Teather & Greenwood poised to cut more jobs

Teather & Greenwood, the mini investment bank, will signal today that it stands ready to cut dozens more jobs in order to weather the bear market.

The company's chief executive, Ken Ford, will tell shareholders at their annual meeting that T&G is making progress in a programme of cost cuts that will see its workforce shrink from 235 to 200.

A short trading statement is also likely to reveal that trading in July picked up marginally after the dire conditions that prevailed in May and June, when the market for T&G research, trading, fund management and corporate finance services was deteriorating.

There has been a steady trickle of redundancies across the City's smaller brokerages. Earlier this month, Evolution, which has taken over Beeson Gregory, laid off 25 people, and 10 jobs have been axed at T&G in the past six weeks.

Mr Ford has promised to cut the company's overheads to bring the company back into profitability, and some observers believe he will be forced to cut the workforce to below 200.

The company employed more than 300 people at the height of the private investor and technology boom, as it attempted to turn itself into a full-service investment bank.

T&G plunged £3.8m into the red in the year to April as turnover stagnated, and since its results announcement last month it has been dogged by rumours of a cash crisis, rejected by Mr Ford. T&G shares have fallen 40 per cent since the results and closed at 35p on Friday. That compares to a peak of 350p in 2000.

Last week, Mr Ford denied that he was encouraging staff and other investors to take the latest dividend in the form of shares to ease the pressure on resources.

The company put out a Stock Exchange announcement highlighting the fact that a scrip dividend was worth more than a cash pay-out, and the directors have all agreed to take the dividend as new shares.