BERLIN (Reuters) -Vantage Towers, the infrastructure unit of Britain's Vodafone, on Monday reported modest growth in underlying revenue that came in just shy of expectations in its first full-year results since floating on the Frankfurt stock exchange.
Revenue grew by 2.2% to 966 million euros ($1.17 billion) on a proforma basis in the fiscal year to March 31, slightly short of median forecasts among analysts of 971 million euros compiled by Refinitiv.
Core profit, measured as EBITDA after leases, rose by 2.1% to 524 million euros, Vantage said.
"We have fully delivered on our FY21 operation and financial targets and we remain focused on commercialising our business and delivering our medium-term targets," Chief Executive Officer Vivek Badrinath said of the results.
Vodafone span out Vantage last year and the towers unit completed Germany's largest public listing since 2018 in March, achieving a valuation of 12.1 billion euros.
Shares ended last week 13% above their IPO price of 24 euros, reflecting a view among analysts that Vantage - which runs 82,000 sites in 10 European countries - stands to profit from long-term growth in mobile data use.
The proforma figures presented Vantage's results as if the company had been operating since April 1 of last year, the company said.
Vantage Towers set revenue guidance of 995 million euros to 1.01 billion euros for fiscal 2022. Profit margins are seen broadly stable and free cash flow at 390-400 million euros, up from the 2021 outturn of 384 million euros.
($1 = 0.8243 euros)
(Reporting by Douglas BusvineEditing by Caroline Copley)
