Vodafone 2013 Annual Report Download - page 187

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 nancial 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:
a the Group’s expectations regarding its nancial and operating
performance, including statements contained within the Chief
Executive’s review on pages 14 to 17, statements regarding the
Group’s future dividends and the guidance statement for the 2014
nancial year and the free cash ow guidance on page45 of this
document, the performance of joint ventures, associates, including
VZW, other investments and newly acquired businesses including
CWW and TelstraClear, and expectations regarding Vodafone 2015;
a 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 service,
M2M connections, Vodafone Red, cloud hosting, tablets and
an increase in download speeds and 3G services;
a expectations regarding the global economy and the Group’s
operating environment and market position, including future
marketconditions, growth in the number of worldwide mobile
phoneusers and other trends, including increased mobile data
usageand increased mobile penetration in emerging markets;
a revenue and growth expected from the Group’s enterprise and total
communications strategy, including data revenue growth, and its
expectations with respect to long-term shareholder value growth;
a mobile penetration and coverage rates, mobile termination rate cuts,
the Group’s ability to acquire spectrum, expected growth prospects
intheNorthern and Central Europe, Southern Europe and AMAP
regions and growth incustomers and usage generally, and plans
for sustained investment in high speed data networks and the
anticipated Group standardisation and simplication programme;
a anticipated benets to the Group from cost efciency programmes;
a possible future acquisitions, including increases in ownership
in existing investments, the timely completion of pending acquisition
transactions and pending offers for investments, including licence
and spectrum acquisitions, and the expected funding required
to complete such acquisitions or investments;
a expectations regarding the Group’s future revenue, operating prot,
EBITDA, EBITDA margin, free cash ow, depreciation and amortisation
charges, foreign exchange rates, tax rates and capital expenditure;
a expectations regarding the Group’s access to adequate funding for
its working capital requirements and share buyback programmes,
and the Group’s future dividends or its existing investments; and
a the impact of regulatory and legal proceedings involving the Group
and of scheduled or potential regulatory changes.
Forward-looking statements are sometimes, but not always, identied
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:
a general economic and political conditions in the jurisdictions in which
the Group operates and changes to the associated legal, regulatory
and tax environments;
a increased competition, from both existing competitors and new
market entrants, including mobile virtual network operators;
a 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;
a 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;
a the ability of the Group to integrate new technologies, products and
services with existing networks, technologies, products and services;
a the Group’s ability to generate and grow revenue from both voice and
non-voice services and achieve expected cost savings;
a 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;
a slower than expected customer growth, reduced customer
retention,reductions or changes in customer spending and
increasedpricing pressure;
a the Group’s ability to expand its spectrum position, win 3G and 4G
allocations and realise expected synergies and benets associated
with 3G and 4G;
Forward-looking statements
185 Vodafone Group Plc
Annual Report 2013
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