Mobile maths

Vodafone has strained every sinew to make its $18.8bn acquisition of Hutchison Essar meet its financial criteria. Cynics will say it has only got there by using some pretty creative maths. Enthusiasts will argue that this is beside the point: Indian mobile is so exciting that it makes sense to pay for growth. Both are right. Look first at the numbers. Vodafone is paying 32 times last year’s first-half annualised ebitda. But ebitda is growing so rapidly - at around 50% a year - that the UK mobile...