Vodafone 2011 Annual Report Download - page 150

148 Vodafone Group Plc Annual Report 2011
This document contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning
of the US Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 with respect to the
Group’s financial condition, results of operations and businesses and certain
of the Group’s plans and objectives.
In particular, such forward-looking statements include statements with
respect to:
■the Group’s expectations regarding its financial and operating
performance, including statements contained within the Chief Executive’s
review on pages 10 to 11, the Group’s 7% dividend per share growth target
contained on pages 6, 27, 44 and 48, and the guidance statement for the
2012 financial year and the medium-term guidance statement for the
three financial years ending 31 March 2014 on page 44 of this document,
and the performance of joint ventures, associates, including Verizon
Wireless and VHA, other investments and newly acquired businesses;
■intentions and expectations regarding the development of products,
services and initiatives introduced by, or together with, Vodafone or by
third parties, including new mobile technologies, such as the introduction
of 4G, the Vodafone M-Pesa money transfer system, tablets and an
increase in download speeds and 3G sites;
■expectations regarding the global economy and the Group’s operating
environment, including future market conditions, growth in the number
of worldwide mobile phone users and other trends, including increased
data usage;
■revenue and growth expected from the Group’s total communications
strategy, including data revenue growth, and its expectations with respect
to long-term shareholder value growth;
■mobile penetration and coverage rates, termination rate cuts, the Group’s
ability to acquire spectrum, expected growth prospects in the Europe,
Africa, Middle East and Asia Pacific regions and growth in customers and
usage generally;
■expected benefits associated with the merger of Vodafone Australia and
Hutchison 3G Australia;
■anticipated benefits to the Group from cost efficiency programmes;
■possible future acquisitions, including increases in ownership in existing
investments, the timely completion of pending acquisition transactions
and pending offers for investments, including licence acquisitions, and the
expected funding required to complete such acquisitions or investments;
■expectations regarding the Group’s future revenue, operating profit, EBITDA
margin, free cash flow, capital intensity, depreciation and amortisation
charges, foreign exchange rates, tax rates and capital expenditure;
■expectations regarding the Group’s access to adequate funding for its
working capital requirements and share buyback programmes, and the
rate of dividend growth by the Group (including the Group’s 7% dividend
per share growth target) or its existing investments; and
■the impact of regulatory and legal proceedings involving Vodafone and
of scheduled or potential regulatory changes.
Forward-looking statements are sometimes, but not always, identified by
their use of a date in the future or such words as “will”, “anticipates”, “aims”,
“could”, “may”, “should”, “expects”, “believes”, “intends”, “plans” or “targets”.
By their nature, forward-looking statements are inherently predictive,
speculative and involve risk and uncertainty because they relate to events
and depend on circumstances that will occur in the future. There are a
number of factors that could cause actual results and developments to
differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking
statements. These factors include, but are not limited to, the following:
■general economic and political conditions in the jurisdictions in which
the Group operates and changes to the associated legal, regulatory and
tax environments;
■increased competition, from both existing competitors and new market
entrants, including mobile virtual network operators;
■levels of investment in network capacity and the Group’s ability to deploy
new technologies, products and services in a timely manner, particularly
data content and services;
■rapid changes to existing products and services and the inability of new
products and services to perform in accordance with expectations,
including as a result of third party or vendor marketing efforts;
■the ability of the Group to integrate new technologies, products and
services with existing networks, technologies, products and services;
■the Group’s ability to generate and grow revenue from both voice and
non-voice services and achieve expected cost savings;
■a lower than expected impact of new or existing products, services or
technologies on the Group’s future revenue, cost structure and capital
expenditure outlays;
■slower than expected customer growth, reduced customer retention,
reductions or changes in customer spending and increased pricing pressure;
■the Group’s ability to expand its spectrum position, win 3G and 4G
allocations and realise expected synergies and benefits associated with
3G and 4G;
■the Group’s ability to secure the timely delivery of high quality, reliable
handsets, network equipment and other key products from suppliers;
■loss of suppliers, disruption of supply chains and greater than anticipated
prices of new mobile handsets;
■changes in the costs to the Group of, or the rates the Group may charge
for, terminations and roaming minutes;
■the Group’s ability to realise expected benefits from acquisitions,
partnerships, joint ventures, franchises, brand licences, platform sharing
or other arrangements with third parties, particularly those related to the
development of data and internet services;
■acquisitions and divestments of Group businesses and assets and the
pursuit of new, unexpected strategic opportunities which may have a
negative impact on the Group’s financial condition and results of operations;
■the Group’s ability to integrate acquired business or assets and the
imposition of any unfavourable conditions, regulatory or otherwise, on
any pending or future acquisitions or dispositions;
■the extent of any future write-downs or impairment charges on the
Group’s assets, or restructuring charges incurred as a result of an
acquisition or disposition;
■developments in the Group’s financial condition, earnings and
distributable funds and other factors that the Board takes into account in
determining the level of dividends;
■the Group’s ability to satisfy working capital requirements through
borrowing in capital markets, bank facilities and operations;
■changes in foreign exchange rates, including particularly the exchange
rate of pounds sterling to the euro and the US dollar;
■changes in the regulatory framework in which the Group operates,
including the commencement of legal or regulatory action seeking to
regulate the Group’s permitted charging rates;
■the impact of legal or other proceedings against the Group or other
companies in the communications industry; and
■changes in statutory tax rates and profit mix, the Group’s ability to resolve
open tax issues and the timing and amount of any payments in respect of
tax liabilities.
Furthermore, a review of the reasons why actual results and developments
may differ materially from the expectations disclosed or implied within
forward-looking statements can be found under “Principal risk factors and
uncertainties” on pages 45 and 46 of this document. All subsequent written
or oral forward-looking statements attributable to the Company or any
member of the Group or any persons acting on their behalf are expressly
qualified in their entirety by the factors referred to above. No assurances can
be given that the forward-looking statements in this document will be
realised. Subject to compliance with applicable law and regulations,
Vodafone does not intend to update these forward-looking statements and
does not undertake any obligation to do so.
Forward-looking statements