Vodafone (LON: VOD), the world's second-largest mobile operator, reported a loss of 6.1 billion euro ($ 6.71 billion) for the fiscal year ended March, under pressure from the troubled Indian division.
At the same time, the company, which seeks to convince investors in a stable future, predicts profit growth and a jump in free cash flow this year by stabilizing the average revenue from contract subscribers and reducing costs.
Vodafone expects growth of organic adjusted basic profit in the range of 4 to 8 percent and free cash flow of about 5 billion euro against 4.1 billion euro a year earlier.
"We expect stability in the coming fiscal year, hoping to generate a free cash flow of about 5.0 billion euro," - said the head of the company Vittorio Colao on Tuesday.
"Our confidence in the forecast reflects an increase in dividends of another 2%."
Analysts forecast free cash flow at the level of 4.66 billion euro.
Growth in organic revenue from Vodafone services slowed to 1.5% in the fourth quarter from 2.1% in the third quarter due to pressure from regulators in Europe, which analysts say will weaken in the coming year.
Organic revenues from the sale of services in Europe grew by only 0.1% per quarter, while growth in Africa, the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific region was 6.8%, the company said. ($1 = 0.9094 euro)
As for the UK stock market, it finished Wednesday session lower amid negative dynamics from the electronic and electrical equipment, construction and construction materials and engineering sectors.
At the time of closing on the London Stock Exchange, UK 100 fell 0.24%.
In the leader of growth among the components of the index were the shares of Fresnillo PLC (LON: FRES), which went up by 43.00 p. (2.75%), closing at 1.606.00, while the worst performer was Ashtead Group PLC (LON: AHT), which lost 62.00 p. (3.82%), finishing the session at 1.560.00.
On the London Stock Exchange, the number of depreciated securities (1303) exceeded the number of those closed in positive territory (580), while quotations of 458 shares remained virtually unchanged.