Vodafone chief expected to stand down

May 26 2008

Vodafone’s chief executive will announce he is standing down from the mobile phone giant, it was claimed tonight.

Arun Sarin will leave the Berkshire-based telecoms giant in July after five years in charge, the Daily Telegraph reports.

He is expected to reveal his personal plans tomorrow alongside Vodafone’s full-year results, which are predicted to show underlying earnings rise to £13.1 billion from £11.96 billion last year.

Mr Sarin will be replaced as chief executive by his deputy, Vittorio Colao, the Telegraph says.

Vodafone’s results are expected to show that the company’s rapid expansion into emerging markets has continued to pay off.

Analysts predict full-year revenues will have risen by more than 13% in the 12 months to the end of March to between £35.2 billion and £35.4 billion.

Indian-born Mr Sarin, 53, joined Vodafone’s board in 1999 and became chief executive in July 2003.

He went through a rocky patch two years ago, when nearly 10% of Vodafone shareholders voted against his re-election as chief executive.

But the company has since outperformed City profit forecasts and enjoyed big revenue growth in fast-growing markets such as India and Turkey.

In January Vodafone revealed that the majority of its customers are now outside western Europe.

After standing down Mr Sarin is likely to take several non-executive board seats at large international companies and may join a leading private equity firm, the Telegraph reported.

Vodafone was unavailable for comment tonight.