The board of Austock Group has undertaken cost-cutting measures at the group level as the company's new chief executive and management team turn their attention to its strategic direction.
In a statement to the Australian Securities Exchange yesterday, the listed funds management group said "significant" savings had been identified and action taken.
New Austock chief executive and former chairman Bill Bessemer was unavailable for further comment by InvestorDaily's deadline.
"Subsequent to the sale of the securities business, the new board and management have focused their attention on the reduction of costs at group level," the company said.
"The board and management are now turning their attention to Austock's strategic direction."
Austock finalised the sale of its securities business to Intersuisse Holdings in March.
Costs associated with the sale, in particular the combination of the restructuring costs and further trading losses, were likely to result in a full-year net loss after tax of between $15 million and $16 million, the company said.
"As previously announced, there have been further restructuring costs as a result of the securities sale, including non-cash acceleration of the share-based payments expense and corporate structure rationalisation," it said.
Austock's core business now rests with its $850-million funds management units: Austock Services, Austock Property and Austock Life.
Austock Property, led by Nick Anagnostou, manages $558 million across four funds, while Austock Life continues to expand under Ross Higgins, with funds sitting at $295 million as at 30 April.
Late last month, Austock named Bessemer as its new chief executive.
He replaces former Austock Group managing director and chief executive Paul Masi.
Masi resigned from his post earlier this year following the sale of Austock's securities business to Intersuisse. He now heads up the combined Austock Securities/Intersuisse Holdings group.
Bessemer, who chaired Austock from 1999 until a brief retirement in 2010, was appointed a non-executive director of Austock in February.
His appointment follows Chris Sadler's decision to step down and executive chairman Steven Gregg's retirement.
