Vodafone, Britain's leading mobile phone company today reported a steep increase in profits, which it attributed mainly to higher revenues in the emerging markets of Asia and Africa.

Pre-tax profits for the year ended March totalled £8.65 billion ($12.5 billion), more than double the figure reported in the previous financial year.

The company has a subscriber base of 341 million with 8.5 million of the subscribers added over the last three months.

According to Vodafone chief executive Vittorio Colao, the company is creating a stronger Vodafone, which is expected to return to revenue growth in FY11 as economic recovery is expected to benefit the company's key markets.

Vodafone had gained substantially from its focus on emerging markets with India providing strong revenue growth, he added. The company revenues were down in its more established European markets.

For the year ended 31 March, the profit was up to £8.65 billion ($12.52 billion) from £3.08 billion a year earlier because on higher revenue and major cost cutting.

The year-earlier figure was marred by a £5.9-billion impairment charge, including a £3.4-billion write-down on the value of the company's Spanish assets and smaller write-downs related to its Turkey and Ghana operations.

Revenue was up 8.4 per cent to £44.47 billion from £41.02 billion, helped by the fall of the pound against other currencies, including the euro.

However, the company had to book an impairment charge of £2.3 billion due to its India operations which took a hit amid stiff competition and price war.

Free cash flow, the group's dividend driver and its preferred measure of profitability, was up 27 per cent to £7.2 billion, which beat market expectations of £6.8 billion.

In February, the company's free cash flow was boosted by £500 million to between £6.5 billion and £7 billion.