Vodafone has warned its assets are overvalued by as much as Ј28bn and it faces a slowdown in revenue growth.
The mobile phone giant said it would take a hit of between Ј23bn and Ј28bn - mainly on its German operations after its takeover of Mannesmann in 2000.
Increasing competition will also see revenue growth slow to between 5% and 6.5% for the year to March 2007 - down from previous forecasts of 6% to 9%.
As a result earnings will fall 1% in the next financial year, Vodafone said.
However, this year's results would be unaffected.
Most of the impairment charge relates to the value of the group's German assets but operations in Italy and possibly Japan are also overvalued.
Vodafone also blamed the warning on tougher regulation which has led to mobile firms reducing the amount they charge each other and landline firms for putting callers through to their customers.
The news prompted a sharp drop in Vodafone's shares, which slipped 4.75 pence - or 4.06% - to 112.25p.
(BBC)
<< Back