Aegis group will release 5% of its staff

Aegis Group plc, the London-based parent of Carat and iProspect, said that it would cut 5% of its worldwide staff in its 2008 earnings report, released today.

Although the company reported a 21.3% increase in revenue and a 26.8% increase in operating profit from the prior year, chairman and interim CEO John Napier said that weaker market conditions this year has led the company to implement the plan to trim nearly 780 jobs worldwide as part of a “targeted program of cost reduction and service improvement.

“The intent is to selectively address capacity, resource and variable cost elements in both divisions [Aegis and Synovate, its market research arm],” Napier said in a statement. “This involves a regrettable but necessary headcount reduction of just under 5% of our work force, spread across more than 40 countries.”

Napier also cited a tendency for the company to add positions in anticipation of growth as a reason for the cuts.

“Following years of continuing growth, [Aegis has] a tendency to develop capacity in advance of revenue, which has limited efficiency improvement,” he explained in the statement.