Former Vodafone Group PLC (LSE:VOD) boss Nick Read was on track to receive around a 25% pay packet increase before leaving at the end of 2022, the group’s annual report revealed.
Having received around £4.1mln in the 2022 financial year, averaging close to £350,000 per month, Read then took home more than £3.8mln for the nine months in fiscal 2023 – coming in at close to £430,000 a month.
Read took home more than £2mln in bonuses in 2023 including £1.6mln worth of shares.
The bumper pay packet was given despite the telecom company embarking on a series of cost-cutting measures, including most recently getting rid of 11,000 workers albeit this was after his departure.
Shares in the FTSE 100 group have tanked by 43% in the last year and the current 72p price tag has not been this low since the mid-90s.
Sales in the last financial year faltered by 1.3% to £12.8bln and the company isn’t expecting much growth this year either.
New chief executive Margherita Della Valle took home a total of nearly £3.7mln in 2023 having been promoted to the top job from finance chief in January.
Last week, Vodafone announced it would be merging with Three UK, stating that synergy savings and new business opportunities would help shrink the €33.3bln debt pile looming over the group.