The move came amid fresh rumours that its rival, Merrill Lynch, is also poised to wield the axe. Goldman Sachs, the Wall Street investment bank, stoked fears yesterday of sweeping City job losses, similar to those seen in the Russian financial crisis in 1998, after disclosing plans to cut almost 40 per cent of its personnel department. The move came amid fresh rumours that its rival, Merrill Lynch, is also poised to wield the axe.
Three hundred of Goldman’s 800 human resources staff are leaving, the bank said, including about 80 from the 200-strong team in London. Most of the affected positions are in training, where Goldman has expanded agressively over the last two years. The bank said it was hiring only university and MBA graduates, and some equity analysts.While overall staff numbers were expected to be flat at 24,000 this year, the bank would not rule out a fall in headcount in 2002 if the weakness in financial markets persisted.However, a spokesman gave an upbeat assessment of Goldman’s position. “There are signs of life in the markets that would suggest much of the pessimism out there is overdone.
Market leaders get a disproportionate share of business in a downturn, and that’s happening to us,” he said.While banks have been quietly pruning staff this year, many are prevented from making deeper cuts because of contracts offering employees guaranteed bonuses. “Everyone is trying to trim fat without cutting into muscle, but some people are going to have a very hard time soon,” one investment banker said.Merrill Lynch posted a 41 per cent drop in second-quarter earnings last week, and said the third quarter could be even worse. JP Morgan reported a 61 per cent drop in earnings and warned of likely job losses ahead. Goldman posted a 24 per cent drop in its second-quarter earnings last month.. Eurotunnel lambasted the British and French authorities yesterday for not acting to stop illegal immigrants using the Channel Tunnel to enter the UK.
The company, which operates of the crossing, warned that the immigrant problem, coupled with the impact of foot-and-mouth disease and the economic slowdown, meant its 2001 results would be down on last year. Eurotunnel lambasted the British and French authorities yesterday for not acting to stop illegal immigrants using the Channel Tunnel to enter the UK. The company, which operates of the crossing, warned that the immigrant problem, coupled with the impact of foot-and-mouth disease and the economic slowdown, meant its 2001 results would be down on last year.
Reporting interim figures, Richard Shirrefs, chief financial officer, said the company had spent £3m so far this year on fortifying the French end of the tunnel to stop people climbing on to its truck shuttles to reach Britain. He said a further £10m-£15m would be lost this year from the resulting disruption.”What we need is action from governments who are just not doing their part … You cannot expect a private company to control these nightly intrusions.
We are not policemen,” he said.Britain has threatened to fine Eurotunnel £2,000 per illegal immigrant, which Mr Shirrefs said the company would fight in the courts. For the first half of 2001, 18,500 immigrants entered its compound in France, while 3,100 were caught having made it to Britain.Eurotunnel posted a loss of £79m for the six months to 30 June, up from a loss of £75m for the period last year, after interest payments of £166m. The company earned £40m last year for laying telecoms cables in its tunnels but said there was no such business this year.It warned that if current difficult conditions persisted, it could fail to achieve its 2002 target for being able to meet interest payments from cashflow.. The Japanese economy lurched towards a new crisis yesterday as its stock market plunged to a 16-year low and its trade surplus fell sharply. The Nikkei index of the top 225 shares dropped 2.51 per cent to 11,609.63, its lowest close since 7 January 1985, when it closed at 11,575.52.
