Western Daily Press (Saturday)
Vodafone to sell Italian arm to Swisscom for £6.8bn
VODAFONE has agreed an eight billion euro (£6.8 billion) deal to sell its Italian business to Switzerland’s Swisscom.
The mobile phone giant said it plans to hand four billion euros (£3.4 billion) back to shareholders through a buyback following the sale. It comes two weeks after the telecoms firms first confirmed they were in discussions over a potential deal.
Yesterday, London-listed Vodafone said the move represented an “attractive valuation” and marked the final step of its strategy to sell off parts of its European portfolio.
Swisscom will pay 100% cash in a move which will be fully debt-financed.
As part of the transaction, the two firms have agreed that Vodafone will continue to provide “certain services” to Swisscom over the next five years.
Swisscom will pay annual charges of around 350 million euros (£299 million).
Vodafone added that the two companies are also “exploring a closer commercial relationship to enable collaboration across a broad range of areas, beyond Italy”.
Margherita Della Valle, group chief executive of Vodafone, said: “Today, I am announcing the third and final step in the reshaping of our European operations. Going forward, our businesses will be operating in growing telco markets – where we hold strong positions – enabling us to deliver predictable, stronger growth in Europe.
“The sale of Vodafone Italy to Swisscom creates significant value for Vodafone and ensures the business maintains its leading position in Italy, which has been built through the dedicated commitment of our colleagues to serving our customers over many years.”
Vodafone is also planning to cut about 11,000 jobs over three years as part of efforts to simplify the global business, which could affect markets worldwide.
AVETERINARY practice that works with farmers across South West England and South Wales has appointed three new directors after celebrating its 25th anniversary.
Tyndale Vets, in Dursley in Gloucestershire, has promoted Kit Heawood, Sam Ecroyd and Harry Dibble following the retirement of Nick Eames, who co-founded the business in 1998. The trio join Tyndale’s existing directors – co-founder David Preece and Bryony Kendall – in the practice’s leadership team.
Tyndale is the only independent farm-only practice in Gloucestershire and employs a 32-strong team, including 11 vets. The practice is planning to recruit more vets and support staff this year, who will work across a wide area covering Tewkesbury, Gloucester, Forest of Dean, Bristol, Newport, Cardiff, Usk and Abergavenny.
Its divisions, complete with dedicated veterinary teams, span dairy, beef, sheep, dairy goats, park and farmed deer, and camelids. Tyndale has also established advanced breeding, genetics and Bovine IVF laboratories.
The news comes as the UK’s competition watchdog – the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) – prepares to launch a formal investigation into veterinary pricing after reporting “multiple concerns” in an initial review.
Mr Ecroyd said: “The veterinary industry has come under fire recently, with the CMA investigating the corporatisation of the industry and the soaring prices the corporates charge, but at Tyndale our ethos is about maintaining our independence and putting people before profits.
“When we started at vet school the ‘James Herriot path’ was still a reality; work hard as an assistant vet, become a partner and run your own business. Sadly, that opportunity has all but disappeared for most young vets. We’re therefore incredibly lucky to have been given this chance by Nick and David.”
Mr Ecroyd is from a sheep farming family in Lancashire and joined Tyndale as a new graduate in 2014. He is involved in Tyndale’s TB management programme and the practice’s advanced breeding team, and heads up Tyndale Deer Services, alongside Mr Heawood. Mr Heawood, who joined Tyndale in 2018, is also part of Tyndale’s advanced breeding team, working mainly with deer and goats. He also regularly works in Mongolia and Argentina at equine endurance events and recently completed a Certificate in Advanced Veterinary Practice.
Mr Dibble comes from a family with a background in dairy farming.
Currently, they milk 200 organic pedigree British Friesians at their farm near Swindon. He leads Tyndale’s dairy division.
Mr Preece said: “We’re now one of only a handful of independents in the area, following a period of major consolidation for the veterinary industry. This puts us in charge of our own destiny, meaning we can control how we work, our pricing structure and crucially our personal service levels, rather than us becoming part of a corporate machine with an ever-changing team.
“Promoting Sam, Kit and Harry to director level was an obvious way to further safeguard this freedom. All three are very experienced and popular in the farming community and there’s no doubt they’ll do a great job.”
Tyndale was supported through the transition by Andy Alder from Aidos Advisory, who acted as chairman to the board.