Vodafone Sales Rise on Currency Moves

Vodafone(VOD Quote), the world's largest mobile operator by revenue, said first-quarter revenue rose 9.3% to 10.7 billion pounds ($17.7 billion) as it benefited from exchange rate movements and from merger and acquisition activity.

Organic service revenue in the quarter fell 2.1%, while free cash flow was 1.9 billion pounds, an increase of 21%.

"In the first quarter the service revenue trend in Europe was consistent with the previous quarter and we continued to see good growth in India and South Africa," said CEO Vittorio Colao, in a statement Friday. "Our total communications strategy is delivering well, with organic data revenue up 19% and organic fixed line revenue 7% ahead of the comparative period."

Vodafone reaffirmed its full-year guidance.