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Vodafone "will get taken apart" because of static European markets

The "asset-strippers" in mobile phone markets seem to have got the wrong message from the "appeasement" attempt made by Vodafone's Board in its recent financial results. Giving the financiers a big dividend doesn't seem to have satisfied their appetites one whit.

Word from within Wall Street is clear: as predicted earlier this week, Vodafone is no longer benefiting from its huge Euro markets. Quite the reverse: if you take all the static-growth, saturated markets like the UK, Germany, and France out of Vodafone, what is left is a group with massive growth potential.

The secret (why is it secret? it shouldn't be!) is that there isn't much money around for good solid earners. Venture capital is all itching for short-term, fast growth. And Vodafone has many brands around the world in markets where growth could be not just double-digit, but twice or three times the minimum for double digit. All that growth is currently diluted by its massive costs in markets where everybody who wants a phone, already has one.

If someone could put together enough money in one bucket to buy the whole group, the faster-growing pieces would be fought over by eager investors.

"It could be over before September," said one analyst this week, asking for complete confidentiality and anonymity. "I've been buying Vodafone shares, because I can't see them going anywhere but up, once the markets twig what the New York stock exchange is planning."

And the reference to September is an allusion to the most optimistic forecasts of how long CEO Arun Sarin will last, once the new Chairman takes over next month...

  Tags: Vodafone, mobile, cellphone, and Arun Sarin<1/>