Vodafone is braced for a bumpy journey over its new boss’s multimillion pound pay package deal because it prepares to face traders at its AGM this week.
Sky News understands that one of many major shareholder advisory providers, IVIS, has urged warning over the FTSE 100 telecoms big’s determination to pay Margherita Della Valle a considerably greater wage than her predecessor, Nick Read, who was successfully ousted a number of months in the past.
Vodafone isn’t any stranger to public rows over government pay, though it was unclear whether or not it might face a extreme backlash at Tuesday’s annual assembly.
It reported a combined image of its buying and selling efficiency on Monday, with worth rises contributing to higher-than-expected service revenues, at the same time as its buyer base in Germany, a key marketplace for the corporate, noticed sharp declines.
IVIS, which is run by the Investment Association, has given Vodafone’s pay report an ‘amber-top’ alert, which means that shareholders ought to rigorously scrutinise their selections earlier than casting their votes.
Glass Lewis, one other service, has really useful voting in opposition to the remuneration report, whereas Institutional Shareholder Services has mentioned it deserves “qualified support”.
A Vodafone spokesman mentioned: “Our remuneration policy – the three-year framework – and our annual remuneration reports have been strongly supported at previous AGMs.
“ISS is supportive of our new coverage and this 12 months’s remuneration report, and we’re assured that we’ll see good assist from our shareholders this 12 months too.”
On Monday, Vodafone introduced that Luka Mukic, a former finance chief on the German software program big SAP, would exchange Ms Della Valle as CFO.
Shares within the firm have been buying and selling round 4% greater on Monday, giving it a market capitalisation of £20bn.
Content Source: information.sky.com