HispanicBusiness

British mobile giant Vodafone on Tuesday reported a pre-tax loss of 492 million pounds (781 million dollars) for the six months to the end of September, following weaker business in southern Europe.

The bottom-line losses compare with a pre-tax profit of 8 billion pounds for the same period in 2011.

The company said that while growth continued to be strong in emerging markets, such as India, Turkey and South Africa, "challenging market conditions" in Italy and Spain led to writedowns of 5.9 billion pounds.

Across the Vodafone group, half-year revenues were down by 7.9 per cent - driven mainly by a slump of 18 per cent in business in southern Europe - during the reporting period.

"We have continued to make progress on our strategic priorities over the last six months, with good growth in data and emerging markets in particular. In the short-term, however, our results reflect tougher market conditions, mainly in southern Europe," said group chief executive Vittorio Colao.