Schroders make £8m loss

One of the last independent blue-blooded firms in the City, Schroders, today plunged into losses and said one in five of its staff would be redeployed to save money.

Schroders boasts a 200-year history and recently employed a new chief executive Michael Dobson on a £101/2million three-year pay package. The company looks after £110 billion of other people's cash, much of it destined for British pensions.

But today it was forced to declare losses of £8.1million for 2001, compared with a £230 million profit the year before, blaming difficult financial markets and excessive costs.

It has embarked on a major efficiency drive to outsource hundreds of administrative and IT jobs. Last January, the group employed 3,117 people. Next January it expects to employ 2,500. Schroders is leaving its dividend unchanged at 18.5p a share, but critics said a company trying to be more efficient should have cut its payout.

Schroders' shares initially slumped four per cent but then rose to stand 11p higher at 8051/2p.