Vodafone called a halt to its frantic acquisition spree yesterday, saying it would focus this year on the delayed launch of faster mobile Internet phones and expanding its profit margins.

The world's largest mobile operator, which last week acquired Eircell from Eircom, announced results in line with recently reduced forecasts for the year to March 31st, although worries about the cost of winning customers hurt its shares.

Proportionate earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation rose 28 per cent to £7.04 billion sterling (#11.7 billion). Revenues grew by a similar amount to £21.4 billion. But the group slumped to a pre-tax loss of £8.1 billion, from a £1.35 billion profit a year ago, after a goodwill amortisation charge of £11.88 billion related to acquisitions.

After more than two years of buying operators around the world, chief executive Mr Chris Gent said he did not expect to move the company into any new countries in the current year. He said the decision meant Vodafone was unlikely to issue fresh shares this year.

Mr Gent expects an overhang of shares issued to finance previous acquisitions - which analysts say is capping Vodafone's stock price - to disappear in a few months. Vodafone's margins have been under pressure from price wars, which forced it to increase handset subsidies to win customers, and from a boom in the number of lower spending pay-as-you-go users. But Mr Gent said he expected a modest improvement in margins this year.