Collins Stewart cuts IT staff as Prebon restructuring continues

Collins Stewart Tullett, the UK broker, has begun a further round of redundancies by cutting up to 30 technology staff from the combined Prebon and Tullett brokerages.

Among the latest redundancies was Prebon's former head of European business development, Peter Salamon, who was responsible for new IT projects.

A company spokesman denied claims that, in the wake of lower brokerage revenues, the new staff cuts were driven by a cost-cutting exercise, which included shelving new IT projects.

He said the reductions formed part of a restructuring process following Tullett's 132m (€194m) acquisition of rival Prebon Yamane last October. He said staff cuts would continue.

Tullett has yet to report first-quarter results, but suffered a 64% slump in pre-tax profits in the 12 months to December 31. Its 90.1m operating profits before goodwill, and excluding the Prebon acquisition, were marginally ahead of the prior year on a comparable basis.

About 340 employees had left the group in the reorganisation, which began late last year. Rival firms have poached more than 50 front-office staff from its Asia-Pacific business this year.

Tullett's smaller rival, RP Martin, which was recently bought out from AIM-listed Trio Holdings, also cut back on IT and back-office staff last week, making 11 redundant. An RP Martin spokesperson said the cuts formed part of the firm's restructuring, which is expected to double profitability.

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