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Direct Line halfway towards £100m cost cutting target
Insurer Direct Line said this morning it was halfway towards its target of £100m in cost savings, as it reported a drop in quarterly profit.
The insurer, spun off by RBS in early October, said it achieved around 50 per cent of its 2014 cost target.
Direct Line announced plans to shed about seven per cent of its 15,000 strong workforce in an effort to cut costs and boost its return on equity to 15 per cent from 10 per cent in the first half of 2012.
Operating profit at the insurer fell to £123.7m in the three months to September, down four per cent year on year, hurt by lower investment returns.