Shares in Vodafone Group Plc raced to a four month high on Wednesday after encouraging news on the mobile phone giant's Spanish and Italian operations.

Vodafone held an investor day in Milan on Tuesday, with senior management giving presentations on its Italian and Spanish operations to investors and analysts.

A lot of people have come back after yesterday's presentations and they seem to have liked what they saw and heard, said Dresdner Kleinwort analyst John Davies.

Dresdner analysts said in a research note: That one third of Vodafone's consolidated businesses appear to be doing better than expectations ... gives us much comfort that our expectations for group performance are reasonable and could move higher.

Vodafone's Spanish arm accounts for 16 percent of group sales and 13 percent of its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA), while its Italian arm accounts for 14 percent of revenues and 18 percent of EBITDA.

Shares in Europe's most valuable telecoms group rose to levels last seen on June 5, up 2.9 percent at 125 3/4 pence by 12:20 p.m. BST, outpacing the pan European DJ Stoxx telecoms sector index which was up 1.7 percent.

For much of this year, Vodafone stock has been weighed down by concerns about slowing revenue growth and declining profit margins at its key European operations.

Vodafone's Chief Executive Arun Sarin has come under fire from some investors for not spelling out more clearly how it plans to cope with slowing growth. At the group's annual shareholders meeting in July, nearly 10 percent of ballots were cast against Sarin's re election.

Investment