TELECOMS giant Vodafone has reported a slump in revenues for the past three months as the coronavirus pandemic hit roaming revenues.
The company told investors that total revenues declined by 4.7 per cent to €11.2 billion (£9.9 billion) for the third quarter of its current financial year.
However, it hailed a "resilient" trading performance as total service revenues delivered 0.4 per cent organic growth on the back of improvements in Germany.
The group said it was buoyed by 1 per cent service revenue growth in Germany, although this was partly offset by declines elsewhere on the continent.
It revealed that it grew its number of European mobile customers to 65.4 million in the period, while it also increased its broadband customer base, as it was buoyed by a jump in digital sales.
In the UK, service revenues fell by 0.4 per cent, representing a marginal improvement from a 0.5 per cent fall in the previous quarter.
"Good commercial momentum" in its UK consumer and business operations was offset by a 2.3 percentage point slump in roaming and visitor revenues, it said.
Its UK mobile contract customer base increased by 77,000, driven by "strong" iPhone demand.
Vodafone group chief executive Nick Read said: "I am pleased the group returned to service revenue growth in Q3 as a result of the continued commercial momentum across our business, including our largest market, Germany.
"Our good trading performance underscores our confidence in the outlook for the full year.
"Our networks have successfully delivered another quarter of record data traffic as many countries continue to endure Covid-19 lockdowns and customers depend on our services."
