Unite reshuffles its board

29th Sep 2011 13:15

The Unite Group, a UK developer and manager of student accommodation, has announced changes to its board which reflect a wider reorganisation of the group's management, the firm said. The company is implementing a series of organisational changes which are expected to result in annual overhead savings of approximately £2.5m from January 2012 onwards.In a statement the group said: "The changes relate mainly to planned headcount reduction in senior management roles and central support functions and are intended to streamline the group's leadership team to drive greater alignment and accountability across the business." Exceptional implementation costs are expected to be approximately £1.5m and will be expensed in 2011.As part of the changes chief operating officer John Tonkiss will leave the firm, while Richard Simpson will join the board as managing director of the property division and Richard Smith as managing director of the operations division. The group added: "These changes build on a period of strong performance for the group, with 99% of available rooms now reserved for the 2011/12 academic year, rental growth for the year firmly within the group's 3-4% target range and all other areas of the business performing in line with plan." "Based on the high occupancy and rental growth levels achieved for the 2011/12 academic year, the board is confident of delivering strong growth in net portfolio contribution, the group's key measure of recurring profit, for the full year."The share price fell 0.83% to 167.0p at 13:24. NR