Mobile phone giant Vodafone reported annual profits of £10 billion today after sales increased by 10% during the year to £33.6 billion.

The underlying figure, which was broadly in line with City forecasts, was achieved after Vodafone added 13.7 million new customers worldwide.

Accounting charges of £15.2 billion - in relation to acquisitions made in recent years - meant the group's bottom-line loss for the year to March 31 was £5.05 billion, an improvement on the £6.21 billion seen a year earlier.

Chief executive Arun Sarin, who took over from long-time boss Sir Christopher Gent last year, described the results as a "strong operational performance".

He pledged to return £3 billion of cash to shareholders - on top of a previous £1 billion share buyback programme and the £1.4 billion offered today following a 20% rise in the company's final dividend to 1.0780p per share.

The latest share buyback comes after Vodafone missed out in the £21.5 billion race earlier this year to buy AT&T Wireless of the United States.

As well as strong customer growth, Vodafone said "escalating" take-up of data services had driven the double-digit growth in revenues for the year.

Tuesday May 25, 2004