Vodafone bosses get £11m bonuses

VODAFONE directors awarded themselves another £11m in bonuses last night - just hours after facing down private shareholder outrage over boardroom windfalls.

The awards, announced after the City had gone home, add to the huge piles of wealth accumulated by directors at the mobile phone group while the shares tumble.

New chief executive Arun Sarin was conditionally awarded £2.4m in shares, and 7.1m options worth more than £1.4m.

Operations director Julian Horn-Smith, finance director Ken Hydon and executives Peter Bamford and Thomas Geitner also took their share.

The company says the awards will depend on future share price and earnings performance over the next three years.

Earlier, the board faced an angry annual meeting. 'It seems to me that we are the risk-takers and you are the money-takers,' said one investor, attacking boardroom bonuses and 'pensions to die for'.

He wondered why, despite a 70% share slump in five years, the directors seemed 'almost euphoric'. Now he knows. Other investors accused the board of 'playing with the corporate train set' and called on directors to resign.

Investors targeted non-executive Luc Vandevelde, the former Marks & Spencer boss, who heads the pay committee.

The Daily Mail has valued the options from prices at LIFFE, the derivatives market. Options offer directors a one-way bet. They profit if the shares rise, but lose nothing except the options if they fall.

The current low share price means directors get the options cheaply. Vodafone shares, which I hold, edged up 2 3/4p to 116 3/4p following mixed results yesterday. Last year, directors collected £13.5m, including £3.2m for Sarin alone. That doesn't include long-term incentives. Yet the shares have badly lagged rivals and the market.