By Najat Kantouar


Vodafone Group said revenue rose in its fiscal third quarter, driven by solid service revenue growth, and that it would buy back up to 500 million euros ($590.4 million) in shares.

The London-listed telecommunications company said Thursday that revenue for the three months through Dec. 31 rose to 10.45 billion euros from 9.81 billion euros for the same period a year earlier. The increase reflected robust service revenue growth, mainly driven by continued strong growth in Africa and the consolidation of Three UK and Telekom Romania assets, it said.

Analysts polled by Visible Alpha had forecast revenue of 10.76 billion euros.

Service revenue--a closely watched metric in the industry--increased to 8.51 billion euros from 7.93 billion euros.

On an organic basis, Germany service revenue grew 0.7%, driven by higher wholesale revenue. U.K. service revenue fell 0.5%, reflecting the previously flagged prior year one-off project revenue in business segment, it said.

Vodafone reiterated its fiscal 2026 guidance as it continues to expect performance at the upper end of its forecast ranges. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization and after lease expenses is projected at between 11.3 billion and 11.6 billion euros, while adjusted free cash flow is expected at between 2.4 billion and 2.6 billion euros.


Write to Najat Kantouar at najat.kantouar@wsj.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

02-05-26 0313ET