Vodafone denies 'bid for Verizon'

Vodafone recently won approval to take over India's Hutchison Essar

Mobile phone giant Vodafone has denied media speculation that it could be about to bid for US group Verizon.

"Vodafone wishes to make it clear that it has no plans to make such an offer," it said in a brief statement.

The comment followed reports in the Financial Times that Vodafone had been considering a $160bn (£78.5bn) offer for the US telecoms firm.

The news had led to a small rise in Verizon shares in pre-market trade in the US, while Vodafone shares slipped.

In afternoon trade on the London market, Vodafone shares stood 1.1 pence lower at 162.1p.

The two firms have been battling against falling profits in recent months.

Vodafone, Europe's largest mobile phone firm, has been fighting against increased competition and rising regulatory pressures - factors which led to the group posting a slight drop in annual profits to £2.4bn in May.

Meanwhile, in January, Verizon said net profits in the last three months of 2006 fell 38% to $1bn (£510m), after it was hit by costs to build a new fibre-optic cable network.