Vodafone has doubled its dividend to 1.91 pence and extended a full-year share buy-back programme to about £4 billion sterling after strong underlying half-year results.
Vodafone, the world's largest mobile phone company by revenue, said it also expected to double its final dividend as it extended its £3 billion share repurchase scheme by around £1 billion in the year to March 2005.
Given Vodafone's relatively low debt, robust cash generation, scant major acquisitions in the short-term and repeated company pledges to increase shareholder returns, most analysts had forecast a 75-100 per cent half-year dividend rise.
However, the sale of its Japanese fixed-line arm and adverse currency effects helped push headline consolidated core earnings 6 per cent lower to £6.505 billion on revenues of £16.796 billion, in line with expectations.
Vodafone said it had won 7.4 million new customers in the first half on an organic basis, propelling its subscriber base to 146.7 million.
Half-year EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) forecasts had ranged from £6.3 billion to £6.65 billion on revenues of £16.5 billion to £17.001 billion, according to analysts.