Ousted Vodafone boss picks up more than £4m in pay and bonuses in 2022-23

Vodafone’s former boss Nick Read landed more than £4 million in salary and bonuses for the year to March, including a £904,000 annual award, despite being ousted at the end of 2022 amid poor performance and swingeing job cuts, it has been revealed.

The mobile phone giant’s annual report shows that Mr Read picked up a bumper pay package worth £3.9 million for 2022-23, which also included a £1.6 million shares award for a previous long-term bonus scheme that is due to pay out in August and a £406,000 cash award for dividends that would have been paid on those shares.

On top of this, he received £270,375 in salary for the first three months of 2023, when he remained an adviser to the board, and will be paid £732,629 in lieu of salary, plus benefits, for the remainder of his 12 months’ notice period until March next year.

Vodafone added it will pay up to £7,000 towards legal fees in connection with his departure and said he is entitled to “outplacement support” worth up to £50,000.

Mr Read left on December 31 after four years as group chief executive just weeks after unveiling an £880 million plan to slash costs and warning over job cuts and price hikes.

His replacement, former chief financial officer Margherita Della Valle, has since repeatedly admitted that the firm’s performance has “not been good enough” and last month swung the axe on 11,000 jobs across the group in a three-year cost-cutting plan.

It came as Vodafone reported a 1.3% drop in full-year earnings to a lower-than-expected 14.7 billion euros (£12.8 billion) and forecast little or no growth in earnings over the current financial year.

Ms Della Valle also unveiled a mega merger with Three UK last week that will create Britain’s biggest mobile phone network worth £15 billion.

There are more role cuts expected if the deal gets regulatory approval under plans to save more than £700 million annually within five years, although the firms insisted more jobs would ultimately be created.

Vodafone’s latest annual report also showed that Ms Della Valle was paid £3.7 million in pay and bonuses for the year to March, including three months as interim chief executive.

She was recently confirmed as permanent chief executive on an annual salary of £1.3 million from April 27, plus benefits and bonuses.

She picked up a £1.2 million annual bonus and £1.6 million in long-term share awards and cash in lieu of dividends in 2022-23.

The potential maximum she could earn in salary, long-term share awards and annual bonuses for 2023-24 is £13.3 million if all performance targets and share price goals are met in full.

She is currently also chief financial officer while they search for her replacement.