By Stu Woo 

LONDON -- Vodafone Group PLC's GBP19 billion expansion bet is starting to pay off.

Vodafone, the world's second-largest mobile carrier, behind China Mobile Ltd., on Tuesday reported its first full year of organic growth in both revenue and core earnings since 2008. The U.K.-based company said it was finally reaping benefits from "Project Spring," its recently completed two-year, GBP19 billion ($27 billion) effort to improve and extend its network infrastructure.

The mobile operator said revenue for its fiscal year ended in March was GBP41 billion, down 3% compared with the previous year, but in line with analysts' expectations. Vodafone attributed the decline to foreign-exchange movements and said its organic revenue growth, which excludes the impact of foreign exchange, was 2.3%.

Vodafone's full-year earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization came to GBP11.6 billion, also in line with analysts' expectations. Ebitda was down 2.5%, from the previous year, and organic growth was 2.7%.

The company swung to a full-year loss of GBP3.8 billion, from a profit of GBP5.9 billion a year earlier.

The markets applauded the organic growth, sending Vodafone shares up 1.6% to GBP2.27 in afternoon trading in London.

"This has been a year of strong execution," Vodafone Chief Executive Vittorio Colao said in a conference call.

Vodafone announced Project Spring in September 2013, at the same time it said it was selling its 45% stake in Verizon Communications Inc. for $130 billion. The company had said it would invest GBP19 billion from March 2014 to March 2016 to improve its mobile networks and its customer service, which subscribers have long griped about.

That has paid off, especially in Europe, where Vodafone's revenue increased organically by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. "Customers who want the best service are increasingly willing to pay a premium for it," said Morningstar analyst Allan Nichols.

While Vodafone once focused on selling only mobile subscriptions, it used Project Spring to add fixed lines for cable television and broadband, especially in Germany. That enabled the company to sell combo packages with both wireless and fixed-line services.

Vodafone said it added 1.3 million new broadband customers in the fiscal year and now has a total of 13.4 million.

Besides stabilizing revenue in what had been a declining market in Europe, Vodafone saw big growth in its newer markets of Turkey and South Africa. Service revenue in Turkey grew organically by 20%, while in South Africa, where the company operates under the name Vodacom, service revenue grew 4.7% organically.

The growth came at a cost, and Vodafone indicated on Tuesday that it would continue to spend heavily. It had previously expected capital expenditures for its current fiscal year to decline from the range of 20% of annual revenue during Project Spring to about 13% to 14%. The company said it now expected that figure to be closer to 15% as it continues to improve its networks.

Analysts wondered if that figure could be even higher. "You're digging holes in the ground and putting fiber there, which is a costly endeavor, " said Bengt Nordström, a former telecom executive who now runs the Swedish consultancy Northstream. "The upside is, once you connect the customer, they're your customer for the next 20 to 30 years."

Write to Stu Woo at Stu.Woo@wsj.com

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 18, 2016 02:48 ET (06:48 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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