Vodafone launches €500m share buyback

Vodafone has announced a share buyback programme of up €500m (£430m) to start on Wednesday and end no later than 29 November.

The telecoms firm said it has given a non-discretionary instruction to Goldman Sachs for the buyback, the sole purpose of which is to reduce share capital.

Vodafone announced in March that it was planning to return €2bn to shareholders in the next 12 months after the sale of its Spanish business to Zegona Communications.

At 1015 BST, the shares were up 2.1% at 71.90p.