JOHANNESBURG - Vodacom increased the pay packages of its chief executive, Shameel Joosub, and chief financial officer, Till Streichert, by 13.5percent and 11.5percent, respectively, in the year ended March, as the company's international markets recorded double-digit growth in revenue, offsetting the pressure from South Africa’s sluggish economic growth.
Vodacom said in its 2020 annual report released on Friday that Joosub, 49, had earned R43.4million pre-tax, from R38.2m, in 2020, and R23.8m post-tax compared to R21m a year earlier. Streichert, 46, received a pay packet of £1.23m (R26.22m), up from £1.1m a year earlier, the company said.
Vodacom said Joosub had received guaranteed pay of R12m, including retirement fund contributions, medical aid and a company car, which was 6.5percent higher than the R11.5m in 2019.
Streichert’s guaranteed pay increased by 21.4percent to £452799 from £373033, to ensure that his guaranteed pay was aligned with market benchmarks.
All employees received an average guaranteed pay increase of 5.5percent in South Africa and market-related increases in international operations, said the company.
The company said it had paid R6.4bn in wages and benefits for its 7641 employees in the year to the end of March.
In terms of short-term incentive (STI), which is weighted on growth in service revenue, customer appreciation, earnings before interest depreciation and taxation, as well as operating free cash flow, Joosub received R11.68m relating to a bonus payable this month.
The bonus was derived from performance for the year ended March 31 and was 19.4percent higher than the R9.7m he received last year, the company said.
Till received a 24.6percent hike in STI to £210357 from £168804 in 2019.
The company said in terms of business performance, part of its digital transformation had meant shifting from traditional business culture to one that was more flexible and allowed for quick responses to needs.
“Delivering on our group targets has been no mean feat. We have faced tough economic conditions, the continuing promise of spectrum allocation, the impact of load-shedding and the challenge of reinvention in a mature market. Despite these challenges, we made solid progress, with the strong performance in our international operations partly offsetting some of the pressure in South Africa,” said the company.
Highlights for 2020 included the double-digit performance from the group’s international operations, whose revenue jumped by 12.5 percent for the year, boosted by continuing strong performance from M-Pesa and data.
Group revenue grew 4.8percent to R90.7bn, with strong growth in International and improved growth in South Africa.
The group warned that the impact of Covid-19 was uncertain.
“An uncertainty in the year ahead will be the impact of Covid-19 on discretionary spend on digital content,” it said.
BUSINESS REPORT