The Vodafone group changes its CEO.
Nick Read will leave his position at the end of the year, as agreed with the board of directors of the operator of British origin.
After 20 years in the company, Read will be replaced on an interim basis by Margherita Della Valle, the company's current CFO, a position of CFO that she will combine with the position of maximum responsibility of CEO.
"I have agreed with the Board of Directors that the time is right to hand over a new leader who can take advantage of Vodafone's strengths and take advantage of the important opportunities that present themselves," said Read, who will remain as a director until the end of March next year.
The exit occurs a few weeks after the results of the first half of its year were announced, which have not been especially positive for the
red operator
.
Between April and September (this is how the company accounts for the first half), the adjusted result fell by 1.9%, to 7,000 million euros, with a drop in revenue of 2.3%, to leave that billing at 21,400 million.
The company blamed this drop on inflation and below-expected performance in its main market, Germany, where it experienced "poor business performance."
In Spain, service revenues in that semester fell by -4.5%, to 1,782 million euros, a decrease attributed to "low cost growth", "a smaller customer base" and "the reduction in prices of mobile termination rates, partially offset by higher tourist revenues".
Total income fell in the Spanish semester by -6%, up to 1,965 million, "
due to the aggressiveness of the market
and by the reduction in sales of terminals". The company, which does not publish results in the middle of the year, is conditioned by a new tariff portfolio, launched in June, and the announcement that its prices will be updated in January according to the average data of IPC of 2022, as exposed last September.In October 2020, the replacement in the command post of the Spanish subsidiary was revealed: Colman Deegan, an Irishman from Vodafone Turkey, has been in charge of Vodafone Spain in substitution of the Portuguese António Coimbra.
"It has been a privilege to spend more than 20 years of my career at Vodafone and I am proud of what we have delivered to customers and society in Europe and Africa. I agree with the Board that now is the right time to spend the I am sending a new leader who can build on Vodafone's strengths and capture the significant opportunities that lie ahead," Read said.
According to Jean-François van Boxmeer, Chairman of Vodafone
,
Read "led Vodafone through the pandemic", "has focused Vodafone in Europe and Africa as a provider of converged connectivity" and has "unleashed the value of tower infrastructure" from the company, materialized through the spin-off Vantage Towers.
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