M&G set to lose four per cent of staff as Rossi continues cost-cutting drive
Asset manager M&G said more than 200 staff had applied for its voluntary redundancy programme today as it revealed a £400m boost in flows in the three months to the end of March.
The asset manager’s chief Andrea Rossi took over in September last year and has been on a drive to bolster the firm’s balance sheet and cut costs after years of outflows.
M&G revealed that more than 200 employees – some four per cent of its total workforce – had accepted the redundancy programme launched in March in a bid to “streamline” the business. The programme has now closed.
The update came as the firm reported a £400m net boost of flows into its funds, which allowed it to absorb a flood of redemptions triggered during the mini-budget crisis in September last year.
M&G’s net flows figure ticked up from £300m in the same period last year and helped to boost its assets under management by £2bn to £344bn.
“Notwithstanding an uncertain external environment, we are building on the inherent strengths of our differentiated business model, delivering profitable growth alongside attractive shareholders returns,” chief executive Andrea Rossi said.
The firm added it was “moving at pace on the transformation programme” and “continuing to identify opportunities to streamline the business and achieve our cost-saving target”.
The update comes after a torrid year for the capital’s money managers in which clients have pulled their cash from the markets amid extreme volatility.
M&G’s update seemed to unsettle the market this morning, however, as shares tumbled nearly two per cent before settling to trade down around 1.7 per cent at 10:49am.
Rossi took over the reins of the asset manager last year and has been looking to win back the confidence of the market and bat away suggestions of a takeover.
The firm had been linked in a potential deal with Australian financial services giant MacQuarie but Rossi dismissed talks in recent months and said he was focused on delivering for the firm as a standalone group.
“It is perhaps opportune that I state one option that I will not pursue. And that is a break up of M&G,” he told analysts last year.
“To suggest otherwise, ignores a fundamental and unique advantage of One M&G. This is how I think about it.”