Vodafone to slash 11,000 jobs in new CEO’s turnaround plan
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Vodafone has recently cut jobs in several of its big markets, shedding 1,000 in Italy earlier this year, and a media report said it is looking to cut around 1,300 in Germany.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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LONDON – Vodafone’s new boss Margherita Della Valle will cut 11,000 jobs over three years to simplify the telecoms group, which she said “must change”, as it forecasts a €1.5 billion (S$2.2 billion) decline in free cash flow this year.
“Our performance has not been good enough,” said Ms Della Valle, who was appointed permanently in April. “My priorities are customers, simplicity and growth. We will simplify our organisation, cutting out complexity to regain our competitiveness.”
The job cuts are the biggest in the history of the group, which employs around 100,000 people.
Vodafone said it will generate about €3.3 billion of cash in this financial year, against the €4.8 billion in the year to end-March it reported on Tuesday, and the around €3.6 billion expected by analysts.
Germany, its biggest market, is underperforming, which, combined with higher energy costs, resulted in a 1.3 per cent decline in group core earnings to €14.7 billion for the year to end-March, missing its own guidance. Growth in Africa and higher handset sales enabled it to eke out a 0.3 per cent rise in revenue to €45.7 billion.
Vodafone has recently cut jobs in several of its big markets, shedding 1,000 in Italy earlier this year, and a media report said it is looking to cut around 1,300 in Germany.
On the proposed tie-up of its British business with Hutchison’s Three UK, Vodafone said there is no certainty that any transaction will ultimately be agreed upon. It did not comment any further on the talks. REUTERS, BLOOMBERG
