Vodafone CEO Arun Sarin to go

Arun Sarin, the chief executive officer who safeguarded Vodafone's dominance among mobile operators by expanding into emerging markets, announced his departure yesterday, saying he had achieved all he had set out to do.

He will be replaced by his deputy, Vittorio Colao, in July.

Analysts welcomed the smooth transition at the top of the world's largest mobile phone group by revenue but said that it had come slightly earlier than expected.

"I have achieved what I set out to achieve on becoming CEO and therefore I felt the timing was right," Mr Sarin told reporters on a conference call, adding that he did not expect the group's strategy to change.

He warned that Mr Colao, 46, will have to navigate the tricky economic slowdown ahead.

Vodafone made the announcement as it issued a solid outlook for next year and annual results for the year ending last March either in line with or slightly ahead of forecasts.

Under Mr Sarin, the mobile group expanded into faster-growing emerging markets such as India and Turkey and developed new tariffs and products for services such as downloading games and music to attract customers in the more mature markets of Europe.

"Arun Sarin ... leaves with his reputation intact," analysts at ING said in a note to clients. "He has successfully implemented Vodafone's new strategy after coming under intense pressure a couple of years ago.

"The timing ... may have caught the market unaware (maybe a year earlier than expected?), but Arun Sarin's successor is no surprise."

During Mr Sarin's time as CEO, Vodafone has increased its customer base from 120 million to more than 260 million, including its share of affiliates.

Vodafone said yesterday its annual group earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose over 10 per cent to £13.2 billion on revenues of £35.5 billion.

Analysts were expecting EBITDA of £13.1 billion and revenues of £35.3 billion, according to Reuters Estimates.

Publishing its forecasts for the year ahead, Vodafone said it expected group revenue of between £39.8 billion and £40.7 billion, with adjusted operating profit of £11 billion to £11.5 billion.

The results for the year to March 31 were boosted by booming growth from the EMAPA unit of businesses in Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa, Asia, Pacific and Affiliates, which had 14.5 per cent organic revenue growth.

The European unit had revenue growth of two per cent.

Mr Sarin said he expected operating conditions to continue to be challenging in Europe given the economic environment and ongoing pricing and regulatory pressures but added he expected positive trends in messaging and data revenue to continue. Analysts at Cazenove said Mr Colao was well known to investors and his appointment was likely to be seen as an indication of confidence in the performance of Vodafone's European operations.