LONDON (Thomson Financial) - The telecoms regulator on Thursday fined the Greek unit of UK mobile giant Vodafone 19.1 mln eur for violating network regulations in a wire-tapping scandal that rocked the country last year.

The fine is the second handed to Vodafone Hellas over the case after a 76 mln eur penalty levelled by Greece's communication privacy watchdog last December.

Some 100 Vodafone cellphones in February 2006 were found to have been compromised by an illicit network that tapped sets used by Greek Premier Costas Karamanlis, his wife and several ministers from June 2004 to March 2005.

The tapping used software slipped into Vodafone's network by unknown perpetrators to illegally activate an Ericsson-made module permitting call interception.

On Thursday, the national telecommunications regulator EETT accused Vodafone of breaching regulations on the protection of telecommunications privacy, network maintenance and quality, and consumer protection.

The company rejected last December's fine as 'illegal, unfair and baseless.'

A Greek parliament committee collecting evidence on the case last November noted the involvement of three employees of telecoms giants Ericsson Hellas and Vodafone Greece, identified only by their initials.

'The whole system could not operate without Ericsson know-how and without access from within (Vodafone),' the report said.

The Greek branch of Swedish telecom equipment giant Ericsson has also been fined 7.36 mln eur over the case.

The parliamentary committee did not rule out the involvement of other people operating outside Greece.

The Greek justice department has opened an investigation into the case but nobody has yet been charged.

Days before the affair came to light, a senior Vodafone expert was found hanged inside his home.

The death of Costas Tsalikidis, manager of Vodafone Greece's network planning section, was linked to the case and his family suspects he was murdered.

My Hargreaves Lansdown account in now showing the post VZ details :-

VZ @2,389.72

Cash @29.63

VOD @242.

Slimmer post-Verizon Vodafone becomes subject of fevered bid speculation - with AT&T top of the pile

Ever since tying up with Verizon forerunner Bell Atlantic Corporation in 1999, Vodafone has found itself at the centre of massive deal speculation. Investors and analysts wanted to know if, when and how it would sell or increase its 45 per cent stake in the Verizon Wireless business it had bought into.

Vittorio Colao, who has been chief executive of the global phone giant since 2008, must have thought that the nagging questions were finally behind him when last year he agreed to sell the stake in an £84billion mega-deal that completed yesterday.

But now rumour has made way for speculation, with another whopping deal said to be in the pipeline.

The Verizon sale sees Vodafone’s market value fall by around £52billion as cash and Verizon shares are dished out to the company’s investors.

Although Voda is still going to be worth in excess of £62billion – in the world of media giants, with pockets deeper than the Mariana Trench, this makes it a prime takeover bid, analysts say.

Share consolidation effective

Share consolidation effective and commencement of trading in consolidated shares

Further to the announcements on 19 and 21 February 2014, the 6 for 11 consolidation of the entire ordinary share capital of Vodafone Group Plc ("Vodafone") will become effective today and trading in the new ordinary shares is expected to commence at 8.00 a.m. today.*

Existing share certificates for Vodafone ordinary shares will no longer be valid as of 8.00 a.m. today. Shareholders who are eligible for the Vodafone Share Account ("VSA") and have not opted out of the VSA will receive a statement of ownership in due course. Shareholders who are not eligible for the VSA or who have opted out will receive new share certificates.

In conformity with Disclosure and Transparency Rule 5.6.1AR, Vodafone hereby notifies the market that, as at 8.00 a.m. today, Vodafone's issued and listed share capital will consist of 28,811,864,298 ordinary shares with a nominal value of 20 20/21 US cents each with voting rights, of which 2,373,727,362 ordinary shares will be held in Treasury.

Therefore, the total number of voting rights in Vodafone will be 26,438,136,936. This figure may be used by shareholders as the denominator for the calculations by which they will determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change to their interest in, Vodafone under the FCA's Disclosure and Transparency Rules.

In addition to these issued and listed ordinary shares, Vodafone has existing block listings with an outstanding balance of 93,251,236 ordinary shares with a nominal value of 113/7 US cents. Following the consolidation these block listings will be for 50,864,306 ordinary shares with a nominal value of 20 20/21 US cents.

Vodafone confirms that the ordinary shares held by its directors, persons discharging managerial responsibility and their connected persons will be consolidated with effect from 8.00 a.m. today, but that the relevant percentage interests in Vodafone on consolidation will remain the same.


Expected timetable of events:
Event
Time / Date
Verizon common shares credited to shareholders
From 8.00 a.m. on 24 February 2014
Payment of cash entitlements under the Return of Value
4 March 2014
Payment of fractional entitlements under the Return of Value
10 March 2014

Deutsche Bank Buy 249.65 258.00 255.00 Reiterates

I`ve had the sale of my Verizon shares added to my account yesterday but the total combined value of shares and cash is worth less than before the consolidation. With regards to the payment of cash entitlements on 4th & 10th March is there still some funds left to come? I lack a full understanding of this, if anyone can advise it would be appreciated?

Breakdown as follows :-

6 new VOD shares for every 11 'old' VOD shares.

For every 'old' VOD share, 30p in cash.

For every 'old' VOD share, 0.026 VZ shares.


So for every 1000 'old' VOD shares, you will now have :

545 new VOD shares.

26 VZ shares.

£300 cash (depending on exchange rates)

Hi skinny, thanks for the breakdown, that makes much more sense now. So when the 30p for each old share is paid my holding will be worth more than before the consolidation. Great news! Thanks again for making this clearer.

Network equipment vendor Nokia Solutions and Networks said Wednesday it has been awarded a five-year network upgrade contract with Vodafone PLC (VOD). NSN will modernize and expand its existing radio network.

Barclays sees several challenges ahead for Vodafone post-Verizon Wireless, not least increasingly tough European mobile trends for the group and how it can make best use of its underleveraged balance sheet.

More intriguingly, there is the ongoing press speculation that a bid by AT&T is looming for the UK mobile giant.

After considering the potential impact on Vodafone of these challenges, Barclays analyst Maurice Patrick and his team see the balance of risk for the stock skewed to the upside, especially with regards to the AT&T scenario given historical M&A precedents.

Patrick notes that Vodafone’s European mobile service revenues fell a hefty 7.8% in the third quarter and that the group is underperforming its peers on this front. He anticipates an improvement in underlying trends in 2015, due partly to easier comparatives, but cautions that “fundamentals her e remain tough due to challenging macro conditions and competition”.

Project Spring, Vodafone's ambitious multi-billion pound network investment initiative – much of it aimed at Europe – could help the group not only offer a differentiated product, especially versus smaller rivals, but also enable it to make better use of its under-leveraged balance sheet, according to Patrick.

But a bid from AT&T would clearly offer more immediate upside. Barclays currently rates Vodafone at ‘overweight’ with a price target of 260p. This, however, provides only limited upside on any AT&T bid materialising.

A fuller valuation analysis by Patrick applies historical European M&A multiples of 7.2 x EV/EBITDA to Vodafone and suggests a take-out price of around 300p for the group.

JP Morgan Cazenove Overweight 222.15 222.15 - 270.00 Resumes

VODAFONE ACQUIRES 100% OF VODAFONE INDIA

Vodafone announces that it now owns 100% of its Indian subsidiary, Vodafone India Limited ("VIL").

In March 2014, Vodafone completed the acquisition of indirect equity interests in VIL held by Analjit Singh and Neelu Analjit Singh, taking its stake to 89.03% of VIL. Today Vodafone acquired the remaining 10.97% of VIL from Piramal Enterprises Limited. The combined cash consideration for both transactions was INR 101.418 billion (GBP1.0 billion(1) ).

(1) At an exchange rate of GBP1.00: INR 100.9713.

Final Results

Highlights1

· Group revenue down 1.9% to £43.6 billion; full year organic service revenue decline 4.3%*

· Q4 organic service revenue declined 3.8%*2, or 4.0%* including Italy at 100% from 21 February 2014

· EBITDA3 down 7.4%* at £12.8 billion; organic EBITDA margin down 1.3 percentage points

· Adjusted operating profit3 £7.9 billion, including £3.2bn for Verizon Wireless to 2 September 2013

· Pro forma full year 13/14 guidance met: adjusted operating profit £4.94 billion, free cash flow £4.84 billion

· Completion of Verizon Wireless disposal, US$85 billion returned to shareholders; £45.0 billion pre-tax gain

· £19.3 billion deferred tax assets recognised in relation to the Group's historical tax losses, £17.7 billion of this announced H1

· Impairments totalling £6.6 billion in Germany, Spain, Portugal, Czech Republic and Romania

· Planned organic investments of around £19 billion over the next two years, including Project Spring

· Final dividend per share of 7.47 pence, giving total dividends per share of 11.0 pence, up 8%

JP Morgan Cazenove Overweight 206.43 270.00 260.00 Reiterates

Goldman Sachs Neutral 206.43 240.00 225.00 Reiterates

Espirito Santo Execution Noble Neutral 206.43 - 238.00 Reiterates

Ex-divi wed 11th Jun (7.47p)

Credit Suisse Outperform 207.38 204.00 - 245.00 Reiterates

Jefferies International Hold 207.38 204.00 240.00 210.00 Reiterates

Tricky to forecast this one, imo. Was going to buy for the divi, but the downside was that I would probably have to take a loss on the share sale......or wait forever for the sp to recover. Brokers don't seem too keen either!

SALE OF VODAFONE'S STAKE IN VODAFONE FIJI TO THE FIJI NATIONAL PROVIDENT FUND

Vodafone1 announces that it has sold its entire 49% shareholding in Vodafone Fiji Limited to the Fiji National Provident Fund for a cash consideration of FJ$160m (£51m)2. Vodafone expects to continue to have a presence in Fiji through a Partner Market agreement.


Notes
1 The seller is Vodafone International Holdings BV, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Vodafone Group
2 Fijian dollar to GBP exchange rate of 3.13

Worth a read :- Telecoms executives cheer Brussels’ antitrust decision on E-Plus

VODAFONE AND BMOBILE ANNOUNCE PARTNER MARKET AGREEMENT IN PAPUA NEW GUINEA AND THE SOLOMON ISLANDS

up date tomorrow should see the sp rise well above 200p