0.7	%	11.4	%
AMERICAS
United States		0.6	%	0.8	%	1.4	%	0.8	%	0.9	%	1.7	%
Others		0.1	%	—		0.1	%	0.1	%	—		0.1	%
TOTAL		0.6	%	0.8	%	1.4	%	0.8	%	0.9	%	1.7	%
ASIA PACIFIC
Japan		7.5	%	13.4	%	20.9	%	7.6	%	14.2	%	21.8	%
Others		9.6	%	0.8	%	10.4	%	11.4	%	1.3	%	12.7	%
TOTAL		8.0	%	10.6	%	18.6	%	8.5	%	11.3	%	19.8	%
MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA		3.9	%	—		3.9	%	4.6	%	—		4.6	%
PROPORTIONATE GROUP TOTAL		9.2	%	2.5	%	11.7	%	9.5	%	2.6	%	12.1	%
STATUTORY BASIS
CONTROLLED GROUP TOTAL		11.3	%	3.7	%	15.0	%	11.5	%	3.8	%	15.3	%

 

NON-VOICE SERVICES AS A PERCENTAGE OF SERVICE REVENUES - HISTORY

		12 MONTHS TO										JUNE 2003 (MONTH ONLY)
COUNTRY		JUN 2002		SEP 2002		DEC 2002		MAR 2003		JUN 2003		JUN 2002		SEP 2002		DEC 2002		MAR 2003		JUN 2003
Germany		14.8	%	15.4	%	16.1	%	16.4	%	16.7	%	15.6	%	16.2	%	19.2	%	16.6	%	16.9	%
Italy		9.4	%	10.1	%	10.7	%	11.3	%	11.8	%	10.4	%	10.4	%	12.9	%	11.8	%	12.5	%
Japan		16.6	%	18.1	%	19.3	%	20.3	%	20.9	%	19.9	%	20.2	%	20.6	%	21.7	%	21.8	%
UK(1)		12.6	%	13.2	%	13.9	%	14.4	%	14.7	%	14.3	%	13.8	%	16.0	%	15.2	%	14.6	%
Proportionate Total		9.5	%	10.1	%	10.7	%	11.3	%	11.7	%	10.9	%	10.9	%	12.5	%	12.3	%	12.1	%
Statutory Total		12.1	%	13.2	%	13.9	%	14.6	%	15.0	%	14.0	%	14.3	%	16.0	%	15.6	%	15.3	%

(1)                                  During the period from 1 October 2002 to 31 March 2003, Vodafone UK operated under interim commercial terms with one of its service providers. Final terms were agreed in April 2003. Recognising revenues on a consistent basis during the interim period to the bases before and after this period would result in additional service revenues of £74 million. For consistency and comparability purposes, these revenues have been included in the calculation of non-voice services as a percentage of service revenues. The impact of the inclusion of these amounts was to decrease UK non-voice services as a percentage of service revenues for the months of December 2002 and March 2003 from 16.1% and 15.3% to 16.0% and 15.2% respectively.

 

 

SIGNATURES

 

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorised.

 

	VODAFONE GROUP PUBLIC LIMITED COMPANY (Registrant)
Dated: July 28, 2003	By:  /s/ S R SCOTT Name: Stephen R. Scott Title: Company Secretary