The Board intends to have a progressive dividend policy, and the decision on the level of dividend growth will be assessed annually at year-end. Going forwards, the interim dividend is expected to be 50% of the prior full year dividend. Consistent with this approach, the interim dividend for H1 FY20 has been set at 4.50 eurocents.
Other financial highlights include:
H1 organic service revenue up 0.3%* as Q2 returned to growth (Q1: -0.2%*, Q2: +0.7%*), supported by improvements in South Africa, Spain and Italy, with solid retail performance in Germany and strong commercial acceleration in the UK.
Organic adjusted EBITDA up 1.4%*, reflecting €0.2 billion operating expense savings in Europe and common functions.
Reported revenue increased by 0.4% to €21.9 billion, benefiting from the acquisition of Liberty Global's assets in Germany and Central & Eastern Europe.
Loss for the financial period of €1.9 billion primarily reflects losses in relation to Vodafone Idea post an adverse judgement against the industry by the Supreme Court in India.
