Good morning, everybody. It's 10 o'clock. We are Core8 and I now declare our Annual General Meeting open. I am delighted to welcome you to Vodafone UK headquarters at the Connexion in Yewbury. Before we begin, I would like to mention that in line with our standard practice, this meeting is being webcast live and you may appear on video.
I would like to firstly introduce myself. I'm the Chairman of the Board, Jean Francois Van Boksmir. To my left is our General Counsel and Company Secretary, Rosemarie Martin and to her left is Val Gooding. To my right is our Chief Executive Nick Reid and our Financial Officer Margarita Della Valle to his right and to their right is David Nisch. For safety reasons, we are unable to have our entire Board in the room with us today, So joining us via video conferencing are Sir Crispin Davis and Dame Clara Furst, who appear on screen now.
As we announced on 18 May this year, Renee James is not seeking reelection at our meeting today. On behalf of the Board, I would like to thank Renee for her significant contribution to Vodafone during her 10 year tenure and we wish her well for the future. Yesterday, we also announced that Sanjeev Ahuja has decided to step down from the Board and is not seeking reelection at today's AGM. And on behalf of the Board, I would like to thank Sanjeev for his valuable contribution to Vodafone over the last 3 years. Later, we will be asking you to approve the election of Olaf Swanti, who will bring significant telecoms experience to our board.
Our agenda today is as follows: Firstly, in order to make our AGM as inclusive as possible for shareholders both here in the room and joining us online. We will show a video presentation covering our results for the financial year 2021. We also have a suite of materials available online including video interviews with some of our of my fellow board members. These materials are linked through the annual report with hyperlinks and QR codes. We then answer your questions, including questions that were submitted to us remotely in advance of this meeting before concluding with the resolutions.
I should mention that we will be only referring to our annual financial results to the end of March 2021. This is the usual legal notice which is also available online for you to read. For those of you in the room, I would also like to request that your mobile phones for once are switched off or set to silent. Before I begin, I would like to comment on what attracted me to your board and what I have seen since I became Chairman of Vodafone in November 2020. Vodafone is a dynamic, fast paced business with a fantastic brand and it has achieved a lot over the last 3 years.
For me, there is still a great opportunity to oversee and support the long term success of Vodafone during the next phase of its transformation as it becomes a new generation connectivity and digital services provider for Europe and Africa. Vodafone has a clear vision and purpose to enable an inclusive, sustainable digital society, And under current pandemic, this has become more relevant than ever. Since joining your Board, I have been particularly impressed by the company's ability to adapt quickly to the sudden changes in circumstances and the demand placed on our services across all our markets. The connectivity we provide has been a lifeline for tightly, enabling people to work, businesses to stay operational, public services to function, and people to keep in touch with their families and friends. Vodafone has adapted rapidly to address these challenges and as a result, we have been able to capture the opportunities that have arisen as societies embrace digital transformation.
I would now like to show you a video presentation setting out our financial results and our strategic performance during the year and to outline the next phase of our strategy to become a new generation connectivity and digital service provider.
Vodafone has delivered a resilient financial performance during the year in 3 key areas. First, the pandemic has impacted revenue growth, mainly as a result of lower international travel volumes throughout our markets. However, despite this drag, we were back in growth in the second half of the year, driven by our response to the pandemic And our continued commercial momentum. 2nd, our resilient service revenue has been matched by resilient profitability. In line with our guidance, we delivered EBITDA of €14,400,000,000 holding our EBITDA margin broadly flat at just under 33%.
3rd, we also generated free cash flow in line with our guidance At just over €5,000,000,000 before spectrum and restructuring charges. Our resilient financial performance is underpinned By our operating model and driven by the strategic actions we've taken over the last 3 years. We have now delivered 10 consecutive quarters of improvement in customer loyalty, which has been delivered by relentless focus on high quality and reliable connectivity And digital first service experience. This is translating into more customers choosing Vodafone for their fixed and mobile connectivity. Over 1,400,000 new customers have chosen us for their vital fixed connectivity during a year when connecting has never been more important.
We have also continued to work relentlessly to drive efficiencies across the group. We have also continued to make good progress regarding the integration of the Liberty assets in Germany and Central Eastern Europe. A real highlight for me during the year was the successful IPO of Vantage Towers. Just under 2 years ago, we announced our plans to create a new tower company. Since then, we have established extensive network sharing arrangements, Completed the combination of our assets in Italy with Inuit and in Greece with Wynn Hellas and formed the company with a strong management team.
This has all culminated in the €12,000,000,000 IPO in March. Our strategic progress over the last year has been part of our 3 year ambition to reshape Vodafone as a Stronger connectivity provider. The charts here show the tangible operational output of our activity. 1st, top left, our actions to deepen customer engagement have led to a systematic improvement in customer loyalty. 2nd, Bottom left, our relentless focus on productivity and efficiency enabled through digital investment Has meant we've delivered our original OpEx savings target of €1,200,000,000 earlier than planned And are already working on the next phase of opportunity.
3rd, top right, through targeted capital deployment and growth, We are delivering both improvements in network quality alongside significant improvements in utilization. And finally, bottom right, We've optimized our portfolio to focus on Europe and Africa. This has involved 19 significant transactions over the last 3 years, Including the acquisition of the Liberty assets, the sale of our operations in New Zealand and a series of transactions leading up To the IPO Advantage Towers. However, as stressed in our H1 results presentation, though we are making good Strategic progress. We have to do more to drive shareholder returns, and I will expand on this later in my presentation.
The pandemic Driving a step change in digitization across society and the EU Recovery Fund's magnitude and digital focus, Combined with the strong delivery of our strategic plan over the past 3 years provides us with a unique opportunity to advance the next phase of our strategy to be a new generation connectivity and digital services provider. This strategy is focused on growth In a few key areas to drive shareholder returns, starting with the best NGN connectivity products and scale platforms, This is what we're known for, underpinned by leading gigabit networks. Given the 5 gs transformational impact on businesses of all When combined with IoT, edge computing, cloud technology and our unique capabilities in Vodafone Business, We will see NGN connectivity be a growth factor for Vodafone. But in addition, we want to lead in innovation of digital Services, both products and services developed by Vodafone, such as business IoT with end to end digital services, As well as to build platforms to ensure our strategic partners' digital services are always best on Vodafone. Given the pace of our digital progress within the business, we now want to build differentiation by investing in providing
outstanding digital experiences
across sales and service. Standing digital experiences across sales and service. We want to lead the industry in the way we interact with our customers. This will involve standardized platforms across the group such as the My Vodafone app, TOBI and our recent vHub for SMEs. We want to ensure that we are always competitive, providing our customers excellent value, proximity and innovation.
We will leverage our unique scale in Europe and Africa to ensure we are the most efficient operator, manufacturing the lowest unitary cost in the the lowest unitary cost in the industry. And finally, the pandemic has shown how critical Our industry is to society. It is important to have a strong social contract where we Provide the best connectivity and digital services, and governments provide the right policy framework to encourage investment And allow us to earn a reasonable return. Our focus will be on working with governments on the right policies to achieve their goals Rather than excessively focusing on regulation, if we get the policies right, then the right regulation will flow. As I said, this strategy is focused on growth.
So for the first time, I'm pleased to share our medium term growth ambition with you. First, we see a compelling opportunity for higher growth given the acceleration we have seen towards a digital society over the past year. Importantly, this growth opportunity exists in both Europe and Africa. This revenue growth will translate To mid single digit growth in our EBITDAL, demonstrating the operating leverage in our model, We also expect to grow EBIT at a faster rate. Our profit growth will be matched by mid single digit growth in adjusted free cash This new cash flow measure ensures we retain the flexibility to support Vantage Towers in achieving its Higher attractive growth ambitions.
Alongside growth in revenue, profits and cash flow, we are firmly focused on continuing To delever within our targeted range, primarily as a function of growth. This growth strategy ultimately translates Driving shareholder returns. We have clear ambitions to improve our targeted return on capital, ultimately exceeding our weighted average Cost of capital over the medium term, all underpinned by a clear commitment to maintaining the dividend At least a minimum level of €0.09 per annum.
Before we turn to your questions, I have 2 brief points. If you are a shareholder or a shareholder's validly appointed proxy, you are eligible to vote on the resolutions and to ask questions at this meeting. If you're not a shareholder or a validly appointed proxy, we are delighted to welcome you to the meeting, but but you cannot ask a question nor are you eligible for to vote. 2nd, because we need to ensure this meeting is as safe as possible. Our UK customer service team has been enabled to attend in the usual way.
We are of course happy to take any general question about Vodafone during the meeting, but would ask you or would ask that you reserve any individual customer account matters for the UK customer service team. They can be contact using the details on Page 19 of the notice of the AGM. If there are no objections, I propose that the notice convening the meeting be taken as read. We will now be happy to answer your questions. When selected, please make your way up to the podium, Identify yourself and then ask your question.
Please note that you will be recorded. As I see that this year we will Have no question. We will now then immediately go to answer a question that was submitted prior to the meeting.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We have had one valid question pre submitted from a representative of Share The question is regarding the voluntary living wage as established by the Living Wage Foundation. It is currently £10.85 in London And £9.50 throughout the rest of the UK. I would like to thank Vodafone for our previous engagement on this topic.
Momentum for the living wage standard has continued to grow throughout the COVID-nineteen pandemic, with more employers committing to pay all direct workers And any subcontracted staff vital to the success of the business, a wage that meets the cost of living. Over 8,000 businesses are now recognized with the Living Wage Foundation, including 45 of the FTSE 100. They were encouraged to read in our annual report that ensuring a good standard of living was Core principle for setting pay for direct staff. They understand the challenges regarding 3rd party contracts and living wage accreditation. The Living Wage Foundation are best placed to help overcome these challenges and have experience of doing so.
They would like to ask the Board for their current position on this topic, Including disclosure of the base hourly pay for both direct and subcontracted workers in the UK. Additionally, would a representative of the company Meet with ShareAction, investor representatives of the Good Work Coalition and the Living Wage Foundation to discuss this further.
Thank you for your question. As set out in our externally published Fair Pay Principles, Vodafone is committed to providing a good standard of living for both our people and also their families. Our focus on this matter goes beyond the UK and we work with the Fair Wage Network to assess how pay compares to the living wage across all of our markets acting where needed. Whilst it is a matter for third parties to make decisions about their Own employees pay, including any related disclosures, of course. We do strongly encourage them to pay the living wage.
We are not seeking formal accreditation with the Living Wage Foundation. However, we continue to review our supply chain relationships on an ongoing basis and encourage them the payment of the living wage by all our suppliers. Vodafone is also the current chair of an industry association that is currently looking at how the living wage can be guaranteed across all suppliers that operate within our industry. More broadly, we understand the importance of engagement with our stakeholders. We are open to hearing and sharing best practice in this area and have engaged at a number of external events on our work in the wider Fair Pay area.
Vodafone has also expanded its workforce related disclosures over the last couple of years. This includes our UK gender pay gap, CEO pay ratios and Participation in voluntary transparency initiatives such as ShareAction's Workforce Disclosure Initiative. We will continue to engage with our investors and other stakeholders on our workforce related disclosures. Since I don't have further questions, we now turn to the resolution set out in the notice of meeting. In common with many companies, resolutions are decided upon by means of a poll.
This gives all shareholders the opportunity to vote whether or not they are present at this meeting. If you have already voted on a resolution and do not wish to change your mind, There is no need to vote in this meeting now. Similarly, if you have already voted by proxy, either by post or online, Your vote has already been counted and will be included in the figures when the results of the poll is announced. If you have already voted but now wish to change your mind, your vote in this meeting will supersede your previous vote. If you neither if you have neither a poll card nor a pen, please raise your hand now and One of the registers will come over to you.
For your information, we will display on the screen alongside the resolutions the results of the proxy votes received prior to the meeting. If you wish to begin voting, please do so now while I'll summarize the resolutions before you. Your Board recommends that you vote for all the resolutions as we have done in respect of our own shareholdings. Before I begin, I should highlight that Resolution 11 to reappoint Sanjeev Ahuja as a non executive director of the company is now withdrawn. The withdrawal of Resolution 11 does not otherwise affect the validity of the notice of meeting, to proxy form or any proxy votes already submitted on other proposed resolutions.
The numbering of all other proposed resolutions Our meeting today will remain unchanged. The first resolution is to receive the company's account, The strategic report and the reports of the directors and the auditor for the year ended 31st March 2021. The resolutions 2 to 12 relate to the election and reelection of directors. Olaf Svante is standing for election for the first time in accordance with our articles of association. The remaining directors are standing for reelection apart from Renee James and Sanjeev Ahuja, who are both stepping down from the board.
Resolution 13 is to declare a final dividend. Your Board is recommending the payment of a final dividend €4.5 per ordinary share making a total dividend of €0.09 per share for the year. Resolution 14 is to approve the annual report on remuneration for the year ended 31st March 2021. Resolution 15 is to reappoint Ernst and Young as the company's statutory auditor to hold office until the next general meeting at which accounts are laid before the company. Resolution Dean authorizes the Audit and Risk Committee to determine the remuneration of the auditor.
Resolution 17 to 20 relate to the directors authorizations. Resolutions 17a and 17b authorizes directors to issue shares equivalent to 1 third of the existing ordinary shares and also to issue shares equivalent a further one third of the existing ordinary shares in the company excluding treasury shares as part of a rights issue. Resolution 18 2019 allowed directors to allot a limited number of shares without first offering them to existing shareholders. Such limits being 5% of the company's share capital for any purpose and an additional 5% of the company's share capital for the purposes of a specific capital investment. Resolution 20 authorizes directors to purchase up to 10% of the company's share capital excluding Treasury shares.
Each of these authorities will be in place authorizations will be in place until the earlier of the next AGM of the company in 2022 or at the close of business on the 30th September 2022, whichever occurs first. Resolution 21 authorizes the adoption of new articles of associations which take into account developments in market practice since the articles were last adopted in 2018. The key changes include permitting Vodafone to hold hybrid meetings, which will allow members to attend both virtually as well as physically. The changes do not allow us to hold virtual only meetings, enabling the Board to pass written resolutions by majority, and finally, adopting the use of gender neutral language. Resolution 22 authorizes the company and its subsidiaries to make limited political donations up to an aggregate amount of €100,000 It remains Vodafone's policy not to make political donations or incur political expenditure as those terms are normally understood.
This resolution is purely precautionary in nature. Resolution 23 authorizes the board to call general meetings of the company other than an AGM with 14 days notice. That is a summary of all the resolutions being put to the meeting today. Please ensure that you have completed your poll card and signed it before depositing it into the secure voting box as you exit the room. You will have 15 minutes after the end of the meeting to lodge your vote beyond which point the poll vote will close.
The registers will begin to count your votes as soon as the meeting is over and your votes for each resolution will be added to the proxy votes. Representatives of our register, Equity, are acting as scrutineers for the poll. The final totals will be notified to the London Stock Exchange and posted on our website later today. Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes the business of the meeting. Please remember to complete a Sign and deposit your poll card in the voting box before you leave the room in order for your vote to count.
Thank you for joining us today and I now declare the meeting closed.