Vodafone has its first permanent female chief executive after interim boss Margherita Della Valle was confirmed in the role, tasked with steering the telecoms group through its turnaround.
She has been chief financial officer since July 2018 and also took the top job on a temporary basis in December, replacing Nick Read, a two-decade Vodafone veteran who ran the company for four years. Read was ousted after failing to reverse a 40%-plus fall in the telecoms company’s share price during his tenure.
As well as running the company, Della Valle will continue as chief financial officer until a new CFO is appointed, with an external search under way. She has worked for Vodafone in the UK and Italy for almost three decades, and is one of only 10 female chief executives at the UK’s top 100 listed companies.
The others are Debra Crew at the world’s biggest spirits maker Diageo, who takes the helm on 1 July, Dame Alison Rose at the bank NatWest, Amanda Blanc at the insurer Aviva, Dame Emma Walmsley at the drugmaker GSK, Jette Nygaard-Andersen at the gambling firm Entain, Liv Garfield at the water company Severn Trent, Jennie Daly at the housebuilder Taylor Wimpey, Milena Mondini de Focatiis at the insurer Admiral, and Louise Beardmore, who has just taken over at United Utilities, the UK’s largest listed water company.
Vodafone, which has about 18 million mobile customers in the UK, launched a €1bn cost-cutting plan in November. So far this year, it has cut several hundred jobs at its London headquarters, as well as 1,300 roles in Germany and 1,000 in Italy.
Faced with soaring energy costs, the firm raised its prices for UK customers by 14.4% at the start of this month – based on the increase in the consumer prices index measure of inflation, plus 3.9% – about £3 on an average bill, and increased prices in several other European countries.
Vodafone is in negotiations to merge its UK business with Three UK – they are the country’s third and fourth-biggest mobile operators, respectively – and has appointed a new management team at its German business, its largest.
Della Valle, who has a masters degree in economics from Bocconi University in Italy, has been awarded a pay and bonus package worth up to £10m, but a spokesperson said “stretching targets” mean her actual remuneration is likely to be similar to that received by her predecessor, who was paid £4.2m last year and £3.5m in 2021.
Jean-François van Boxmeer, the Vodafone chairman, said the board had been “impressed with her pace and decisiveness to begin the necessary transformation of Vodafone” in the past few months, and lauded her “strong track record” at Vodafone in marketing, operational, commercial and financial positions.
Vodafone’s share price decline has made it a target for potential activist investors, including the United Arab Emirates’ biggest telecoms firm, e&, which recently increased its stake to 14.6%, and the French telecoms billionaire Xavier Niel, with a 2.5% holding.
