Earnings after taxation stood at £17.95bn for the six months to September and these were boosted by a tax credit of almost £15bn, it said in a results statement.
Vodafone had suffered a net loss of £1.98bn in the same part of the previous financial year, when the group was rocked by impairment charges in the indebted eurozone nations of Spain and Italy.
The London-listed group is using some of the proceeds from its recent Verizon deal to improve network quality and speed across Europe.
Vodafone said on Tuesday (12 November) that it will invest £7.0bn to boost businesses in key European and emerging markets, following its gigantic US$130bn deal to sell its US joint-venture stake to partner Verizon.
Chief executive Vittorio Colao said that the group hoped to reward its shareholders for their loyalty by repaying some of the company's profits to them.
"The pending US$130bn US transaction will reward our shareholders for their long-term support of our strategy and will provide us with a strong balance sheet, improved dividend cover and the financial and strategic flexibility to make further investments in the business or returns to shareholders in the future," Colao said.
The group had agreed the deal with Verizon in September. It is one of the biggest transactions in global corporate history.
Then, a month later, Vodafone completed a €7.7bn takeover of Kabel Deutschland - the largest cable operator in Germany - as it sought to grow Vodafone's presence in Europe.
Vodafone's revenues rose 1.2% to £22.03bn in the six months to September, despite what it called "tough trading" in European markets. The emerging markets continued to deliver growth for the company.
"While trading conditions in Europe remain very tough at present, we are encouraged by the forecast return to economic growth over the next two years and the potential for a shift in regulatory focus to support greater industry investment and consolidation," said Colao.
"We have continued to make good progress in delivering our long-term strategy. Our emerging markets businesses are performing very well, driven by rapidly increasing smartphone penetration and data usage. In mature markets, our performance reflects more challenging conditions, which we continue to mitigate through ongoing actions to improve our operating model and cost efficiency," he added.
Source: AFP via I-Net Bridge
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