Perpetual’s cost-cutting moves on to support staff

afr.com:

Turns out Perpetual’s decision to part ways with Pendal’s head of global equities Ashley Pittard and tech portfolio manager Thomas Rice was the tip of the iceberg.

Perpetual boss Rob Adams is trying to make it work. James Brickwood

Street Talk understands Perpetual is in the process of handing out redundancies among support staff, including relationship managers and salespeople. It comes as Perpetual’s CEO Rob Adams and chairman Tony D’Aloisio seek salvation for their M&A bets – which, ahem, don’t seem to be working so far – by reining in costs and squeezing out synergies.

There are expectations of up to 100 foot soldiers to leave Perpetual in the coming months, sources said. It is understood selective layoffs are already under way, with Street Talk told staffers were being asked to leave quietly rather than create a fuss. Sources close to Perpetual downplayed the number of departures, expecting them to be much lower.

None of it is surprising. Perpetual’s accounts for the 2023 financial year – which included 5½ months of Pendal’s earnings – showed a 42 per cent slump in after-tax profits to $59 million. The management pegged the blame on one-off transaction and integration costs for its $2.2 billion acquisition of Pendal Group with expenses rising 40 per cent. It has also been combining regional asset management businesses into a single global one.

Perpetual has said its main focus for this financial year is to deliver on its target of $80 million in annualised expense synergies on by January 2025. It is 3½ months out from its self-set deadline of $40 million expense synergies by January 2024. Its staffing levels stood at 1870 full-time equivalents at June 30 up from 1370 a year earlier.

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