Petar Cvetkovic, the head of Rentokil Initial Plc’s City Link division, has quit partway through an overhaul aimed at stemming losses at Britain’s second-biggest parcel-delivery business.
Read MoreThe company launched a restructuring programme after being hit by major integration problems in late 2007 and early 2008.
Read MoreCity Link has announced a new senior management structure.
Heading the new senior management team is recently appointed Managing Director Petar Cvetkovic, who was previously Chief Executive Officer at Target Express, the company that City Link parent Rentokil Initial Plc acquired for GBP 210m in November 2006. Petar has a wealth of experience in this sector and over many years has built a strong reputation as a hands-on leader and team builder.
He is joined on City Link’s new Executive Board by Stuart Godman, Sales & Marketing Director, Operations Director Phil Duckworth, IT Director Linda Van As, Human Resources Director Pat Stringfellow, Support Services Director Ken Johnson and Finance Director Colin Tyler, all extremely experienced in their line of expertise. For example executive Phil Duckworth has a successful career track record in Operations in both businesses with City Link for 10 years and Target Express for 6 years.
Read MoreCity Link has come out fighting against suggestions that it has been trying to cut its wage bill by around GBP 4m to remain profitable. Sources in the industry contacted CM to say some staff at the firm had taken a wage cut and others had been made redundant following the company’s merger with Target Express last year.
However, City Link sales and marketing director Stuart Godman insists the company has not cut its wage bill, and has only made a few redundancies following the merger with Target.
“I can categorically deny the suggestion that anyone has been asked to take a pay cut in our business,” he says.
“In fact, we are continuing to invest in the business, and will open a number of new depots over the coming months. New depots will open at Worcester, Norwich, Coventry and Stoke by October, and the Cwmbran depot will be refurbished and the Oxford depot extended.”
Godman adds: “In any situation where companies come together, which in our case is the Target Express and City Link brands, it is inevitable that there will be duplication of roles, which result in sporadic redundancies as well as the need in certain regions to either consolidate or relocate depot locations.”
Read MoreCity Link has reported a “positive impact” on service performance following the implementation of its seven-point recovery plan highlighted in its pre-close trading statement.
The company posted an operating loss of GBP 16.9 million on 2nd May for the first quarter of 2008, compared to a profit of GBP 9.3 million the previous year, owing to the difficulties it experienced after the acquisition of Target Express.
The company said: “Customer relationships have improved, attrition has slowed and overall service levels have been restored.”
However, despite the improvement in service for the Rentokil Initial-owned company, revenue has weakened during the second quarter, which City Link says is indicative of “weakening demand generally” rather than customer losses.
The company has identified key areas in which it could save that are expected to deliver payback within the next 12 to 18 months, although this will have a limited impact on results in 2008.
Internal forecasts of losses at City Link have also now stabilised.
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