Vodafone’s had an operating loss of €951 million, driven by impairments totalling €3.5 billion in Spain, Romania and Vodafone Idea, its Indian joint venture Mukesh Gupta/ReutersVodafone has slashed its dividend as the telecoms group seeks to ease its towering debt pile. The FTSE 100 telecoms group said in its full-year results this morning that increased competition in Italy and Spain, where it has been battling a price war, and the costs of spectrum auctions had reduced its “financial headroom”. Vodafone is also in the process of completing the €18.4 billion takeover of Liberty Global’s business in Germany, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Romania, one of its biggest deals. Nick Read, who was promoted to chief executive in May, succeeding Vittorio Colao, the long-standing boss, had resisted cutting the dividend in November at the half-year results. Concerns about the weakness of the dividend have weighed on Vodafone’s share price, although City…

Source: The Times May 14, 2019 08:03 UTC