Vodafone’s Vantage Towers arm grows portfolio ahead of stock market spin-off

Vodafone has said its telecom towers arm has grown its portfolio over the past nine months and held firm on its annual targets.

The telecoms giant told investors that Vantage Towers, which will be spun off in a stock market listing in the coming months, has performed in line with targets.

Vantage grew its portfolio by 450 new macro sites to 82,000 locations, with a presence in 10 European markets, in the nine months to December 31.

Vodafone said the business also secured 1,400 new tenancies, while new agreements were signed with Eir and Three in Ireland as well as Spanish industry body AOTEC.

In the nine-month period, Vantage reported a revenue of 725 million euro (£633 million).

It reaffirmed its financial targets, confirming that its expects to post adjusted earnings of between 520 million euro (£454 million) and 530 million euro (£463 million) for the year.

Vivek Badrinath, chief executive of Vantage, said: “The growth opportunity in Europe is considerable, as the rollout of 5G accelerates and mobile operators look to expand their networks to manage ever-increasing data traffic.

“I am very pleased with the commercial momentum we are building at Vantage Towers.

“Customers are appreciating the high quality of our grid and their response to our focused commercial approach is encouraging.

“Adding Cornerstone, the UK’s number one tower company, to our portfolio in early January was a significant step.”

Shares in Vodafone were 1.5% higher at 135.1p in early trading.