Vodafone CFO says tax allowances nothing to do with C&WW deal

VODAFONE’S CFO said the tax position of telcoms business Cable & Wireless Worldwide formed no part of the decision to take it over.

Mobile phone operator Vodafone made no value on the £5bn of capital allowances owned by Cable & Wireless Worldwide in its acquisition of the struggling telecommunications firm, said CFO Andy Halford, the Financial Times reports.

It is believed the mobile phone network had doubts over its ability to use the tax benefits as it had had capital allowances of its own in the UK.

However, Vodafone’s Halford now believes it can utilise them, although he insists it was not a crucial element of the deal.

He said: “[C&WW] has a number of pre-existing capital allowances which we expect to be able to continue to use in the UK.”

Vodafone went on to say it would need more time and detail before it could put a value on the allowances. It did, however, say it was unable to use any of C&WW’s tax losses, which came to £16.2bn in its latest accounts.