Buyback plan at Vodafone

MOBILE phones giant Vodafone will reveal details on Tuesday of a large share buyback programme when it unveils profits of about £6.6bn on a turnover of £34.3bn.

Despite problems in Japan, it has performed well in Europe. With huge sums of cash coming in, it could spend £4bn or more buying back shares next year. With fewer shares, the dividend yield is higher.

But Vodafone has made slow progress toward its ambitious target of 10m third-generation customers by March 2006, analysts said.

Rival Virgin Mobile, which uses T-Mobile's network, is reporting its first annual profit since listing last July. The focus will also be on dividends, with analysts expecting from 4.5p to 5p a share over the next year. Profits should come in at £66.5m on turnover of £516m.

Fixed-line rivals Cable & Wireless, Thus Group and Kingston Communications also report this week.

Cable & Wireless is expected to make pre-tax profits of £352m on turnover of £3.2bn. Analysts will be looking for updates on the new UK strategy of chasing broadband customers.