Vodafone profits from mobile boom

The mobile telephones boom continued in the first half of the year. Vodafone added 372,000 net new subscribers, a 41 per cent improvement on the same period last year. The company warned that a shift from business customers to consumers would reduce average revenues per subscriber, but profits continued to rise. Pre-tax profits increased 12 per cent to pounds 208.1m in the six months to 30 September. Earnings per share rose by 12 per cent to 4.39p and the dividend increased by 20 per cent to 1.97p.

Investment column, page 26