Vodacom top executives score big payday
Vodacom Group has published its annual report for the 2020 financial year, showing the remuneration of its top executives for the past year.
Group chief executive Shameel Joosub was paid a total salary of R43.4 million for the year, an increase of 13.4% from 2019. This comprised a basic salary of R12 million (up 7%), short term incentives of R11.7 million and a long-term incentive payout of R14.3 million.
After tax, Joosub’s take-home pay totalled R23.9 million.
Joosub was among many chief executives in South Africa that heeded the call by president Cyril Ramaphosa to donate portions of their salary to the national Solidarity Fund to help those affected by the country’s coronavirus pandemic.
Vodacom announced in April that Joosub would donate a third of his salary for three months to the Solidarity Fund.
Group chief financial officer Till Streichert, who is stepping down from the company this year, received a salary paid out in pounds: £1.24 million (R26.7 million) – an increase of 11.5% from 2019.
Streichert will leave the company in June 2020 “to pursue an external opportunity outside of Vodacom”, the group said.
Vodacom also paid out R10 million in salaries to non-executive directors, up from the R9.7 million paid out in 2019. This includes a R2.87 million salary for group chairman, Phillip Jabulani Moleketi.
Financial performance
Vodacom in May reported a 4.8% rise in revenue for the year ended March 2020, to R90.75 billion, while adding 5.9 million customers, to serve a combined 116 million customers across the group.
The results came at a time when the country was still in a phased lockdown period to combat the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, but reflected results to just the first week into the lockdown.
Group operating profit climbed 13.2% to R27.7 billion, while headline earnings per share (HEPS) was up 8.9%, to R19.45.
Total financial services customers climbed 12.8%, to 53.2 million, adding 6 million customers in the year, it said.
South Africa revenue was up 2.2% to R52.7 billion, with data usage elasticity supporting recovery to growth in the second half.
Vodacom declared a final dividend of 405 cents per share.
Joosub said at the time that the results reflected a year of strong growth for the company.
“The past year has been characterised by strong customer growth – we now connect 116 million customers across the group, including Safaricom – and the benefits of prudent portfolio diversification,” he said.
At the end of May, Vodacom announced that it has simplified its structure following the recent expansion of its African portfolio, and accelerated growth ambitions on the continent, including financial and digital services.
Vodacom South Africa as a result, will operate as a standalone company with its own managing director, Balesh Sharma.
Read: Vodacom South Africa is now a standalone company with a new managing director
Loading ...