This post was originally published on this site
Getty Images Sign for the mobile phone and telephone service provider brand Vodafone in Birmingham, United Kingdom.
Mobile phone operator Vodafone Group rose as much as 5% as the company lifted its guidance for the year.
Vodafone Group VOD, +4.35% shares rose as the U.K.-based mobile-phone operator lifted its guidance for fiscal 2020 adjusted earnings to imply 2% to 3% organic growth. Its first-half organic adjusted Ebitda rose 1.4% on 0.3% growth in service revenue, helped by gains in South Africa, Spain and Italy.
On a conference call, Vodafone management defended the pricing of a wholesale deal it struck with Liberty Global’s Virgin Media last week, saying it was line with other deals.
Vodafone provided the largest upward lift to the FTSE 100 UKX, +0.52% , which rose 0.54% to 7368.29.
Outside of the FTSE 100, B&M European Value Retail BME, -5.79% tumbled 5.8%. The discount retailer experienced a worse than expected 2.8% decline in adjusted pretax profit as the company reported “continued disappointing financial performance in Germany” and slowing same-store sales growth at its U.K. stores.
Electrocomponents ECM, -11.27% shares slumped 11.2% as the distributor of industrial and electronics products said the second half started with “modest growth” with “ongoing softness in electronics.”
