God save the tlc Queen, aka Vodafone, the last banner of the empire on the front of the global economy. The company, which at the time rose to the Olympus of the sector thanks also to the happy hand of Vittorio Colao, today demonstrates that it has overcome the difficulties of a difficult year, which ended with profits of 1,3 billion pounds, less than the previous result (1,5 .1 billion), however conditioned by the gain of 5 billion deriving from an operation involving Vodafone Hutchinson Australia. The difficulties of the Italian market (and of Spain) did not weigh heavily on the group thanks to the recovery of revenues (+XNUMX) in Europe and above all in Africa, the recovery in sales of mobile phones after the Covid emergency and the trend favorable exchange rates.
On this solid basis, the English company accelerates on the ground of the most important mission: guide the process of consolidating the telecommunications of the Old Continent, that Europe which, as leader of the financial markets and of technological innovation in the 5s, has been reduced to being an archipelago of a hundred or more local companies, often too indebted to meet the investments required by the leap to XNUMXG. A completely different picture from that of the USA and China (as well as India) where only three competitors share the market. A situation of objective weakness which means that Europe, once the leader, today is a land of conquest contested by the Chinese and the Americans.
From this situation, he noted the CEO of Vodunvoiced Nick Read in an interview with the Sunday Times, you only go out with bigger and more profitable companies, favoring M&A operations (often opposed by the EU Antitrust which only reluctantly gave up imposing a fourth manager everywhere) and avoiding useless duplication of investments. As indeed he invokes Borje Ekholm, the number one of that Ericsson survived the death of telecom equipment that marked the triumph of Huawei and other Chinese companies. Obviously European telcos are not investing, he commented in the Financial Times, given that in this situation they cannot guarantee decent returns.
In this context, Vodafone could break the delay, returning to attack the domestic market: in the viewfinder there is contestant "3", which in 2016 had seen its merger proposal with O2 rejected. Furthermore, Vodafone is also considering investing in the O2 fiber networkowned by Virgin Media.
Vodafone's activism has attracted the attention of the financial markets, in search of new investment themes after the long march of the digital sector. Year to date the European telecommunications sector rose by +12%, just over half of the global Stoxx index: +22,60%.
Also for this reason the quotations of the English group are running, rising by 5% in a day of flat markets and also dragging upwards Deutsche Telekom and Telefonica of Spain. The list is missing Iliad, withdrawn from listing by Xavier Niel, who has decided to favor dimensional growth over financial results in this phase. The strategy seems to pay off, especially in Italy where the French manager continues to grow. At the end of September it exceeded the threshold of 8 million users. In anticipation of launching its fixed network services in the Bel Paese, the operator has achieved a 10,5% share of the Italian market.
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This too complicates the already impervious road of telecom italy, the Italian incumbent of telecommunications, despite the rebound in the last few sessions (+4% at 13pm). In the performance ranking led by Nokia +60%, Tim struggles, after quite a few disappointments starting from the quarterly accounts. In this frame it goes framing today's bounce a few hours after the meeting in which, according to rumors, the terms of theagreement with Dazn which for now has sensationally disappointed the expectations of CEO Luigi Gubitosi. However, more will be needed to convince shareholders and investors on the occasion of the next business plan in February. Unless the M&A wind begins to blow in the Bel Paese as well. God Save also the Stellone of Italy.
