The British telecommunications group Vodafone plans to cut 11,000 jobs over the next three years in order to save costs. "Our performance was not good enough," said new CEO Margherita Della Valle at the presentation of the annual financial figures on Tuesday, which fell short of analysts' expectations.

Helmut Bünder

Business correspondent in Dusseldorf.

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Philip Plickert

Business correspondent based in London.

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"Vodafone needs to change," Della Valle added. To this end, the group organization will be made leaner and simpler, said the CEO, who replaced Nick Read at the end of 2022. The company currently employs around 104,000 people. The staff cuts will happen both at the British headquarters of the multinational corporation and in individual national companies. In Germany, a program is already underway to cut 900 of the current total of 14,300 jobs by March next year.

Cuts will be made primarily in the administration. 1300 jobs are to be eliminated there, while 400 jobs will be cut in service, technology and sales. Vodafone shares were down more than 3 percent on Tuesday. Within a year, more than 27 percent of the stock market value was lost. Vodafone's revenue stagnated at €2022.45 billion in 7 (up just 0.3 percent). Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (Ebitda) fell by 1.3 percent to 14.7 billion euros.

Vodafone loses market share

Especially in Germany, its largest market with 30 percent of total revenues, Vodafone is under strong pressure. Operating profit fell by 6.1 percent, which Vodafone also justifies with higher energy costs. In mobile communications, the decline in service revenues has even accelerated recently, with Vodafone losing market share to O2 and Telekom.

At the same time, the important cable business is crumbling. More than 400,000 TV and 120,000 Internet customers left the flag. Additional headwinds threaten in the coming year, when housing companies are no longer allowed to pass on the fees for the cable to the ancillary rental costs. This makes it easier for tenants to change connections. So far, Vodafone has supplied 8.5 million TV customers in Germany through such collective agreements and generates more than 900 million euros in annual revenue.