How do you handle a dividend cut announcement? It’s a tricky one, especially if you specifically said six months earlier you intended to do no such thing.
I think Vodafone managed it well today. There was too much jargon, but then with Vodafone there always is.
I expect it to get a bit of a slap in the press tomorrow, but in the longer run it might turn out to look like the savvier operator.
If, as some expect, Centrica, BT, SSE and others are forced to follow suit as Brexit bites and a global trade war deepens, Voda wins props for having the nerve to do the right thing first.
If they don’t, the City might increasingly ask whether it is worth holding Vodafone shares anymore.
Developing, as they say….
