Vodafone to review executive pay
Lord MacLaurin, chairman of mobile phone giant Vodafone, has said the company will undertake a full review of its executive remuneration policies after shareholders rebelled against directors' bonus arrangements.
Lord MacLaurin made the announcement at the Vodafone agm held in London yesterday (Wednesday). He said a ‘significant number of shareholders’ had either abstained or voted against share options plans at the meeting.
Vodafone shareholders have expressed dissatisfaction in the past over plans to offer executives bonus schemes, including share options.
At last year’s agm shareholders were angered by a proposal to pay chief executive Sir Christopher Gent a Pounds 10m bonus following the telecom’s successful acquisition of German company Mannesman in April last year for Pounds 116bn.
Shareholders dissatisfaction has been compounded by Vodafone’s share price, which has lost nearly two-thirds of its value.
Last week the share price dropped by 5% after Sir Christopher warned that the launch of third-generation services could be postponed.
This will delay the recouping of Pounds 10bn that Vodafone has invested in developing 3G technology, which will offer new services to mobile phones.
Vodafone sales grew to Pounds 21.4bn in the twelve months to 31 March, up 29%, but still posted a huge pre-tax loss of Pounds 8.1bn thanks to the merger and 3G costs.
Vodafone shares were last trading at 138.5, down 4% on the day.
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Strong Vodafone results hit by 3G costs