Speaking to InvestorDaily, Australian Ethical managing director Phillip Vernon said some of the redundant positions would be replaced in Sydney and others would be outsourced.
“We’re at 35 full-time employees at the moment. We’ll be down to 28 plus increased outsourcing arrangements,” Mr Vernon said.
“We’ll still have a small team based in Canberra.”
The company is factoring in redundancy and associated costs of $300,000 for the remainder of the year as a result of the restructure.
In its recent annual report, Australian Ethical revealed it had reduced its staff numbers from 36 to 34 in the 2012/2013 financial year – cutting its payroll costs by 1.9 per cent.
The company also entered into a leasing agreement for a new office in Sydney in February 2013.
Mr Vernon said the move to Sydney was necessary in order for the company to be more accessible to clients and investee companies – as well as “to more readily secure employees with the right skills”.
He put the restructure down to the fact that “the financial services landscape has changed considerably over the past few years”.
“In order to continue to provide our clients with competitively priced ethical investment products and a high quality client experience, it is critical that we operate as effectively and efficiently as possible,” said Mr Vernon.
This is the second round of restructuring for Australian Ethical, with redundancy costs of $319,000 realised in 2011/2012.
The 2011/2012 business restructuring costs, along with a revaluation of the Canberra office and legal costs for shareholder actions, contributed to a below-trend net profit of $410,000.
However, the company recently posted a $1.06 million profit for the 2012/2013 financial year, back in line with the 2010/2011 and 2009/2010 results.
