Vodafone Group CEO Margherita Della Valle (pictured) was bullish on the company’s performance in fiscal Q1 2024 (the period to end-June) due to improvements across Europe, while the operator named former SAP CFO Luka Mucic to be its new finance chief from September.

In a trading update, Vodafone reported organic service revenue increased 3.7 per cent year-on-year to €9.1 billion,

The UK was a standout, as strength in consumer, annual price rises and a higher customer base led to an increase of 5.7 per cent.

In Germany, service revenue declined 1.3 per cent, reflecting the impact of customer losses over the past 18 months, but the company added there was an improvement “in quarterly trends” due to increases in broadband prices.

The story was similar in Spain and Italy, where service revenue dropped 3 per cent and 1.6 per cent, respectively, but there was marked consecutive improvement.

Total revenue increased 3.7 per cent to €10.7 billion on an organic basis, but the reported number fell 4.8 per cent.

“As we progress our plans to transform Vodafone, we have achieved a better service revenue performance across almost all of our markets,” Della Valle stated. “Looking ahead, we have taken the first steps of our action plan focused on customers, simplicity and growth, but we have much more still to do.”

CFO
Mucic is set to become Vodafone CFO from 1 September, the long-term replacement for Della Valle who held the role before taking on the top job.

The incoming executive was CFO of German software player SAP for nine years from 2014 to March 2023, and served as COO at the company before that.

Della Valle said Mucic has a “strong track record of international leadership, corporate repositioning and value-creation” and is joining “at a critical time as we undertake the transformation of Vodafone”.