Savills says it will keep packager arm trading
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Savills Private Finance has pledged to keep its packager arm Savills Lending Solutions trading, after placing 11 of its staff into consultation last week.
The move follows a strategic review of the firm which concluded it could operate with a smaller workforce.
Melanie Bien, a director at Savills Private Finance, says: “We placed staff into consul-tation this week. A lack of funding and lenders such as Beacon Homeloans withdrawing from the market resulted in a review of the business. The business will still continue, but unfortunately with less staff.”
One source says that only a couple of redundancies are expec-ted to be made.
The source says: “SLS is a strong company and will survive the down-turn and continue to operate when the market picks up.”
Roger Morris, a BDM at Affirmative Finance, says: “One thing is definite, the market will need packa-ging next year when lending re-turns. Many lenders are sat in the wings waiting to return and they will need the distribution when things pick up.”
But Ray Bohringer, a former director of packager ICMG Direct, says: “I’m afraid the old-style packager is dead. But lenders will still
The business will continueneed distributors when the market returns. We wish the team well in the future.”
Rob Jupp, formerly mana-ging director of Personal Touch Packaging, joined Savills in September 2008 to launch SLS and is managing director of the packager.
The financial services arm of Savills - comprising residential and commercial brokerage Savills Private Finance and Savills Capital Advisors - posted a loss of £2.1m before tax for the six months to June 2009.
In its 2008 results Savills posted a profit of just under £500,000 for Savills Private Finance compared with £5m in 2007.
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