Whitehead Mann cuts staff

The financial services group is losing two consultants in London and one in Paris. Other industry sectors are affected more badly and the firm's total reduction in headcount is about 20 people.

At least half the redundancies will be among support staff, said a source close to Whitehead Mann. Job losses in the US are likely to exceed those in Europe.

Whitehead Mann, like other search firms focusing on financial services, has seen work dry up at the lower levels. But the synergies between its financial services and board practices have kept its consultancy business humming.

Whitehead Mann says its board practice currently works for some 70% of FTSE-100 companies. But it was recently shaken by news that its founder Anna Mann is to work in the same arena with MWM Consulting, an HR consultancy she set up with her husband Clive Mann.

She will be at Whitehead Mann in a reduced capacity until 2004.

There has been a recent surge of interest in advisory board work by veteran headhunters setting up new search firms, including John Viney, who left Heidrick & Struggles, and Roddy Gow, who left Odgers.