AMP expected to cut more jobs, announce more changes in UK
(Australia) - Australian fund manager and insurer AMP is expected to slash the door-to-door workforce at its UK Pearl Assurance unit as part of a sweeping strategy change to be announced this week.
AMP has announced a "strategy day" for Wednesday December 4 at which the results of a review of its UK operations will be announced.
Early reports suggest that up to 1,000 positions at Pearl are in the firing line, and most of those are concentrated on the sales force, one of Britain's last door-to-door insurance selling operations.
Under new chief Andrew Mohl, AMP has already embarked on a ruthless restructuring of its UK businesses, which provides around 60 percent of the company's profits, but which has become - in the recent worlds of Salomon Smith Barney - a "problem child".
Mohl, who came to the job after capital adequacy problems at Pearl claimed his predecessor, has already signalled a A$850 million writedown on the value of AMP's UK operations, and has sacked the company's previous UK chief, Tom Fraser.
AMP announced 1,500 redundancies across its UK operations in June, and added to that in November with the announcement that another 1,000 jobs would be cut across the group globally.
Australian analysts have speculated that AMP could look to sell its UK businesses, which were once set for a London Stock Exchange listing, but most have concluded that the outlook for any sale is bleak.
Ahead of Wednesday's "strategy day," a Merrill Lynch report says the brokerage expects more writedowns on the value of the UK businesses. A sale, says Merrill, is "great in theory" but is unlikely due to the "scarcity of capital in the industry and the unattractive fundamentals of the business."
Early reports suggest that up to 1,000 positions at Pearl are in the firing line, and most of those are concentrated on the sales force, one of Britain's last door-to-door insurance selling operations.
Under new chief Andrew Mohl, AMP has already embarked on a ruthless restructuring of its UK businesses, which provides around 60 percent of the company's profits, but which has become - in the recent worlds of Salomon Smith Barney - a "problem child".
Mohl, who came to the job after capital adequacy problems at Pearl claimed his predecessor, has already signalled a A$850 million writedown on the value of AMP's UK operations, and has sacked the company's previous UK chief, Tom Fraser.
AMP announced 1,500 redundancies across its UK operations in June, and added to that in November with the announcement that another 1,000 jobs would be cut across the group globally.
Australian analysts have speculated that AMP could look to sell its UK businesses, which were once set for a London Stock Exchange listing, but most have concluded that the outlook for any sale is bleak.
Ahead of Wednesday's "strategy day," a Merrill Lynch report says the brokerage expects more writedowns on the value of the UK businesses. A sale, says Merrill, is "great in theory" but is unlikely due to the "scarcity of capital in the industry and the unattractive fundamentals of the business."
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