Vodafone chief executive Nick Read is to step down at the end of the month following a poor year for the British telco group.

Read, who has been in charge at the telco since 2018, will step down as group chief executive and as a director of the Vodafone board and be replaced on an interim basis by Margherita Della Valle, currently chief financial officer, who will continue in her role.

The exec’s departure comes less than a month after Vodafone cut its full-year profit forecast, which it pinned on poor performance in the German market. Vodafone saw its revenues increase by 2 per cent in the first half of the year, but Read’s tenure has been marked by an overall inability to unlock shareholder value with the company’s share price declining by 45 per cent in the four years since he took over.

Vodafone said that Read’s departure was a mutual decision and that the search for his successor will look at internal and external candidates. The telco also confirmed that Read will receive his base salary of £1.1 million for the full financial year to March 2023, and that he will receive his monthly salary as usual from April to December 2023 as his notice period is 12 months. In addition, he will receive his 2022 bonus of £1.5 million, while Vodafone will pay up to £50,000 for Read to use a headhunter to find a future role.

In a statement, Read said: “I agreed with the board that now is the right moment to hand over to a new leader who can build on Vodafone’s strengths and capture the significant opportunities ahead.”

Vodafone has been in talks with CK Hutchison over a merger of its UK business with Three since October. It had been in talks to merge with MasMovil in Spain, but the Spanish group instead opted for a deal with Orange.

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