The restructure of Mortgage Choice’s senior management is not a result of the firm’s business arrangement with Count Financial, the company’s managing director has said.
The decision to undertake a restructure comes as a result of the firm’s annual results, Mortgage Choice managing director Paul Lahiff told InvestorDaily.
“One of the key areas was naturally cost in a tougher environment. We decided to move forward, it is totally unrelated to Count,” Lahiff said.
As part of the restructure, staff in the roles of head of marketing, national corporate affairs manager, training manager and national recruitment manager will leave the company, with the roles being redesigned and replaced at a lower cost.
“The expectation is that with the changes we have put in place now, we feel comfortable that we have got the right resourcing and the right number of people going forward,” he said.
Count Financial acquired an initial 4.9 per cent stake in Mortgage Choice in July this year. The firm increased its stake to 15.2 per cent in August.
Commenting on whether Mortgage Choice would allow Count to make a takeover, Lahiff said: “We never had that intention in the first place. Count came to us uninvited and our view is that we have a robust future as an independent organisation. As far as we are concerned it is business as usual.”
The estimated impact of the 2009/10 restructure is a cost saving of $1.2 million, and the estimated 2008/09 impact is $0.6 million, which incorporates one-off costs involved in the changes, the company said.
