Vodafone CEO Vittorio Colao to retire this year

Vodafone Group said Tuesday that incumbent CEO Vittorio Colao will retire from his position within 2018.

Colao will be replaced by the group’s chief financial officer (CFO) Nick Read, starting from 1 October, the UK-based telecommunications firm added.

“(Colao) has been an exemplary leader and strategic visionary who has overseen a dramatic transformation of Vodafone into a global pacesetter in converged communications, ready for the Gigabit future,” Reuters reported, citing chairman Gerard Kleisterlee as saying.

The international telecoms provider had previously reported a pretax profit of Euro 3.88 billion ($4.64 billion) for the full year ended 31 March, compared to Euro 2.79 billion in the previous fiscal year, while revenue tumbled 2.2 percent to Euro 46.57 billion.

Last week, Vodafone announced buying operations from Liberty Global PLC LBTYA Czech, Hungary, Germany, and Romania.