Recent years have not been for Vodafone group (LSE: VOD) Price of shares and long shareholders. It is also not the last 10, 20 and 30 years. In fact, having Vodafone stocks was quite ungrateful work for most of this century.

VODAFONE variability

As I write, Vodafone divides trade into 75.62 pens, valuing this well -known telecommunications group at 19.2 billion £. This is an ordinary fraction of its peak market value. In fact, during the dotcom bubble, which broke in the spring of 2000, Vodafone was the largest stock company in Europe.

But time on this one -time corporate goliath. Although Vodafone shares increased by 12.3% in 12 months, they dropped by 32.8%-one-third or in the last half decade. What’s worse, the price of the action is at the same level today as in September 1995, almost 30 years ago. Wow.

What’s more, that’s FTSE 100 The participation has stuck in the routine over the past year. Vodafone shares traded from the lowest 63.06 pence on August 8, 2024 to the highest level of 79.5 Pens on September 17, 2024, without the upcoming signs.

Another loser

Over the years, I heard brokers and analysts call the European telecommunications market as a “values ​​cemetery”. In the case of Vodafone, this certainly seems true, especially after the group reduced the financial dividend by half last year.

As a reminder, my wife and I bought this shares in December 2022 for high dividend performance. We paid 90.2 for participation for our farm, so we cultivate a capital loss of around six (-16.2%). However, the juicy dividends of Vodafone relaxed the blow of this fall, doing everything better than it seems.

Good news finally?

However, at EUR 33.2 billion (28 billion GBP) of the net debt on the Vodafone balance, the reversal of this tanker will be a tough task. But maybe there is lightweight at the end of the tunnel for shareholders?

First of all, the connection with the Three UK rival proposed by Vodafone was approved by the British regulatory bodies in December. This will allow an integrated entity to invest up to 11 billion pounds in modernization of 5G with increased trust.

Secondly, while the company does not escalate revenues in basic European markets (especially in Great Britain and Germany), it develops in emerging markets. These brisk -growing regions include Africa, the Middle East and Turkey, and Africa is currently the fifth revenue from the group.

Thirdly, Vodafone talks about selling its shares in the Dutch Venture Vodafantziggo with the 50/50 partner Liberty Global for over 2 billion EUR (1.7 billion £). Although Vodaphontaziggo was founded in 2016, this failed to lead to a larger contract between these two telecommunications titans. Liberty also bought 5% of shares in Vodafone itself in 2023.

To sum up, I was dissatisfied with the Vodafone decision to reduce the dividend, but the group must generate cash to invest in future growth. The connection with the Three Great Britain will create a British giant with 29 million customers, which makes him number 1 in Great Britain. Telecoms is a business business, so I accept this move with satisfaction.

Finally, despite our capital loss, we intend to maintain our Vodafone shares. I highly rate the current director of Margherita della Valle, but he needs more time to introduce a recent life to this stimulating giant!