(VOD.L) Vodafone Group PLC Buy/Sell

RNS Number : 0332V Vodafone Group Plc 03 July 2009

VODAFONE GROUP PLC

TRANSACTION IN OWN SECURITIES

Vodafone Group Plc ("Vodafone") announces today that it has transferred to participants in its employee share schemes the following number of its ordinary shares of U.S.$0.113/7 each, which were previously held as treasury shares.

Ordinary Shares
Date of transfer: 2 July 2009

Number of ordinary shares transferred: 255,719
Highest transfer price per share: 117.2p
Lowest transfer price per share: 117.2p

Following the above transfer, Vodafone holds 5,316,261,733 of its ordinary shares in treasury and has 52,490,430,888 ordinary shares in issue (excluding treasury shares).

This announcement does not constitute, or form part of, an offer or any solicitation of an offer for securities in any jurisdiction.

This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

POSSSAFDESUSELW

By Nicola Leske, European Telecoms Correspondent

BERLIN, July 2 (Reuters) - Deutsche Telekom is working feverishly to overhaul its struggling UK T-Mobile unit but will part company with the business if one of a range of possible bidders makes a good offer.
"If the price is right, T-Mobile will be sold," a person familiar with Deutsche Telekom's thinking said on Thursday.
Media reports peg the selling price of the unit, which has lost customers for three quarters, at around 3 billion euros ($4.23 billion).
Deutsche Telekom has said its priority is to get the business working well.
"The main task...is to strictly focus on repositioning the business in the difficult economic environment," it said in April after it cut its full-year targets.
The target revision was partly due to its UK business, which generated first-quarter sales of 836 million euros ($1.18 billion), a decline of 21 percent and less than a fifth of the group's total revenue of 5 billion euros.
After the UK arm took an impairment writedown of 1.8 billion euros ($2.52 billion) in the first quarter, D.Telekom said it was open to all options, but a person familiar with the situation told Reuters on Monday no decision was imminent.
Still, the figures underline the need for an urgent fix: T-Mobile UK's operating margin is around 14 percent, significantly below the 31-percent average of Deutsche Telekom's mobile businesses in other countries.
T-Mobile has put out feelers to the operators to gauge their reaction, people familiar with the situation have said.
Industry watchers say Telefonica's O2, the market leader with a 27 percent share, is monitoring the situation closely but has not held talks on a deal.
Thomas Friedrich, a telecom analyst at UniCredit, said "the idea of a potentially defensive move by O2 made sense".
But he also said a joint venture between Deutsche Telekom and France Telecom was possible in light of several deals the two companies had made in the past over assets in Spain and the Netherlands.
So far, France Telecom, the owner of the third-biggest British operator Orange, has said publicly that it is not interested in buying T-Mobile UK, but industry insiders point out that that would not rule out a joint venture or partnership.
Vodafone has declined to comment on its interest in T-Mobile but people familiar with the situation have said the British group's interest in T-Mobile depends on how well it can retain T-Mobile's customers in the event of a purchase.
However, a buy by Vodafone could result in some regulatory concerns and questions on what would happen to Vodafone's network-sharing deal with O2, analysts said.

T-Mobile UK's new managing director, Richard Moat, appointed to turn the business around, started work this week, and the Telekom has has said there are "various cost-cutting measures being planned at T-Mobile UK, particularly in the areas of administration, advertising and technology".
T-Mobile lags its bigger rivals in most key performance indicators: average monthly revenue per user (ARPU) at T-Mobile is 19 pounds, much lower than O2's ARPU of 26.6 pounds. Orange and Vodafone generated 22.6 and 20.8 pounds in ARPU respectively.
It also has fewer post-paid customers than its bigger rivals and its churn -- customers switching to other operators -- is much higher.
Jochen Reichert at SES Research said part of the reason T-Mobile was doing so poorly was because it had less business customers and more prepaid customers due to Virgin Mobile, which uses T-Mobile's network capacity.
Its only advantage was a network-sharing deal with Britain's smallest operator 3, owned by Hutchison Whampoa, which allowed it to offer 3G network coverage of almost 100 percent, Reichert said.
Most analysts agree that a sale of T-Mobile UK would be beneficial for the British mobile market, which is crowded with five competing operators, resulting in ever-declining margins.
But Daiwa analyst Michael Kovacocy said the best outcome for the industry would be to let T-Mobile UK improve under its new management and then let T-Mobile acquire or partner with the smallest operator 3, owned by Hutchison Whampoa.
They already have a joint venture and a more formal partnership would allow T-Mobile UK to save costs elsewhere, and such a deal would also not trouble the regulator.
(Reporting by Nicola Leske in Berlin, Kate Holton in London, Nikola Rotscheroth in Duesseldorf)
(Editing by Sitaraman Shankar) ($1=.7087 Euro) Keywords: DEUTSCHETELEKOM/T MOBILEUK . Keywords: DEUTSCHETELEKOM/T MOBILEUK

(nicola.leske@thomsonreuters.com; +49 69 7565 1214; Reuters Messaging: nicola.leske.reuters.com@reuters.net)

COPYRIGHT

Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.

By Nicola Leske, European Telecoms Correspondent

BERLIN, July 2 (Reuters) - Deutsche Telekom is working feverishly to overhaul its struggling UK T-Mobile unit but will part company with the business if one of a range of possible bidders makes a good offer.
"If the price is right, T-Mobile will be sold," a person familiar with Deutsche Telekom's thinking said on Thursday.
Media reports peg the selling price of the unit, which has lost customers for three quarters, at around 3 billion euros ($4.23 billion).
Deutsche Telekom has said its priority is to get the business working well.
"The main task...is to strictly focus on repositioning the business in the difficult economic environment," it said in April after it cut its full-year targets.
The target revision was partly due to its UK business, which generated first-quarter sales of 836 million euros ($1.18 billion), a decline of 21 percent and less than a fifth of the group's total revenue of 5 billion euros.
After the UK arm took an impairment writedown of 1.8 billion euros ($2.52 billion) in the first quarter, D.Telekom said it was open to all options, but a person familiar with the situation told Reuters on Monday no decision was imminent.
Still, the figures underline the need for an urgent fix: T-Mobile UK's operating margin is around 14 percent, significantly below the 31-percent average of Deutsche Telekom's mobile businesses in other countries.
T-Mobile has put out feelers to the operators to gauge their reaction, people familiar with the situation have said.
Industry watchers say Telefonica's O2, the market leader with a 27 percent share, is monitoring the situation closely but has not held talks on a deal.
Thomas Friedrich, a telecom analyst at UniCredit, said "the idea of a potentially defensive move by O2 made sense".
But he also said a joint venture between Deutsche Telekom and France Telecom was possible in light of several deals the two companies had made in the past over assets in Spain and the Netherlands.
So far, France Telecom, the owner of the third-biggest British operator Orange, has said publicly that it is not interested in buying T-Mobile UK, but industry insiders point out that that would not rule out a joint venture or partnership.
Vodafone has declined to comment on its interest in T-Mobile but people familiar with the situation have said the British group's interest in T-Mobile depends on how well it can retain T-Mobile's customers in the event of a purchase.
However, a buy by Vodafone could result in some regulatory concerns and questions on what would happen to Vodafone's network-sharing deal with O2, analysts said.

T-Mobile UK's new managing director, Richard Moat, appointed to turn the business around, started work this week, and the Telekom has has said there are "various cost-cutting measures being planned at T-Mobile UK, particularly in the areas of administration, advertising and technology".
T-Mobile lags its bigger rivals in most key performance indicators: average monthly revenue per user (ARPU) at T-Mobile is 19 pounds, much lower than O2's ARPU of 26.6 pounds. Orange and Vodafone generated 22.6 and 20.8 pounds in ARPU respectively.
It also has fewer post-paid customers than its bigger rivals and its churn -- customers switching to other operators -- is much higher.
Jochen Reichert at SES Research said part of the reason T-Mobile was doing so poorly was because it had less business customers and more prepaid customers due to Virgin Mobile, which uses T-Mobile's network capacity.
Its only advantage was a network-sharing deal with Britain's smallest operator 3, owned by Hutchison Whampoa, which allowed it to offer 3G network coverage of almost 100 percent, Reichert said.
Most analysts agree that a sale of T-Mobile UK would be beneficial for the British mobile market, which is crowded with five competing operators, resulting in ever-declining margins.
But Daiwa analyst Michael Kovacocy said the best outcome for the industry would be to let T-Mobile UK improve under its new management and then let T-Mobile acquire or partner with the smallest operator 3, owned by Hutchison Whampoa.
They already have a joint venture and a more formal partnership would allow T-Mobile UK to save costs elsewhere, and such a deal would also not trouble the regulator.
(Reporting by Nicola Leske in Berlin, Kate Holton in London, Nikola Rotscheroth in Duesseldorf)
(Editing by Sitaraman Shankar) ($1=.7087 Euro) Keywords: DEUTSCHETELEKOM/T MOBILEUK

(nicola.leske@thomsonreuters.com; +49 69 7565 1214; Reuters Messaging: nicola.leske.reuters.com@reuters.net)

COPYRIGHT

Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.

LONDON, July 2 (Reuters) - British telecoms and retail group Carphone Warehouse will offer contracts from Vodafone from next week in its 820 stores, ending a three-year stand-off, Vodafone said on Thursday.
Vodafone switched to an exclusive deal with Carphone rival Phones4U in 2006 in the hope it could pay lower sales commissions. The move knocked Carphone's shares at the time by a sixth.
It regained some contract business a few months after that announcement and Vodafone customers were able to upgrade phones and purchase pay-as-you-go handsets at Carphone Warehouse, but not to sign Vodafone contracts.
"We have always set out our stall to offer the widest possible choice of handsets, networks and tariffs," Carphone Chief Executive Charles Dunstone said in a statement.
"Our new agreement with Vodafone will bring exciting new products and services to our stores and gives our customers the best possible choice in the marketplace for their communication needs."
Vodafone also said on Thursday it was extending its partnership with Phones4U to a multi-year agreement covering both mobile phone and mobile broadband connections.
The company said it now would have a total of 1,650 Vodafone, Carphone Warehouse and Phones4U stores offering Vodafone contracts.
"It is clear that Vodafone's withdrawal from CPW did it no favours," Citigroup analysts said in a note.
"Its UK contract churn (of customers leaving) is now over 20 percent. Vodafone needs the help of this independent to drive share of gross connections up/churn down, in our view."
Carphone shares traded down 2 percent at 156.25 pence by 1335 GMT. Vodafone was down 2.7 percent at 116.25 pence, just below the FTSE 100 Index which was down 2.2 percent.

(Reporting by Victoria Bryan and Georgina Prodhan; Editing by Jon Loades-Carter) Keywords: CARPHONE VODAFONE/ (victoria.bryan@thomsonreuters.com; +44 207 542 9688; Reuters Messaging: victoria.bryan.thomsonreuters@reuters.net)

COPYRIGHT

Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.