Other considerations
Service contracts of executive directors
The Remuneration Committee has determined that, after an initial term of up to two years’ duration, executive directors’ contracts should thereafter have rolling terms and be terminable on no more than one year’s notice.
All current executive directors’ contracts have an indefinite term (to normal retirement date) and one year notice periods. No payments should normally be payable on termination other than the salary due for the notice period and such entitlements under incentive plans and benefits that are consistent with the terms of such plans.
| Date of service agreement |
Notice period | |
|---|---|---|
| Vittorio Colao | 27 May 2008 | 12 months |
| Andy Halford | 20 May 2005 | 12 months |
Michel Combes and Steve Pusey, who have been appointed to the board with effect from 1 June 2009, will have service contracts which have a 12 month notice period.
Fees retained for external non-executive directorships
Executive directors may hold positions in other companies as non-executive directors. In the 2009 financial year, Arun Sarin was the only executive director with such a position, held at the Bank of England. He retained fees of £6,000 in relation to this position over the full financial year. Fees were retained in accordance with Group policy.
Cascade to senior management
The principles of the policy are cascaded, where appropriate, to the other members of the Executive Committee as set out below.
| Cascade of policy to Executive Committee – 2009 financial year |
|---|
| Total remuneration and base salary Methodology consistent with the executive directors. |
| Annual bonus The annual bonus is based on the same measures. However, in some circumstances these are measured within a region or business area rather than across the whole Group. |
| Long term incentive The long term incentive is consistent with the executive directors, including the opportunity to invest in the GLTI to receive matching awards. In addition, Executive Committee members have a share ownership requirement of two times base salary. |
All-employee share plans
The executive directors are also eligible to participate in the all-employee plans.
| Summary of plans |
|---|
| Global allshare plan The Remuneration Committee approved a grant of 290 shares to be made on 1 July 2008 to a significant number of permanent employees. The shares awarded vest after two years. |
| Sharesave The Vodafone Group 2008 sharesave plan is an HM Revenue & Customs (‘HMRC’) approved scheme open to all permanently employed UK staff. Options under the plan are granted at up to a 20% discount to market value. Executive directors’ participation is included in the option table. |
| Share incentive plan The Vodafone share incentive plan is an HMRC approved plan open to all staff permanently employed by a Vodafone Company in the UK. Participants may contribute up to a maximum of £125 per month, which the trustee of the plan uses to buy shares on their behalf. An equivalent number of shares are purchased with contributions from the employing company. UK based executive directors are eligible to participate. |
Dilution
All awards are made under plans that incorporate dilution limits as set out in the guidelines for share incentive schemes published by the Association of British Insurers. The current estimated dilution from subsisting awards, including executive and all-employee share awards, is approximately 3.3% of the Company’s share capital at 31 March 2009 (3.0% at 31 March 2008).
Funding
A mixture of newly issued shares, treasury shares and shares purchased in the market by the employee benefit trust is used to satisfy share-based awards. This policy is kept under review.
Other matters
The share incentive plan and the co-investment into the GLTI plan include restrictions on the transfer of shares while the shares are subject to the plan. Where, under an employee share plan operated by the Company, participants are the beneficial owners of the shares, but not the registered owner, the voting rights are normally exercised by the registered owner at the discretion of the participant.
All of the Company’s share plans contain provisions relating to a change of control. Outstanding awards and options would normally vest and become exercisable on a change of control, subject to the satisfaction of any performance conditions at that time.
TSR performance
The following chart shows the performance of the Company relative to the FTSE100 index.
Graph provided by Towers Perrin and calculated according to a methodology that is compliant with the requirements of Schedule 7A of the Companies Act 1985 Data Sources: FTSE and Datastream.
Note:
Performance of the Company shown by the graph is not indicative of vesting levels under the Company’s various incentive
plans.