KCom has launched a strategic review

[desandcaz]

Affiniti parent KCom has launched a strategic review of its business after reporting a fall in revenues and profits for the first half of its financial year.

The Hull-based giant - formerly known as Kingston Communications - admitted it had been a “challenging” six months for its Integration and Managed Services (I&MS) arm, which comprises Cisco Gold partner Affiniti and several smaller businesses. It also announced that its chief executive, Malcolm Fallen, is standing down.

In the wake of the results, Kcom is undertaking a strategic review of its business, with support from advisors JPMorgan Cazenove and Oakley Capital Corporate Finance.

The review will do little to dispel long-running rumours that Affiniti may be spun off due to a perceived lack of fit with KCom's traditional telecoms business. Affiniti has been in the KCom group since Kingston’s £169m acquisition of Omnetica in 2004, which it immediately rebranded under the Affiniti banner.

Kcom declined to go into detail but said the review “is looking at all aspects of the Group's current operations to determine how best to enhance shareholder value”.

KCom’s total revenue for the six months to 30 September declined 6.8 per cent year on year to £243.6m, primarily due to lower project sales within I&MS. Group earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) before exceptional items dropped only fractionally to £35.9m, thanks to the strength of KCom’s Telecoms & Internet Services (T&IS) business.

Within I&MS, first-half revenue declined by 11.3 per cent, while EBITDA before exceptional items plunged from £4.6m to £200,000.

KCom has implemented a range of initiatives aimed at slashing I&MS’ cost base, which it said are already having a positive impact on performance. This includes headcount reductions at Affiniti, which at the end of September had 1,024 employees – down from 1,117 last year. The firm is also consolidating I &MS' network operating centres from three down to two units, which it expects to yield annual savings of £700,000.

With Fallen departing, existing management teams will now report into Bill Halbert, who has been promoted from senior independent director to executive deputy chairman.

Chairman Michael Abrahams has also indicated he will retire next July and a search is underway to find a replacement.

Abrahams said: “Overall, the Group financial performance has been resilient in challenging market conditions. The Group remains well financed with committed banking facilities in place until March 2012. The Board is determined to make further improvements to all aspects of the Group's performance and is undertaking a strategic review of Group activities with its advisors to that effect.”

[The Dominator]

This is an eye opener -

Affiniti employs 1024 staff - how many of those are in Hull (area)?

I have been looking into this perceived belief that the majority of KCOM employees are from the Hull and surrounding area.

So far (and please put me right if you think i am wrong!) I am working on these figures:
Mistral (in 2004) employed 85 workers in Brighton
Ipswich had 133 employees based at Smart421
Maidenhead has 21 JAMIP staff
Heathrow has 49 Affiniti staff which means there are 975ish left
Hemel Hemstead has at least 300 of the affiniti staff.
While TORCH has around 300 based from Wakefield with more being sent there in the new year i understand.

So that leaves how many for Hull?

Well there are 300 based at the KC call centre - KingstonConnect, which recently secured the contract to supply HullCC..

So lets get these figures right (the jobs outside of Hull)
85
112
133
21
49
300
and say 500 of affiniti's jobs are outside of Hull

1300 min of Kcoms 2040ish jobs are based outside of Hull...


So in summary - I estimate that 1300 jobs are based outside of Hull,
740ish are based in and around Hull (Grimsby, etc), a number that is reducing all the time..
that equates to 63:37 split...


What used to be a bastion of "Hull" is nothing more than a shell with most of the money being leached from this City.

Yes it employs local people but are those people in the top positions?  Are the majority of local staff high earners?  Or are they the lower paid workers?  with 300 of those staff based within a call centre you make up your own minds.


If anyone knows any more information on staffing then please PM me.  KCom are really cagey about who is employed where, and I am starting to understand why!