F&C to cut up to 99 jobs

F&C Investments intends to cut between 60 and 99 jobs from its payroll in a bid to wipe £15 million, or 10%, off its cost base.

F&C is in a 30-day consultation period and said the job cuts, which could amount to around 10% of its workforce, would mainly impact its back office staff across a range of divisions.

It also stressed front line managers on its funds and investment trust desks would not be among those made redundant.

F&C said it had been able to make the job cuts after bringing its institutional operational platform, which has had 'substantial' investment, in house.  

The move comes after F&C identified £12 million of costs savings following its interim update in August.   

Commenting on the new wave of costs, F&C chief executive Alain Grisay said while F&C is benefiting from its diversity by asset class, client type and geography and the stability of its long-term contracts, the challenging outlook for the sector is impacting its business model.  

'In order to address the downward pressure on revenues and margins, we are undertaking a targeted cost reduction programme which both reflects this and the economies derived from our investment in new systems and back office consolidation projects,' Grisay said in a statement to the London Stock Exchange.

'These actions are necessary to ensure that we have a cost base that is appropriate for these tougher trading conditions.' 

At 11.15am shares in F&C were trading 0.5p higher at 81.5p.