It seems as though barely a week goes by without a chief executive or chief financial officer either jumping ship to another firm or leaving the business completely to pursue ‘other interests’.

At the start of this week, FTSE 100 mobile network operator Vodafone (VOD) announced chief executive Nick Read would step down at the end of December but would remain in an advisory role for the next three months.

Given the board has no immediate successor lined up, chief financial officer Margherita Della Valle has been appointed interim chief executive while a search is conducted, creating some uncertainty over whether he jumped or was pushed.

Vodafone shares are down around 20% this year, compared to a small gain for the FTSE 100, with some commentators suggesting Read’s failure to convince investors of his ability to improve the group’s results and raise its share price – particularly after having cut the full year outlook less than a month ago – was the reason for him stepping down.

However, as analysts at Berenberg point out, the firm faces stiff headwinds and relentless competition, and it is unclear what a new chief executive could do to revitalise Vodafone’s fortunes or its share price short of a ‘fire sale’ of some of its assets.

Read’s departure takes the number of outgoing FTSE 100 chiefs to 19 this year, while the total number of chief executives and chief financial officers who have resigned across UK plc is much higher.

Some have switched firms, but many more have quit their respective industries altogether as the storm clouds of recession gather.

The resignation of so many skilled executives, who having steered their firms through the pandemic were looking forward to clearer skies ahead, only to be faced with the prospect of a steep downturn instead, can’t be good news for the economy.

Vodafone isn’t the only company in limbo, either: consumer goods giants Reckitt (RKT) and Unilever (ULVR) also have interim chief executives while the search continues for new talent.

In the case of Unilever, investor Nick Train, who manages both Lindsell Train Investment Trust (LTI) and Finsbury Growth & Income (FGT), believes outgoing chief executive Alan Jope was talented but ultimately unlucky in that after a 30-year career at the firm his leadership coincided with the pandemic.

Train told Shares he doesn’t expect a new chief executive to make radical changes as the company has served its customers and its shareholders very well over the last two decades.

Disclaimer: The author owns shares in Finsbury Growth & Income.

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