It is remarkable that a company, even one as big as Vodafone, can announce 11,000 job cuts over three years but also say that no net cost savings will flow to the bottom line. A notional €250m (£220m) gain will be consumed entirely by reinvestment. Such is life in the world of European big telecoms – there are few simple wins.
The point about Vodafone, however, is that its financial performance is worse than most of its peers. “Our performance has not been good enough,” said the new chief executive, Margherita Della Valle, on Tuesday, telling shareholders what they knew already. The share price, down 7% on Tuesday, has more than halved over the past five years.
