Vodafone's Gent to step down

Sir Chris Gent, chief executive of telecoms giant Vodafone, is to step down in July, it was announced today.

Sir Chris, aged 54, is to be replaced by Arun Sarin, chief executive of San Francisco-based Accel-KKR Telecom.

A Vodafone spokeswoman said he had indicated a "couple of times" this year his intention to retire and had said there were "a number of things" he wanted to deliver on before he retired.

Sir Chris, whose salary was £1.2 million last year, will receive no pay off, the spokeswoman said.