Vodafone Group chief executive officer Arun Sarin will step down and be replaced by his deputy Vittorio Colao after steering the world's largest mobile-phone company to a record profit.
Mr Sarin (53) will step down in July, Newbury, England-based Vodafone said in a Regulatory News Service. Vodafone posted a full-year profit of £6.66 billion ($13.2 billion), or 12.5 pence a share, compared with a loss of £5.43 billion, or 9.84 pence, a year earlier, Vodafone said in a separate release.
Mr Sarin used acquisitions in emerging markets in the past two years, including in Turkey and India, the fastest-growing major wireless market, to help make up for slower growth in Europe.
The purchase of Tele2 AB's Spanish and Italian broadband units as well as mobile Web and e-mail services helped European sales as voice revenue shrinks.
Earnings per share were seen at 11.9 pence, based on 16 estimates. Sales for the year ended in March gained 14 per cent to £35.5 billion. Sales beat the £35.4 billion- average of 28 estimates.
The UK company had 252 million customers at the end of 2007, of which £106 million, or 42 per cent, were in growth markets in eastern Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia.
Vodafone fell 0.1 per cent to 163.3 pence in London on May 23rd. The stock has lost 13 percent this year, beating a 19 per cent slide for the Bloomberg Europe Telecommunication Services Index.
Annual earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization rose 10 percent to £13.2 billion from £12 billion, beating the £13.1 billion average estimate.
In the year-earlier period, Vodafone had a £3.5 billion charge after Italy abolished fees for recharging prepaid cards.
Vodafone reiterated this month its interest in raising its 50 per cent stake in Vodacom Group, South Africa's largest wireless provider. Telkom South Africa owns the rest.
Telkom South Africa began a strategic review in June and said it would consider selling its Vodacom stake. In November, Telkom South Africa abandoned talks to sell its mobile and fixed-line phone assets to Vodafone and MTN Group.
Bloomberg