Vodafone Group on Tuesday said Chief Executive Arun Sarin will step down after five years at the helm and be succeeded by his deputy Vittorio Colao, as the world's top mobile operator reported a record profit of over $13 billion. Vodafone said it swung to a profit of 6.66 billion pounds ($13.2 billion) in the year to March 31, compared to a loss of 5.43 billion pounds posted a year earlier, when it wrote down the value of operations in Germany. Revenue rose 14 percent to 35.48 billion pounds as strong growth in emerging markets helped offset organic growth of just 2 percent in Europe, where voice price per minute continued to decline. Data revenue jumped 41 percent on an organic basis to 2.2 billion pounds, driven by strong growth in business email and PC connecting cards. Analysts polled by FactSet Research had expected a profit of 6.26 billion pounds on revenue of 35.32 billion pounds. Foreign-exchange rates had a “huge” impact on the results, Chief Financial Officer Andy Halford told analysts on a conference call. Currency fluctuations added about 950 million pounds to revenue and 70 million pounds to operating profit. Vodafone reports results in British pounds but generates 60 percent of its profit in regions where the euro is the main currency. The euro appreciated about 10 percent against the pound in the reporting period. At the end of March, Vodafone had 260 million subscribers, including 44 million in India, up 26 percent from last year. Looking to next year, the operator expects an adjusted operating profit of between 11 billion and 11.5 billion pounds, even though it said operating conditions are likely to remain “challenging” in Europe because of ongoing pricing and regulatory pressures and the slowing economic environment. “I feel that I have accomplished what I set out to achieve, particularly in developing and implementing a new strategy.” Revenue is seen in a range of 39.8 billion to 40.7 billion pounds, helped by fixed broadband and emerging-market growth. Vodafone will pay an annual dividend of 7.51 pence a share, up 11 percent.
