Vodafone - on hold - FT.com Mixed messages rarely make investors comfortable. Interim results at Vodafone were full of them. On the minus side, underlying service revenues fell 1.4 per cent year on year in the second quarter. That was partly the result of weak results in Spain and Italy where regulatory price pressures combined with poor economic trends (and led to a further £6bn in impairments). Few surprises there. But Vodafone's revenue growth also slowed from first-quarter levels in Germany, partly because of local competition, and there was a 3.2 per cent decline in the UK. Result: the first quarterly fall in underlying service revenues since 2009-10. First-half earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation, at £6.6bn, also disappointed, mainly from European weakness, while the ebitda margin slipped to 30.5 per cent, compared with 31.2 per cent a year ago (once restructuring and foreign exchange were excluded). Conversely, there was a better than expected contribution from the US, where 45 per cent-owned Verizon Wireless said on Monday it would pay an $8.5bn dividend to its two parents. The amount is slightly less than expected, but that seems to be a trade-off for an earlier payout, and Vodafone will return £1.5bn to investors via a share buyback. The non-European interests also posted good growth, while net debt remained a reasonable 1.8 times ebitda. So full-year guidance was held, albeit with small refinements. Like its peers, Vodafone has a well-articulated vision based around consumers" appetite for data-based services, businesses" need for comprehensive account management, and a portfolio of emerging market interests. It has also set a £300m cost-saving target for 2013-14. But until the European outlook clears, its shares - down 2 per cent on Tuesday, implying an enterprise value to 2013-14 ebidta ratio of eight - may struggle to make progress.