COMPANY NEWS IN BRIEF

Vodafone CEO secures early winVodafone boss Margherita Della Valle has bagged her first win with a merger deal in Britain, but the time it took to get there and the tortuous road ahead shows the scale of the challenge she faces to turn around the telecoms group.Della Valle was appointed chief executive in late April, tasked with overhauling the business in key European markets and halt a slide in performance that has left its share price languishing at 25-year lows.She has struck in Britain first, announcing on Wednesday a 15 billion pound merger of its UK mobile operations with those of CK Hutchison to form a new market leader.The two sides first revealed they were in talks in October, 2022. They hope to close the deal, if they can secure regulatory and political approval, by the end of 2024, meaning they must wait another 18 months before any synergy savings or improvement in performance can start to hit the bottom line."For Vodafone this transaction is a game changer in our home market," Della Valle, a 29-year company veteran, told reporters. Under the terms, Vodafone could eventually buy out the Hong Kong-based conglomerate if they both agree.-Fin24Volkswagen to boost flagship brandGerman auto giant Volkswagen unveiled a plan to more than double its flagship VW brand's return on sales and increase earnings by around 10 billion euros (US$10.8 billion) by 2026.It will involve changes across many areas of the brand, with the aim of achieving a return of 6.5 percent, as well as "synergies" to reduce costs.Returns came in at about three percent from January to March this year. By comparison, luxury brands Porsche and Audi have margins exceeding 10 percent while France's Renault is targeting eight percent by 2025 after 5.6 last year.The Volkswagen group has 10 brands, including Audi, Porsche and Skoda. Last year, the VW brand represented just over half the group's sales but its margins are the weakest.Achieving the higher return "is very ambitious, but feasible if we pool our efforts," said Thomas Schaefer, CEO of the VW brand, in a statement.-Fin24MTN fights 'bizarre' funds seizureA Cameroon court ordered banks used by MTN to transfer its funds into escrow over a dispute the wire carrier says have nothing to do with it, marking an escalation of a conflict that had already frozen MTN’s access to local accounts. The order, dated 9 June, relates to a dispute between South African lender First National Bank and Cameroonian businessman Ahmadou Baba Danpullo, MTN said in an emailed response to questions."It is utterly astounding that MTN is being brought into this issue,” MTN’s chief of sustainability and corporate affairs, Nompilo Morafo, said. “We have pursued all legal channels to resolve this bizarre situation in which we find ourselves caught up, but to no avail.”African wireless carriers have been hit with an increasing number of legal, regulatory and tax disputes, curbing investor appetite on the continent at a time when major capital outlays are needed to keep up with growing demand.MTN in January got a $722 million tax bill from Ghana that was later scrapped, while the Democratic Republic of Congo last year seized the passports of executives at carriers including Orange SA and Vodacom Group over a controversial tax law.-Fin24

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