Telstra Chairman Mullen to retire after 15 years

(Reuters) - Australia's Telstra said on Monday that its chairman John Mullen would retire at the conclusion of this year's annual meeting on October 17.

After serving on the telecom major's board for 15 years, the company said Mullen will be succeeded as chairman by current director Craig Dunn. Mullen served as chairman for the past seven years.

Dunn, who first joined the Telstra board in April 2016, is currently chairman of the Audit & Risk Committee and has experience of over two decades in financial services in Australia and Asia.

Telstra is targeting net cost reductions of A$500 million and mid-single digit underlying earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) growth through to FY25.

The country's largest telecoms firm expects underlying EBITDA between A$8.2 billion and A$8.4 billion ($5.38 billion)for fiscal 2024, higher than A$7.86 billion in the previous year.

($1 = 1.5603 Australian dollars)

(Reporting by Aishwarya Nair in Bengaluru; editing by Diane Craft)