Vodafone 1999 Annual Report Download - page 4

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Chairman's Statement
The combination of Vodafone and AirTouch will create the world’s largest mobile
telecommunications company and it will initially operate, either itself or through associates or
investments, in 23 countries. The two companies share a common vision of mobile
telecommunications as a major platform for voice and data communications in the next century as,
over time, mobile voice telephony will replace large amounts of telecommunications traffic presently
carried by fixed line networks. The combined group’s operational strength and scale are expected to
enhance its ability to develop existing networks, to be at the forefront of the provision of
technologically advanced products and services and to make strategic acquisitions.
It gives me great pleasure to be able to thank you, our shareholders, for your overwhelming support for the merger. At the
Company’s Extraordinary General Meeting on 24 May 1999, the merger was approved by over 99% of shareholders who
submitted votes on proxy cards and by almost everyone who attended the meeting. I am also pleased to be able to report
good progress towards the completion of the formalities of the merger and, subject to receipt of final regulatory approvals,
Vodafone AirTouch Plc, the new name of your Company, will begin to operate in late June or July. I recently visited
AirTouch in California and found its staff to be just as enthusiastic as Vodafone’s. I believe the combination will be a
winning formula.
Having recently held a General Meeting, there is not a great deal of business to conduct at this year’s Annual General
Meeting. However, as the Company’s share and ADR prices are standing close to their highest ever levels and as the
Company will have substantial reserves after the completion of the merger, your Board is proposing, subject to completion
of the merger by 30 September 1999, a bonus issue of four new ordinary shares for every share held at that date. Further
details of the proposal, which I believe will be welcomed by all shareholders, are set out in the Notice of Annual General
Meeting which accompanies this Annual Report.
My letter to you in April explained the composition of the Board following the merger, but at the end of the financial year
David Channing Williams, Managing Director of Vodafone Limited and a director of the Company since 1996, retired from
the Board. David has made a major contribution to the Group in the fourteen years he has been involved and we wish him
and his family well in the future.
On behalf of you and your Board I would like to thank all Vodafone staff for their contribution to the successes of the year.
Their professionalism, commitment and dedication has been tremendous.
Finally, on completion of the merger I shall become Deputy Chairman. Sam Ginn, the Chairman and CEO of AirTouch, will
be Chairman of your Company and I should like to take this opportunity to wish him, Chris Gent, the Chief Executive, and
all the management team every success in facing the challenges and the opportunities of the new millennium.
Shareholders, business partners, suppliers, customers and staff can look forward with great optimism to the future of the
Group. The Board remains committed to the delivery of excellence in both customer service and shareholder value and I
am confident that it will continue to do so.
Ian MacLaurin
Chairman
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