Freemans Grattan Holdings (FGH), formerly known as Otto UK, on
Wednesday revealed proposals to significantly restructure and
streamline its business. The company, which in addition to the
Freemans and Grattan catalogues operates etailer Oli.co.uk, is to
enter into consultation with unions and staff representatives
about the future structure of the company.
In an interview with Catalogue/e-business, chief
executive Koert Tulleners outlined proposals to close down one of
the company’s two contact centres, warehouses in Peterborough and
Bradford, the London buying office, and 18 clearance outlets. FGH
also proposes to standardise the contracts of remaining employees
so that all staff have the same terms and conditions.
As all proposals are subject to a 90-day consultation period,
Tulleners was unable to estimate a figure regarding job losses,
though all 3,800 employees have been informed that their jobs may
be affected. He did emphasise that the even though the UK job
losses would be “significant”, it did not mean work
would be migrating to Germany, where parent company Otto Group is
based.
“The UK will be firmly in charge of the UK business,”
Tulleners stressed. To that end he disclosed proposals to move
the business towards a “business unit structure”,
meaning each unit–for example, agency catalogues or
ecommerce–will be run from the UK by newly appointed directors.
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