Vodafone has reported improved sales growth over the first quarter after increasing its prices.
This comes despite the operator losing customers in its biggest market Germany, where sales fell by 1.3% – still an improvement from the previous quarter.
In the UK, where the merger with Three UK was announced, there was a 5.7% increase in service revenue, driven by growth in consumer services.
Consolidating the two brands will create a combined brand value close to £4 billion, making it the most valuable telecoms brand in the UK.
The slight improvement is good news for new CEO Margherita Della Valle, who took on the role following Nick Read’s departure from the group.
Della Valle had previously served as CFO of the company, and Vodafone has moved swiftly to appoint Luka Mucic to the role.
Mucic was the CEO of SAP Se from 2014-2017 and its CFO from 2014-2023. During this time, he was responsible for SAP’s groupwide finance, legal, data protection, procurement, audit, risk management, security, IT and process management functions.
On the appointment, Della Valle said: “I am thrilled that Luka will be joining the Vodafone team. He has a strong track record of international leadership, corporate repositioning and value-creation.
“Luka is joining us at a critical time as we undertake the transformation of Vodafone.”
