Vodafone snaps up 15m shares in a week as buyback plans ramp up

April 16, 2025 08:46 AM

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Vodafone has quietly spent the first half of April buying back tens of millions of its own shares in a sustained campaign that began just days after disclosing its total voting rights to the market.

The operator has repurchased stock on almost every trading day since April 2, snapping up over 30 million shares and significantly increasing the size of its treasury holding — a move likely to tighten its shareholder base and reshape capital dynamics ahead of any strategic pivot.

In the past week alone, the telco giant executed daily purchases ranging from three to four million shares, with volume-weighted average prices rising from 65.95p on 11 April to 69.06p by 15 April.

According to securities filings, the transactions have steadily increased Vodafone’s treasury stock from 1.42 billion shares at the end of March to over 1.45 billion by mid-April.

The shares are being acquired from Goldman Sachs, acting as riskless principal under a programme announced in February and executed according to pre-agreed instructions. Vodafone has confirmed that the repurchased stock will be held in treasury.

The purchases come after Vodafone disclosed its recent voting rights. Under Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) rules, companies must disclose their total voting rights at the end of each month.

Vodafone’s disclosure on March 31 confirmed that it had 24.97 billion voting shares in issue.

The daily buybacks that have followed — while not affecting the total share capital — reduce the free float and may impact the voting power of institutional and retail shareholders alike.

The telco giant is undergoing a restructuring, with divestments from several of its European operations, including Vodafone Italy and Vantage Towers.

As part of its broader capital strategy, Vodafone is aiming to manage its capital structure and return value to shareholders by reducing share capital through a substantial buyback programme, with €4 billion in purchases planned using proceeds from the sale of its Spanish and Italian operations.

The firm’s most recent earnings reported strong group service revenue, though the last quarter was weighed down by subpar results in Germany, its biggest market.