Jobs go as hilton tries to cut costs
Hilton International is to mount a cull of senior management posts at its head office in a drive to decentralise its structure and reduce costs. Cutbacks will also be made at its parent company, Ladbroke Group.
David Jarvis, Hilton's chief executive appointed last October, told Caterer that across the group more than 100 jobs would go.
"The resources we used to have at Ladbroke head office are overweight and we need to descale. We will know by the summer how many jobs will go," he added.
Ladbroke has made a £4m provision against the reorganisation in its accounts and said it expects to make savings of £3m a year following the cuts.
The changes will see Brian Wallace, Ladbroke's group finance director, also assume responsibility at Hilton. David Wilson will relinquish that role to focus on development.
Bryan Taker, head of group human resources, adds Hilton's personnel role to his responsibility. And Peter George, group chief executive of Ladbroke, also becomes chairman of Hilton.
From this week, Hilton has moved its head office and two regional offices - which cover the UK and continental Europe - into a single building in Watford, Hertfordshire.
The reorganisation was announced at the presentation of Ladbroke's full-year results, which showed Hilton had made substantial progress during the year ended 31 December 1995.
Hotel operating profits were up 18% to £150.2m on a turnover up 5% to £1.81b. In the UK, Hilton's operating profits were up almost 20% to £78m from sales ahead by nearly 13% at £254.5m.
Discussions about a merger with US-based Hilton Hotels Corporation (HHC), which have been under way for more than 18 months, have been put on hold while the new head of HHC, Steve Bollenbach, gets to grips with the issues, said Mr Jarvis.
Ladbroke's pre-tax profits before exceptional items were down 6% to £121.3m, said to be due to difficult trading in the betting and gaming operations.
