2023-05-16 11:37:42 ET
Vodafone ( NASDAQ: VOD ) slipped 7.8% Tuesday morning, and inched close to a 52-week low, after earnings where the company offered downbeat full-year guidance on profits and cash flows, and its new CEO set up a plan to cut 11,000 jobs.
Revenues ticked up only slightly (to €45.7B) amid weakness in a number of European markets (Germany, Italy and the UK). And a drop in core income led to a full-year decline of nearly 4% on that measure.
It also forecast fiscal 2024 earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (after leases) that would be "broadly flat" around €13.3B, and adjusted free cash flow around €3.3B.
Vodafone ( VOD ) had fallen short of its own 2023 guidance for adjusted EBITDA post-leases, reporting €14.7B vs. a forecast of €15.0B-€15.2B. (It was a miss even equalizing for currency changes, at €14.9B.)
Free cash flow for 2023 fell short as reported -- €4.8B vs. a forecast of €5.1B -- but adjusting for currency, 2023 free cash flow would have been €5.3B.
Meanwhile, the company will shed jobs at a faster rate: some 11,000 cuts in the coming three years, with "both HQ and local markets simplification."
Margherita Della Valle -- who took over the top job in January -- said "My priorities are customers, simplicity and growth. We will simplify our organization , cutting out complexity to regain our competitiveness."
For more detail, dig into the company's earnings call presentation and Seeking Alpha's transcript of Vodafone's earnings call .
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Vodafone falls amid downbeat guidance, heavier job cuts