Directors to go as VTR restructures

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The VTR Group is to shed some of its most senior staff including managing directors and has earmarked up to£1m for redundancy payments.

The VTR Group is to shed some of its most senior staff including managing directors and has earmarked up to £1m for redundancy payments.

A number of high-profile figures are believed to have been casualties of the restructuring, including Dave Cadle, managing director, Blue; Amanda Harvey, marketing director, Blue and Sam Greenwood, general manager, Blue. VTR Group managing director John Banks confirmed that as many as 12 staff were due to be made redundant. Further senior figures are expected to be among their number.

Banks said: "The [job] losses go across all the companies and levels. We are in negotiations with the respective parties."

The restructuring will bring annual savings of around £1.75m, according to an announcement made to the London Stock Exchange last week. The cost of the restructuring has been estimated at £1m, the majority of which will consist of redundancy payments. This cost will be written off as an exceptional charge in the financial year ending on 31 August 2004.

The restructuring has already resulted in changes in the management of the new VTR Media Services division. Blue founder and managing director Dave Cadle has been replaced by The Machine Room managing director Danny Whybrow. Former facilities manager Kate Sturgess has been promoted to head VTR, which now incorporates The Hive.

The activities of digital communication service provider Clipstream have been merged into The Machine Room, which will operate under the control of Neil Lane.

VTR still believes it is on course, despite the changes at the company. In the statement to the stock exchange, chairman Philip Lovegrove said: "After 11 months of trading the board believes the outcome for the current financial year will be in line with market expectations."

The VTR Group felt that the restructure and resulting cost savings is a necessary measure to return the group to the profit levels achieved before 2003. Administrative costs rocketed from £18m in 2002 to £21m in 2003 - a rise twice the size of the increase in turnover during the same period.