Vodafone shares in profit warning dive

Vodafone's shares took quite a knock today, after the operator issued its interim management statement for the second quarter of this year. A year which, as chief executive Arun Sarin put it, constitutes a "challenging operating environment".

The statement included the line: "Revenue now expected to be around the bottom of the £39.8 billion to £40.7 billion outlook range reflecting first quarter performance, recent economic weakness and lower than expected equipment revenue."

The shares, accordingly, have gone down (at the time of writing) by about 14 percent. Hardly the most positive way for Sarin to make his exit, but them's the breaks.