Vodafone Group adjusted its guidance for the current financial year upward, as its net profit for the first half shrank.

The company now expects its full-year adjusted operating profit to be in the £11.4 billion–£11.8 billion range, compared with a previously issued forecast of £11 billion–£11.8 billion. Adjusted operating profit for the first half was £6 billion, up 4.4 percent on an organic basis.

It has also increased its interim dividend by 7 percent – in line with its per-share growth target of at least 7 percent per annum until March 2013. It is also set to pay a special dividend following the receipt of a payment from Verizon Wireless.

Vodafone announced a profit for the six months to 30 September 2011 of £6.64 billion, down 11.5 percent from £7.5 billion, on revenue of £23.52 billion, up 4.1 percent from £22.6 billion. On an operating level, profit was £9 billion, up 72.6 percent from £5.21 billion.

In the comparable six months in 2010, Vodafone saw a non-operating income of £2.39 billion from the sale of its 3.2 percent stake in China Mobile, higher investment income, and lower finance costs and tax expenses.

In a statement, Vittorio Colao, Vodafone’s Group chief executive, said: “although we remain mindful of the uncertain economic outlook, we are confident that we have the right strategy and capabilities to continue to perform consistently through top line growth, cost efficiency, investment and cash generation.”

Vodafone said that “our overall performance reflects continued strong demand for data services and further voice penetration growth in emerging markets, offset by regulatory changes and voice price deflation driven by ongoing competitive pressures.”

Group service revenue increased by 1.4 percent on an organic basis to £21.89 billion, with strong growth of 8.4 percent from its Africa, Middle East and Asia Pacific businesses offsetting a 1.3 percent decline from its core European businesses. It said that excluding the impact of termination rate cuts, service revenue growth was 3.8 percent.

Data revenue increased by 23.8 percent on an organic basis, with smartphone penetration in Europe rising to 21.7 percent. Data now accounts for 14 percent of group service revenue, and “represents the single biggest opportunity to Vodafone and the industry over the next few years.”

The company’s M-Pesa service has now been launched in seven markets with 27 million registered users.

Vodafone also said that machine-to-machine revenue had increased by 33 percent, with 6.2 million SIMs active, although it did not provide a revenue figure for this activity.

During the first half, the company completed the sale of its 44 percent interest in French operator SFR to majority owner Vivendi, and announced the sale of its 24.4 percent stake in Polish operator Polkomtel for £0.8 billion.