Charles Stanley refusing to rule out future redundancies amid new cost cutting measures, as losses drop to £300,000
Charles Stanley is to continue rounds of cost-cutting as it seeks to return to profit, with future redundancies a possibility, and offices in London among those to be closed this year.
The firm reported a financial loss of £300,000 for the year ending 31 March, dramatically cutting losses of £6.1m in 2015.
However, revenues dropped to £141.6m compared to £149.7m a year earlier.
Speaking to City A.M., Charles Stanley's chief financial officer Ben Money-Coutts said the firm expects to return to profit next year, pending market conditions.
"That will be coming through a combination of growing assets a bit and more particularly through costs," Money-Coutts said.
The firm said in November last year that it was seeking to make savings.
Speaking today, chief executive Paul Abberley declined to specify targets for cuts yet to be made, and said that while no roles are currently at risk, neither redundancies or office closures would be ruled out.
Abberley instead described the process as “opportunistic” with managers asked to regularly display how they are improving either capacity or reducing bills.
Money-Coutts said the firm currently operates five premises in Central London, but added that following the April announcement of new headquarters at 55 Bishopsgate, Charles Stanley could seek to reduce its London presence further, and could go as far as cutting all but a single site.
“That will result in a reduction in the costs as to what we would have otherwise had,” Money-Coutts said.
“We will begin the moves of people in the Autumn, and it will be done no later than the 31st of March.”
Separately, Abberley was keen to stress the positives of the firm's results, announced today, and said the firm is “back on track” following a restructure that saw the business drawn into four operating divisions.
In a statement issued alongside the figures, he said: "Our three-fold priorities for the year were to arrest the decline in profitability, determine and begin to implement the strategic direction for Charles Stanley and build the foundations upon which we can drive sustainable growth. Solid progress was achieved in each."