Accounting policies

Financial assets and financial liabilities, in respect of financial instruments, are recognised on the Group’s consolidated statement of financial position when the Group becomes a party to the contractual provisions of the instrument.

Financial liabilities and equity instruments issued by the Group are classified according to the substance of the contractual arrangements entered into and the definitions of a financial liability and an equity instrument. An equity instrument is any contract that provides a residual interest in the assets of the Group after deducting all of its liabilities and includes no obligation to deliver cash or other financial assets. The accounting policies adopted for specific financial liabilities and equity instruments are set out below.

The Group’s activities expose it to the financial risks of changes in foreign exchange rates and interest rates which it manages using derivative financial instruments. The use of financial derivatives is governed by the Group’s policies approved by the Board of Directors, which provide written principles on the use of financial derivatives consistent with the Group’s risk management strategy. The Group does not use derivative financial instruments for speculative purposes.

 

 

 

Derivative financial instruments are initially measured at fair value on the contract date and are subsequently to fair value at each reporting date. Changes in values of all derivatives of a financing nature are included within investment income and financing costs in the income statement unless designated in an effective cash flow hedge relationship or a hedge of a net investment in foreign operations when the effective portion of changes in value are deferred to other comprehensive income. Hedge effectiveness is determined at the inception of the hedge relationship, and through periodic prospective effectiveness assessments to ensure that an economic relationship exists between the hedged item and hedging instrument. For fair value hedges, the carrying value of the hedged item is also adjusted for changes in fair value for the hedged risk, with gains and losses recognised in the income statement.

Hedge accounting is discontinued when the hedging instrument expires or is sold, terminated, exercised or no longer qualifies for hedge accounting. When hedge accounting is discontinued, any gain or loss recognised in other comprehensive income at that time remains in equity and is recognised in the income statement when the hedged transaction is ultimately recognised in the income statement.

For cash flow hedges, when the hedged item is recognised in the income statement, amounts previously recognised in other comprehensive income and accumulated in equity for the hedging instrument are reclassified to the income statement. However, when the hedged transaction results in the recognition of a asset or a liability, the gains and losses previously recognised in other comprehensive income and accumulated in equity are transferred from equity and included in the initial measurement of the cost of the asset or liability. If a forecast transaction is no longer expected to occur, the gain or loss accumulated in equity is recognised immediately in the income statement.

For net investment hedges, gains and losses accumulated in other comprehensive income are included in the income statement when the foreign operation is disposed of.

Capital management

The following table summarises the capital of the Group at 31 March:

 

The Group’s policy is to borrow centrally using a mixture of long-term and short-term capital market issues and borrowing facilities to meet anticipated funding requirements. These borrowings, together with cash generated from operations, are loaned internally or contributed as equity to certain subsidiaries.

Dividend policies within shareholder agreements for certain of the Group’s associates and joint ventures give the Group certain rights to receive dividends but are generally paid at the discretion of the Board of Directors or shareholders. We do not have existing obligations to pay dividends to interest partners of our subsidiaries. The amount of dividends received and paid in the year are disclosed in the consolidated statement of cash flows.

 

 

During the year, the Group sold certain trade receivables to a number of financial institutions. Whilst there are no repurchase obligations in respect of these receivables, the Group provided credit guarantees which would only become payable if default rates were significantly higher than historical rates. The credit guarantee is not considered substantive and substantially all risks and rewards associated with the receivables passed to the purchaser at the date of sale, therefore the receivables were derecognised. The maximum payable under the guarantees at 31 March 2026 was 1,868 million (2025: 1,765 million). No provision has been made in respect of these guarantees as the likelihood of a cash outflow has been assessed as remote.

The Group offers eligible suppliers the opportunity to use supply chain financing, allowing suppliers that decide to use it to receive payment earlier than the invoice due date (see note 15 ‘Trade and other payables’). The Group does not provide any financial guarantees to the financial institutions that run the supply chain financing programme and continues to cash settle supplier payables in accordance with their contractual terms.

Financial risk management

The Group’s treasury function centrally manages the Group’s funding requirement, net foreign exchange exposure, interest rate management exposures and counterparty risk arising from investments and derivatives. Treasury operations are conducted within a framework of policies and guidelines authorised and reviewed by the Board, most recently in May 2025. Treasury risk management is overseen by a committee comprising of the Group’s Chief Financial Officer, Group General Counsel and Company Secretary, Group Corporate Finance Director, Group Treasury Director and Group Director of Financial Controlling and Operations. The committee receives management information relating to treasury activities on a quarterly basis. The Group’s Internal Auditor reviews the internal control environment regularly.

 issued by the Group or the Revolving Credit Facilities are subject to financial covenant ratios. Approximately 30 billion (2025: 30 billion) of issued bonds have a change of control clause. The Group uses derivative instruments for currency and interest rate risk management purposes that are transacted by specialist treasury personnel. The Group mitigates banking sector credit risk by the use of collateral support agreements.

The Group’s financial risk management policies seek to reduce the Group’s exposure to any future disruption to financial markets, including any future impacts from global economic and political uncertainty and other macro economic events.

The Group has combined cash and cash equivalent and investments included in net debt of 13.3 billion, providing significant headroom over short-term liquidity requirements. Additionally the Group maintains undrawn revolving credit facilities of 7.6 

 

 

The Group invests in government securities on the basis they generate a fixed rate of return and are amongst the most creditworthy of investments available.

Investments are made in accordance with established internal treasury policies which dictate the scaled maximum exposure permissible in relation to an investment’s long-term credit rating. The Group invests in AAA unsecured money market mutual funds, where the investment is limited to 10% of each fund; A to AAA government securities, both directly and through money market mutual funds; and has two managed investment funds that hold securities with an average credit quality of AA.

In respect of financial instruments used by the Group’s treasury function, the aggregate credit risk the Group may have with one counterparty is limited by reference to the long-term credit ratings assigned for that counterparty. Furthermore, collateral support agreements reduce the Group’s exposure to counterparties who must post cash or collateral when there is value due to the Group under outstanding derivative contracts that exceeds a contractually agreed threshold amount. When value is due to the counterparty the Group is required to post collateral on identical terms. Such cash collateral is adjusted daily as necessary. collateral is not recognised in the statement of financial position but it would become payable to the Group in the event of a counterparty default on the related derivative financial assets.

In the event of any default, ownership of the collateral would revert to the respective holder at that point. Detailed below is the value of the cash collateral, which is reported within current borrowings, held by the Group at 31 March.

 

In addition, as discussed in note 29 ‘Contingent liabilities and legal proceedings’, the Group has covenanted to provide security in favour of the trustee of the Vodafone Group UK Pension Scheme in respect of the funding deficit in the scheme. The Group has also pledged cash as collateral against derivative financial instruments as disclosed in note 13 ‘Other investments’.

Customer credit risk is managed by the Group’s business units which each have policies, procedures and controls relating to customer credit risk management. Outstanding trade receivables and contract assets are regularly reviewed to monitor any changes in credit risk with concentrations of credit risk considered to be limited given that the Group’s customer base is large and unrelated. The Group applies the simplified approach and records lifetime expected credit losses for trade receivables and contract assets. Expected credit losses are measured using historical cash collection data for periods of at least 24 months wherever possible and grouped into various customer segments based on product or customer type. The historical loss rates are adjusted where macroeconomic factors, for example changes in interest rates or unemployment rates, or other commercial factors are expected to have a significant impact when determining future expected credit loss rates.

For trade receivables the expected credit loss provision is calculated using a provision matrix, in which the provision increases as balances age, and for receivables paid in instalments and contract assets a weighted loss rate is calculated to reflect the period over which the amounts become due for payment by the customer. Trade receivables and contract assets are written off when each business unit determines there to be no reasonable expectation of recovery and enforcement activity has ceased.

Movements in the allowance for expected credit losses during the year were as follows:

 

Note:

 

Expected credit losses are presented as net credit losses on financial assets within operating profit and subsequent recoveries of amounts previously written off are credited against the same line item.

The majority of the Group’s trade receivables are due for maturity within 90 days and largely comprise amounts receivable from consumers and business customers. The table below presents information on trade receivables past due¹ and their associated expected credit losses:

 

 

Note:

 

 

 

Liquidity is reviewed daily on at least a rolling basis and stress tested on the assumption that any commercial paper outstanding matures and is not reissued. The Group maintains substantial cash and cash equivalents which at 31 March 2026 amounted to cash 9.0 billion (2025: 11.0 billion) and undrawn committed facilities of 7.6 billion (2025: 8.0 billion), principally US dollar and euro revolving credit facilities of US$4.0 billion (3.5 billion) and 4.1 billion and which mature in 2028 and 2031 respectively. The Group manages liquidity risk on borrowings by maintaining a varied maturity profile with a cap on the level of debt maturity in any one calendar year, therefore minimising refinancing risk. borrowings mature between 1 and 60 years.

The maturity profileof the anticipated future cash flows including interest in relation to the Group’s financial liabilities on an undiscounted basis which, therefore, differs from both the carrying value and fair value, is as follows:

 

Notes:

 

 

 

The maturity profile of the Group’s financial derivatives (which include interest rate swaps, cross-currency interest rate swaps and foreign exchange swaps) using undiscounted cash flows, is as follows:

 

Note:

 

 

 

Under the Group’s interest rate management policy, interest rates on long-term monetary assets and liabilities are principally maintained on a fixed rate basis.

For each one hundred basis point rise in market interest rates for all currencies in which the Group had borrowings at 31 March 2026 there would be a decrease in profit before tax by 9 million (2025: 26 million decrease) including mark to market revaluations of interest rate and other derivatives and the potential interest on cash and short-term investments. For each one hundred basis point fall in market interest rates for all currencies in which the Group had borrowings at 31 March 2026 there would be an increase in profit before tax by 19 million (2025: 39 million increase).There would be no material impact on equity.

At 31 March 2026, the Group had limited exposure through interest rate derivatives and floating rate bonds referencing LIBOR and other interbank offered rates (IBORs).

As Vodafone’s primary listing is on the London Stock Exchange its share price is quoted in sterling. Since the sterling share price represents the value of its future multi-currency cash flows, principally in euro, South African rand and sterling, the Group maintains the currency of debt and interest charges in proportion to its expected future principal cash flows and has a policy to hedge external foreign exchange risks on transactions denominated in other currencies above a certain de minimis level.

At 31 March 2026, 11% of net debt was denominated in currencies other than euro (8% South African rand and 3% other). This allows South African rand to be serviced in proportion to expected future cash flows and therefore provides a partial economic hedge against income statement translation exposure.

Under the Group’s foreign exchange management policy, foreign exchange transaction exposure in Group companies is generally maintained at the lower of 5 million per currency per month or 15 million per currency over a period.

The Group recognises foreign exchange movements in equity for the translation of net investment hedging instruments and balances treated as investments in foreign operations. However, there is no net impact on equity for exchange rate movements on net investment hedging instruments as there would be an offset in the currency translation of the foreign operation. At 31 March 2026 the Group held financial liabilities in a net investment hedge against the Group’s South African rand operations. Sensitivity to foreign exchange movements on the hedging liabilities, analysed against a strengthening of the South African rand by 10% would result in a decrease in equity of 112 million (2025: 131 million) which would be fully offset by foreign exchange movements on the hedged net assets. Weakening of the South African Rand by 10% would result in an increase of equity of 91 million (2025: 107 million). In addition, cash flow hedges of principally US dollar borrowings would result in an increase in equity of 235 million (2025: 372

 

 

Risk management strategy of hedge relationships

The risk strategies of the designated cash flow, fair value, and net investment hedges reflect the above market risk strategies.

The objective of the cash flow hedges is principally to convert foreign currency denominated fixed rate borrowings in US dollar, Pound sterling, Australian dollar, Swiss franc, Hong Kong dollar, Japanese yen, Norwegian krona and floating rate borrowings into euro fixed rate borrowings and hedge the foreign exchange spot rate and interest rate risk. There are also cash flow hedges of certain subsidiary expenditure not denominated in functional currency of the entity, to hedge foreign exchange risk. Derivative financial instruments designated in cash flow hedges are cross-currency interest rate swaps and foreign exchange swaps and forwards. The swap maturity dates and liquidity profiles of the nominal cash flows match those of the underlying borrowings and exposures.

The objective of the net investment hedges is to hedge foreign exchange risk in foreign operations. Derivative financial instruments designated in net investment hedges are cross-currency interest rate swaps and foreign exchange swaps. The hedging instruments are rolled on an ongoing basis as determined by the nature of the business.

Hedge effectiveness is determined at the inception of the hedge relationship and through periodic prospective effectiveness assessments to ensure that an economic relationship exists between the hedged item and hedging instrument.

For hedges of foreign currency denominated borrowings and investments, the Group uses a combination of cross-currency and foreign exchange swaps to hedge its exposure to foreign exchange risk and interest rate risk and enters into hedge relationships where the critical terms of the hedging instrument match with the terms of the hedged item. Therefore, the Group expects a highly effective hedging relationship with the swap contracts and the value of the corresponding hedged items to change systematically in the opposite direction in response to movements in the underlying exchange rates and interest rates. The Group therefore performs a qualitative assessment of effectiveness. If changes in circumstances affect the terms of the hedged item such that the critical terms no longer match with the critical terms of the hedging instrument, the Group uses the hypothetical derivative method to assess effectiveness. Hedge ineffectiveness may occur due to:

a) The fair value of the hedging instrument on the hedge relationship designation date if the fair value is not nil;

b) Changes in the contractual terms or timing of the payments on the hedged item; and

c) A change in the credit risk of the Group or the counterparty with the hedging instrument.

The hedge ratio for each designation will be established by comparing the quantity of the hedging instrument and the quantity of the hedged item to determine their relative weighting; for all of the Group’s existing hedge relationships the hedge ratio has been determined as 1:1.

The fair values of the derivative financial instruments are calculated by discounting the future cash flows to net present values using appropriate market rates and foreign currency rates prevailing at 31 March. The valuation basis is level 2 of the fair value hierarchy. This classification comprises items where fair value is determined from inputs other than quoted prices that are observable for the asset and liability, either directly or indirectly. Derivative financial assets and liabilities are included within trade and other receivables and trade and other payables in the statement of financial position.

 

 

 

The table below shows the carrying values and nominal amounts of derivatives in a continued hedge relationship as at 31 March.

 

 

Notes:

 

 

 

The carrying value of bonds includes an additional 382 million loss (2025: 457 million loss) in relation to fair value of other bonds previously designated in fair value hedge relationships.

 

 

Changes in assets and liabilities arising from financing activities

The tables below present the changes in assets and liabilities arising from financing activities at 31 March 2026 and 31 March 2025.

 

 

 

Notes:

 

 

 

Fair value and carrying value information

The carrying value and valuation basis of the Group’s financial assets are set out in notes 13 ‘Other investments’, 14 ‘Trade and other receivables’ and 19 ‘Cash and cash equivalents’. For all financial assets held at amortised cost the carrying values approximate fair value except as disclosed in note 13 ‘Other investments’.

The carrying value and valuation basis of the Group’s financial liabilities are set out in notes 15 ‘Trade and other payables’ and 21 ‘Borrowings’. The carrying values approximate fair value for the Group’s trade payables and other payables categories. For other financial liabilities a comparison of fair value and carrying value is disclosed in note 21 ‘Borrowings’.

Following the completion of the sale of Vodafone Spain on 31 May 2024 (See note 7 ‘Discontinued operations and assets held for sale’), the Group received the consideration component in the form of 900 million Redeemable Preference Shares (‘RPS’) issued by EJLSHM Funding Ltd (‘EJLSHM’). The RPS were redeemed in January 2026. The Zegona shares were recorded at fair value through profit and loss and had a fair value of 937 million on 31 March 2025.

In the prior year, the valuation approach for the Zegona shares reflected the contractual terms of the RPS arrangement and utilised a bespoke option model which drew on observable Level 2 market data inputs, including bond yields, share prices, and foreign exchange rates. The model also includes certain key inputs that requires judgement. These included the timing settlement of the RPS liability to the Group, Zegona’s share price volatility and the share’s expected dividend yield.

Financial assets and liabilities are offset and the net amount reported in the consolidated balance sheet when there is a legally enforceable right to offset the recognised amounts and there is an intention to settle on a net basis or realise the asset and settle the liability simultaneously. Derivative financial instruments that do not meet the criteria for offset could be settled net in certain circumstances under ISDA (‘International Swaps and Derivatives Association’) agreements where each party has the option to settle amounts on a net basis in the event of default from the other. Collateral may be offset and net settled against derivative financial instruments in the event of default by either party. The aforementioned collateral balances are recorded in notes 13 ‘Other investments’ or 21 ‘Borrowings’ respectively.