Vodafone delivered a standout 2025, with organic service revenue up 6.2% year-on-year and adjusted EBITDA rising by £1.1 billion to £17.4 billion. Subscriber additions in its European markets reached 4.8 million, while data usage per user climbed 22% as rollout of 5G coverage hit 65% of its footprint. The successful integration of the UK merger generated £450 million in EBITDA synergies, surpassing management’s initial target by 15%. In Africa, service revenue growth accelerated to 9.5%, driven by smartphone penetration gains in Nigeria and Egypt, helping offset flat performance in legacy Western European markets.

Analysts have downgraded Vodafone from ‘Hold’ to ‘Underperform’, citing a current share price near £1.07 that reflects roughly 15x consensus 2026 P/E—above the 20-year average multiple of 12.7x. With the dividend yield slipping below 3.7%, the upside for total shareholder returns appears limited against peers trading closer to 10–13x forward earnings. Forward consensus expects earnings per share growth to moderate to mid-single digits between 2026 and 2028 as merger synergies taper off and the cost of capital rises across Europe.

While Vodafone’s UK business delivered 3.8% organic service revenue growth and free cash flow of £1.9 billion in H1 2026, performance in Germany fell short of the 4% growth target, registering just 2.7%. Management reaffirmed guidance for upper-end year-end adjusted EBITDA of £17.8–18.2 billion and net debt to EBITDA below 2.5x, but warned that incremental growth from its European footprint will likely slow to 2–4% annually through 2028. In contrast, the Africa & Middle East segment aims to sustain high-single-digit growth, supported by mobile money expansion and tower asset monetizations.