Quinn in Administration

dacouch

I knew there were similarities between Maxwell and Quinn...

"The company last week hired restructuring expert Murdoch McKillop to lead the negotiations. McKillop is best known as one of the liquidators to Robert Maxwell's newspaper group".

http://www.tribune.ie/article/2010/apr/18/regulator-to-pursue-executives-in-quinn/

Reports Sean Quinn is holidaying on a luxury yacht off the Canary Islands have not been confirmed

P.S Ermmm

shaz77_2

It seems likely that I and most other UK employees will be laid off, that should please Dacouch and co.

dacouch

People losing their jobs does not please me.

You should vent any anger at the Quinns for their miss management and bad investment decisions

JPS29

Shaz,

I am genuinely sorry to hear that but is there not some hope for you. From reading on the internet the administrators had said along the lines of if the UK business was being taken on again then there would be more customers which would need the staff to manage. Have you heard anything re the UK arm of the business or is it somethine else that makes you feel you will be out of a job. I would have thought that if they wanted to put the business back on track then they need good staff, although I wouldn't be surprised to see the very high paid (execs?) being shed.

shaz77_2

dacouch wrote: »

People losing their jobs does not please me.

You should vent any anger at the Quinns for their miss management and bad investment decisions

Maybe I was being a little harsh on you in the wee small hours.

Its likely at the moment that the UK workfoce will be sacrificed in order to save the Irish work force.

Oscar_The_Grouch

shaz77 wrote: »

Maybe I was being a little harsh on you in the wee small hours.

Its likely at the moment that the UK workfoce will be sacrificed in order to save the Irish work force.

Do you have that as official information from the Administrators?

Let's be honest here; the Administrators are not going to do anything that will cause further harm to the reputation of Quinn unless there is no other option. This includes kicking out all the UK employees just to keep the Irish ones safe. The first thing that is likely to happen is that board members will suddenly start to "retire" or "seek a change in direction", meaning that they will be given the push by the Administrator. This will save an awful lot more money than snuffing out a few customer service staff. After that, departments will merge and senior managers will be shown the door.

The bottom level staff and their immediate managers are likely to be still in place when the Administrators find a buyer. The identity of that buyer will determine how many redundancies there will be. If it's someone who already has offices in NI and Ireland, staff from across the company will be redundant. If it's someone who is looking to extend their operations, they will need the workforce in place. Again, directors and senior managers (the ones that are left) will be the ones most likely to go in those circumstances.

shaz77_2

The axe falls tomorrow, approximately 800 jobs will go.

JPS29

Posted here at Oscars polite request:D

Quinn has had it's ban lifted on writing business in the UK. Premiums have increased so achieving the levels of business written pre administration will be highly unlikey

Oscar_The_Grouch

Thanks JPS - it's much easier to have everything in one place!

The INSURANCE TIMES posts a brief article that suggests the premiums will be subject to an average of 20% increase! That's going to impact on their business and affect the pattern of their business, but it also shows how "off" their pricing was pre administration.

I've read conflicting articles about the 800 job losses; some reports saying that the majority of cuts will come from Ireland as voluntary early retirements and redundancies, but others saying the effect will be across all offices. I'd be interested if anyone has more accurate information!

stevemarsh1976

insurance times breaking news email

Quinn Group hoists 'For sale' sign over Quinn Insurance

30 April, 2010
Irish group is considering sale of entire insurance business

The Quinn Group has admitted that it is now seriously considering selling Quinn Insurance in a move to "protect the maximum number of jobs."
Quinn Insurance staff in Ireland and the UK are being briefed this afternoon by its joint administrators on the scale of the redundancies within the company.
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The Quinn Group board said it is "greatly saddened" by the expected redundancies and said it has has been "overwhelmed by the support of its loyal staff and customer base across the group in recent weeks and most especially by the support shown by the employees of Quinn Insurance."
However it said that it had reluctantly come to the conclusion that, in the interests of all stakeholders but especially Quinn Insurance employees, it should consider selling Quinn Insurance.
Quinn Group chief executive Liam McCaffrey said: “Since the appointment of provisional administrators on 30th March and the confirmation of their appointment on 15th April 2010, the Group board has been considering a number of options but has now reluctantly concluded that in view of the funding required to meet the solvency requirements laid down by the Financial Regulator, the future of Quinn Insurance is probably best protected under new ownership. Accordingly we will be working closely with the Joint Administrators to see if this objective can be achieved in as short a time as possible with the hope that this will protect the maximum number of jobs."
He added: "Quinn Insurance has a robust and profitable business model with a skilled and loyal workforce. However prolonging the situation is not in anyone's interest and that is why we have reached this decision.”
The administrators are so far believed to have received up to 50 expressions of interest from investors in Quinn Insurance.
Anglo Irish Bank has previously submitted proposals to take control of parts of the Quinn Group, while insurers includes AXA, Allianz, RSA and Irish firm FBD have also been touted as buyers.