Results round-up

A strong performance in the fourth quarter helped Vodafone return to annual organic growth for the first time in eight years, with the final dividend also hiked 2% to celebrate completing its Project Spring investment programme.

Thanks to the best quarterly result in Europe for six years and acceleration in Africa, Middle East and Asia Pacific, organic service revenue grew 2.5% in the three months to 31 March, well ahead of the forecast 1.5%.

As it moves to reporting its finances in euros, group revenue hit €40.97bn, an organic increase of 2.3% over the year, with service revenue up 1.5% to €37.16bn.

Europe service revenues were down just 0.6% on an organic basis, helped by a 0.5% rise in the fourth quarter when AMAP surged 8.1% to deliver 6.9% growth for the full year.

For the full year, earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation climbed 2.5% to €11.6bn, which meant Vodafone returned to organic growth in both revenue and EBITDA for the first time since 2008.

At the pre-tax line there was a €3.82bn loss and a basic loss per share of 15.08p.

Adjusted earnings per share from continuing operations fell 9% to 5.04p and a proposed final dividend per share of 7.77p will give a total dividend per share of 11.45p.

Land Securities posted what it described as “strong” preliminary results on Tuesday, with asset values, revenue and earnings all increasing in the 12 months to 31 March.

The FTSE 100 commercial property firm reported a basic net asset value per share of 1,482p - up 10.3% - and an adjusted diluted net asset value per share of 1,434p - an increase of 10.9%.

Its revenue profit for the 12 months was £362.1m, a 10% increase, while the adjusted diluted earnings per share grew 10.1% to 45.7p.

At face value, the group’s valuation surplus dropped significantly to £907.4m from £2,036.9m.

When adjusted for net investment, however, the company says the combined portfolio’s increase in value over the year was 7%.

Profit before tax did dip, however, to £1,335.6m from £2,416.5m, and basic earnings per share dove to 169.4p from 306.1p.

"We are pleased to report a strong performance for the year,” said chief executive Robert Noel.

“Revenue profit and net asset value per share are up, lease terms are longer and, as planned, speculative development exposure and net debt are lower.

“Continued leasing momentum in our development programme combined with smart asset management and balance sheet discipline has put the business in a strong position,” he explained.

Noel said the company’s confidence was demonstrated by a proposed 9.9% increase to the dividend, and in London in particular, it was continuing to lease up its speculative development programme with more than 0.5m square feet of new lettings.