Published on: 28th Nov 2012
Fitch Ratings says that it has affirmed Vodafone Group's Long-term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) at 'A-', but warned that this is increasingly dependent on dividends from its Verizon Wireless joint venture. The ratings outlook is currently stable.
The ratings agency said that Vodafone benefits from global scale, diverse operations, sound liquidity, and stable cash flow generation. However, slowing growth, partly due to continued underperformance of its Southern European operations is a growing concern. Vodafone is well positioned to benefit from increasing mobile data usage, but the inflection point in revenue growth remains uncertain. The receipt of substantial and regular dividends from Verizon Wireless is increasingly more important to maintain Vodafone's 'A-' rating.