Vodafone 2002 Annual Report Download - page 6

It was also a great pleasure to us all that Her Majesty
the Queen awarded Chris Gent, the Group’s Chief
Executive, a Knighthood in her last birthday honours
list. The honour was very much deserved and is
appropriate recognition of the outstanding contribution
he has made to the success of your Company.
By contrast, it is with great sadness that I have to
record the death of Sir Christopher’s predecessor
as Chief Executive, Sir Gerald Whent, in May this
year. Gerry Whent’s achievements with the Company
cannot be overstated. He laid the foundations for
and led one of the world’s most successful mobile
telecommunications businesses. He will be missed
by all those who had the pleasure of working with
him and our condolences and best wishes are
extended to his wife Sarah and his family.
Finally, I would like to thank all those dedicated
people who have worked for the Group during this
highly successful but nonetheless challenging year.
With this level of commitment and the exciting
opportunities that lie ahead, I am sure that the
Group will make further significant progress during
the current year.
Lord MacLaurin of Knebworth, DL
Chairman
Chairman’s Statement
Vodafone Group Plc Annual Report & Accounts and Form 20-F Chairman’s Statement4
Your Group has an unrivalled footprint across the
world, with operations in 28 countries. In 2002,
we signed up our 100 millionth customer, less than
10 years after passing the 1 million mark. This year,
we increased our customer base by 22%, bringing
the total number to 101.1 million at the end of
March 2002.
During the year we increased our interest in Japan
Telecom to a controlling level of 66.7% giving us an
effective 69.7% holding in J-Phone Vodafone, our
Japanese mobile operator. We increased our stake in
Spain, completed the acquisition of Eircell, launched
a new GSM network in Albania and disposed of our
mobile interests in South Korea and Austria.
Since the year end we have increased further our
interest in Spain to 93.8% and have also recently
taken the opportunity of raising our position in China,
the world’s largest mobile market, by agreeing to
increase our holding in China Mobile (Hong Kong)
Limited to an expected interest of approximately
3.3%. We will soon begin to see a cash return
on our investment following China Mobile’s
announcement of an intention to pay dividends.
Much has recently been said and written about the
generation of revenues from mobile data services.
I have spent time this year visiting a number of the
operations overseas. We have made clear that we
expect data revenues to continue to grow still further
as we introduce new products and services and my
first-hand “data experience”in Japan gives me
confidence that we will achieve our targets in this
respect. The types of camera phone and the use of
mobile e-mail currently available in Japan are only
just beginning to be introduced in Europe but my
experience there makes me confident of their appeal
to all our current and future customers around
the world.
My travels have also highlighted for me how
effective the introduction of the Vodafone name has
been across our operations. Our latest sponsorship
deal with the Ferrari F1 team is an integral part of
this process and I was delighted to see how strong
the single Vodafone brand has become in a very
short space of time in countries such as Spain and
Portugal. This is a reflection of the hard work and
commitment of all those involved.
As a Board, we seek to attain the highest standards
of corporate governance. At last year’s AGM I advised
you that we would be reviewing the Company’s
remuneration policy, which we have done, and the
new policy is being proposed for approval at this
year’s AGM on 31 July. A great deal of work has gone
into this and I look forward to receiving your support.
Although your Group’s financial and operational
performance has again been outstanding, the Board
is very conscious that the Company’s share price
continues to be disappointing. We do not control the
share price and I hope that sentiment towards your
Company will shortly change to align with, and
properly reflect, its performance and its prospects.
I am very pleased to welcome Vittorio Colao, Chief
Executive Southern Europe Region, as a Director
following his appointment to the Board on 1 April
2002. I am confident that Vittorio’s knowledge of
our business will assist and strengthen the Board.
In the last year Vodafone has again produced an outstanding set
of financial results delivering exceptional growth and further enhancing
our already strong financial position.
Your Board remains confident and committed to the achievement
of further growth of your Company. The directors propose an increase
in the final dividend of 5% to 0.7497p per share, making a total of
1.4721p for the year.
Lord MacLaurin of Knebworth, DL
Chairman