Buy-out of Minority

Vodafone Group PLC 3 May 2002 NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION IN OR INTO THE UNITED STATES, CANADA OR JAPAN 3 May 2002 BUY-OUT OF VODAFONE AG MINORITY SHAREHOLDERS • Vodafone Group Plc ('the Company') announced on 22 April 2002 that its subsidiary, Vodafone Deutschland GmbH ('VDG'), intended to buy-out the outstanding minority shareholders in Vodafone AG ('VAG'). • The minority shareholders of VAG will receive EUR 217.91 per VAG share, which includes a compensation payment of EUR 14.71 in respect of guaranteed dividends arising from the domination agreement for the period from 1 January 2001 to 31 March 2002. • In connection with the buy-out, VDG is obliged to publish a valuation report approved by an independent expert which contains projections for its businesses to demonstrate to the VAG minority shareholders, inter alia, that the valuation attributed to their shares in VAG is appropriate. • The information contained in this announcement has been extracted from the valuation report, which has been prepared specifically for this purpose and on a basis intended to comply with the relevant obligations and practices in Germany. • Nothing in this announcement should be interpreted as a revision of the Company's views of the current trading position or future prospects of the Company. • The buy-out requires the approval of shareholders at the Extraordinary General Meeting of VAG on 11 June 2002. It also requires entry into the Commercial Register before it becomes legally effective, which is expected to be on or around 11 July 2002. Approval of the Supervisory Board of VDG has been obtained. For further information: Vodafone Group Tim Brown, Group Corporate Affairs Director Melissa Stimpson, Head of Group Investor Relations Bobby Leach, Head of Group Financial Media Relations Darren Jones, Senior Investor Relations Manager Tel: +44 (0) 1635 673310 Tavistock Communications Lulu Bridges / John West Tel: +44 (0) 20 7600 2288 Projections contained in the valuation report In accordance with the German Stock Corporation Act, VDG has issued a report (the 'Report') containing information to demonstrate to the minority shareholders, inter alia, that the valuation attributed to their shares in VAG is appropriate. This Report has been approved by the VDG Management Board. The Report contains certain mandatory forward-looking statements and projections relating to the businesses of VAG and its subsidiaries. Appendix I of this announcement contains a detailed discussion of why actual results and developments may be materially above or below those contained in these projections or expressed or implied by forward looking statements contained in this announcement and the Report. Neither the Company, nor VDG nor any of their respective subsidiaries has any intention of updating these projections. The value attributed to each VAG share was determined by an independent expert on the basis of the capitalised earnings value of VAG and its subsidiaries, which is the most common valuation method used in Germany, adjusted to take account of the value of the non-operating assets. The expert's report was dated 19 April 2002. Wireless businesses The table below shows the projected development of sales, EBITDA, depreciation and amortisation, investment income and EBIT of VAG's wireless businesses, consisting of the German operator Vodafone D2 and the Italian operator Omnitel Vodafone, before taking account of minority interests, for the years 2002/03 to 2005/06: Year (1 April to 31 March) 2002/03 2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 EUR m EUR m EUR m EUR m Sales 13,331 14,942 16,834 19,378 EBITDA 5,995 6,731 7,808 9,432 Depreciation and amortisation -1,830 -2,267 -2,527 -2,549 Investment Income -6 2 12 19 EBIT 4,159 4,466 5,293 6,902 Arcor The following table shows the projected development of sales, EBITDA, depreciation and amortisation and EBIT of VAG's fixed-line business, Arcor, before taking account of minority interests, for the years 2002/03 to 2005/06. The projections exclude the operations of Arcor DB Telematik GmbH following the agreement of terms announced in January 2002 to transfer this business to Deutsche Bahn AG. Year (1 April to 31 March) 2002/03 2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 EUR m EUR m EUR m EUR m Sales 1,344 1,557 1,772 1,976 EBITDA 16 111 216 320 Depreciation and amortisation -240 -225 -213 -211 EBIT -224 -114 3 109 The Arcor Group's projected sales, broken down into the segments voice services (contract voice, call-by-call), data services (Internet IP, contract Internet and miscellaneous services) and others is shown in the following table: Year (1 April to 31 March) 2002/03 2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 EUR m EUR m EUR m EUR m Voice services 1,010 1,139 1,287 1,428 Data services 321 402 468 528 Others 13 16 17 20 Total sales 1,344 1,557 1,772 1,976 Other businesses The following table shows the projected development of sales, EBITDA, depreciation and amortisation, investment income and EBIT of various other VAG companies and investments for the years 2002/03 to 2005/06: Year (1 April to 31 March) 2002/03 2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 EUR m EUR m EUR m EUR m Sales 335 424 493 580 EBITDA 74 125 147 191 Depreciation and amortisation -105 -125 -134 -146 Investment income 141 147 187 251 EBIT 110 147 200 296 The other companies principally comprise VAG's TeleCommerce business, certain holding and financing companies and other minority holdings, including its interests in Cegetel. They do not include intermediate holding companies of wireless or fixed-line companies or those companies, including Ruhrgas AG, which have been separately valued under the valuation model. The main assumptions reflected in the above projections are as follows: • Wireless customer numbers in Vodafone D2 and Omnitel Vodafone are projected to increase to 43.9 million by 31 March 2006. • Total wireless sales for Vodafone D2 and Omnitel Vodafone are projected to increase to EUR 19,378m in the year ended 31 March 2006 as a result of projected increases in customer numbers and Average Revenue Per User (ARPU), which is forecast to increase from EUR 321 for 2002/03 to EUR 418 for 2005/06, driven by growing usage, particularly of data services. • At Arcor, sales are projected to grow from increasing customer numbers, which will offset the impact of declining ARPU over the forecast period. Prices are projected to continue to decline over the period. However this is projected to be offset by an increasing proportion of higher quality customers within the local network with additional sales generated from flat rates and calls. This announcement does not constitute an offer to purchase securities. Appendix I Important Information Concerning the Projections and Certain Statements in this Announcement. While presented with numerical specificity, the projections are based upon a variety of estimates and hypothetical assumptions with respect to, among other things, industry performance, general economic, market and financial conditions, interest and inflation rates, operating and other revenues and expenses, capital expenditures and working capital, technology availability, and anticipated revenues from 3G services and other matters. These projections may not be realised and are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies, all of which are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond the control of the Company and its subsidiaries. Accordingly, there can be no assurance that the assumptions made in preparing the projections will prove accurate, and actual results are likely to differ and may be materially above or below those contained in the projections. For these reasons, as well as the bases and assumptions on which the projections were compiled, the inclusion of such projections herein should not be regarded as an indication that the Company, VAG, VDG or any of their respective subsidiaries or representatives considers such information to be an accurate prediction of future events, and the projections should not be relied on as such. None of such persons assumes any responsibility for the reasonableness, completeness, accuracy or reliability of such projections. No party nor any of their respective subsidiaries or representatives has made, or makes, any representation to any person regarding the information contained in the projections and none of them intends to update or otherwise revise the projections to reflect circumstances existing after the date when made or to reflect the occurrence of future events even in the event that any or all of the assumptions are shown to be in error. In addition, this announcement contains certain 'forward-looking statements' with respect to the financial condition, results of operations and business of VAG, VDG and their respective subsidiaries and some of their plans and objectives with respect to these items. In particular, all of the projections contained in this announcement as well as certain statements concerning their expectations and plans, strategy, technological improvements, management's objectives, prospects, trends in market shares, market standing, overall market trends, and revenues, contain forward-looking information. In addition, ' forward-looking statements' also include statements made with respect to expectations as to launch and roll-out dates, as well as the scope thereof, for products and services, future performance, costs, revenues, improvements in margin, certain expected synergies, cash flows, future average revenue per customer and future revenues derived from the new non-voice services which VAG, its subsidiaries and its other investments (collectively, the 'VAG Group') are currently developing, expected EBITDA and EBIT results, growth, wireless penetration rates and growth in internet use and other trend projections. Forward-looking statements are sometimes, but not always, identified by their use of a date in the future or such words as 'anticipates', 'aims', 'due', ' could', 'may', 'should', 'expects', 'believes', 'intends', 'plans', 'targets', ' goal' or 'estimates'. By their nature, forward-looking statements are inherently predictive, speculative and involve risk and uncertainty because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that will occur in the future. There are a number of factors that could cause actual results and developments to differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. These factors include, but are not limited to, changes in economic conditions in markets served by the operations of the members of the VAG Group that would adversely affect the level of demand for wireless services, greater than anticipated competitive activity leading to reduced market shares or requiring reduced pricing, greater handset subsidies, and/or new product offerings or otherwise resulting in higher costs of acquiring new customers, increased competition caused by the auctioning of additional UMTS licenses in jurisdictions in which a member of the VAG Group already has a UMTS license, slower customer growth and reduced customer retention, greater than expected growth in customers and usage and greater than anticipated costs associated with delivering UMTS services, requiring increased investment in network capacity, the impact on capital spending from the deployment of new technologies, or the rapid obsolescence of existing technology, the possibility that technologies, including wireless internet platforms, and services, including UMTS services, will not perform according to expectations or that vendors' performance will not meet the requirements of the members of the VAG Group, changes in the projected growth rates of the mobile telecommunications industry, inaccuracy of or any changes in the projected revenue model of the VAG Group, the ability of members of the VAG Group to meet the objectives of management initiatives, lower than anticipated future penetration rates and average revenue per user rates, future revenue contributions of the services offered by members of the VAG Group as a percentage of total revenue, difficulties in meeting the respective target improvements of the members of the VAG Group in margin, lower than expected impact of GPRS and UMTS services on the future revenues of the VAG Group, the Company's ability to harmonise its mobile platforms and the ability of entities in the VAG Group to realise benefits from their affiliation with the Company and to develop and implement cross-border services and products in connection therewith, any delays, impediments or other problems associated with offering integrated telecommunications services to the customers of the VAG Group at competitive prices or bundling services and upgrading customers to higher value products, the realisation of lower than expected benefits from the movement towards a unified brand or from expected personnel restructuring, any delays, impediments or other problems associated with the roll-out and scope of UMTS technology and services, multi-mode handsets, colour displays, and services in new markets or the introduction of a network operator choice in the mobile telecommunications field, ensuring direct customer access, the ability of the members of the VAG Group to offer new services, such as 3G or UMTS, Internet, Video on Demand and JuniorNet, the delivery and performance of GPRS handsets and other key products from the VAG Group's suppliers, the ability of the members of the VAG Group to develop existing services such as billing and IT solutions, telematics and other TeleCommerce services or with the ability of the members of the VAG Group to stimulate or facilitate the growth of their customers' usage of data services, including, but not limited to, ISDN and DSL products, offered by the VAG Group, the ability of the members of the VAG Group to improve their market share with respect to business customers, greater than anticipated prices of new mobile handsets, any changes, delays or problems associated with effecting the VAG Group's corporate strategy, any delays, impediments or other problems associated with completing pending acquisitions and dispositions, including the sale of VAG's indirectly-held stakes in Ruhrgas AG and Arcor DB Telematik GmbH, such as the imposition of conditions imposed in connection with obtaining necessary regulatory approvals, changes in the regulatory framework in which any member of the VAG Group operates, changes in exchange rates, and changes to any of the factors upon which the discount rate used by the independent valuation expert is based. Furthermore, a review of the reasons why actual results and developments may differ materially from the expectations disclosed or implied within forward-looking statements can be found in the description of the Company's business and the management's discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of operations contained on pages 11 to 59 of the Company's U.S. Annual Report on Form 20-F for the year ended March 31, 2001. All subsequent written or oral forward-looking statements attributable to the Company, in general, or VAG or VDG, in particular, or persons acting on behalf of their respective behalves are expressly qualified in their entirety by the factors referred to above. Neither the Company nor any of its subsidiaries intends to update these forward-looking statements. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
UK 100

Latest directors dealings