Board shake-up at Consignia

ALLAN LEIGHTON, chairman of Consignia, is to announce a “radical shakeup” of the board structure of Britain’s post-office group. The move could eventually shave more than Pounds 50m a year from operational costs.

When completed, it will result in several senior managers being made redundant and will eliminate inter- company billing. Leighton wants to simplify the reporting structures and cut the 18 operating divisions.

The group will have two operating subsidiaries, Royal Mail and Post Office Limited. These will be run by separate chief executives and will report to an umbrella company, Royal Mail Holdings.
Consignia, soon to be renamed Royal Mail, is looking for two non-executive directors to sit on the holding- company board. It is also planning to recruit a new chairman for the Post Office group, who will be deputy chairman of the holding company. Leighton will be chairman of the holding company and the Royal Mail subsidiary. The group is also to appoint a human-resources director for the first time.
Within Royal Mail there will be four trading divisions; letters, parcels, logistics and international, and it is hoped a lot of the senior positions here could be filled by internal promotions.
Leighton said: “There will now be one finance and IT division that will service both operating companies. We want to de-treacle the organisation to enable the operator at the front line to be able to get on with things in a much more efficient way.”