Telecoms giant Vodafone today unveiled an organisational revamp that will see it split into three new business units - run by three separate chief executives - in a renewed effort to cut costs in mature business areas and wring more profits out of the emerging markets.

As he moved to put a damaging boardroom spat behind him, group chief executive Arun Sarin revealed that Vodafone will create two geographical business divisions - one for Europe and the other covering central Europe, the Middle East, Asia Pacific and affiliated areas.

The third division will be called New Business and Innovation, and will concentrate on finding new sources of revenue and developing product lines, particularly involving converged and mobile internet services.

The head of the New Business unit will be Thomas Geitner, currently the group's chief technology officer. Tim Miles, the chief executive of Vodafone UK, will become the chief technology officer and will be succeeded by Nick Read, currently chief commercial officer.

The Europe division will be led by Bill Morrow, the president of the Vodafone KK business in Japan that has just been sold to internet and telecoms local group Softbank.

And the Central European business will be driven by Paul Donovan, the chief executive of "Other Vodafone Subsidiaries".

Intriguingly, as well as focusing on generating profits from the emerging markets - which for Vodafone's purposes will be grouped into three "clusters" - this third business line will also contain the group's joint ventures, affiliates and investments.

These include Vodafone's stake in American business Verizon Wireless, a holding it has been under pressure from some shareholders to sell.

In a possible indication that Vodafone is now less likely to sell out of Verizon Wireless, the company said of its joint ventures and investments: "The key focus will be on maximising performance and increasing, where possible, the benefits of being part of the Vodafone Group."

Some City analsysts, however, suggested the chances of Vodafone offloading some of its other interests and returning further cash to shareholders were now improved.

The Central European division will also contain China Mobile, Vodacom and SFR.

The Europe division will contain all of Vodafone principal markets in the UK and the continent, including Germany, Italy and Spain.

"Given the high penetration levels and competitive nature of these markets the unit will focus on leveraging its unique regional scale and reducing costs," Vodafone said.

The organisational overhaul comes as Vodafone moves to quell concern among investors about its ailing share price and a perceived lack of vision about its future direction.

Following the sale of Vodafone KK, the group plans to return as much as £6 billion to shareholders.

Shares in Vodafone gained more than 2.2 per cent to 126.25p shortly after Vodafone circulated details of its plan to the stock market.

Robert Brindle at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein called the changes "entirely logical and appropriate".

"Emphasis on cost control of maturing businesses and raising the profile of the hunt for new revenue streams is good to hear," he said.

"We are intrigued to note that the global marketing and technology functions are contained in Europe which could indicate that the company continues to de-emphasise its global branding and footprint strategy, boding positively for asset disposals and cash returns to shareholders."

For full details on Vodafone shares click here

Times Recommends

• Minister in talks with Saudis to protect creditors
• Premier Inn hits back in £29-a-room row
• Bankers hit back at 'populist' bonus supertax