If you are one of the 25,000 employees being made redundant by HSBC (LON:HSBA), think of it is as “redeployment” – to the dole queue.
According to HSBC’s investor update, the multi-national bank, it is “redeploying resources to capture expected future growth opportunities and adapting to structural changes in the operating environment”.
According to most major news agencies, the bank is axing up to 25,000 jobs, of which 7,000 or 8,000 could go in the UK, threatening the future of many local branches.
HSBC, which is pondering whether to move its headquarters away from Britain, employs around 48,000 people in the UK.
The company said it will rebrand the retail banking arm, with the HSBC name disappearing to be replaced by a name that has yet to be decided, though it could see the return of the Midland Bank to the UK high street, more than 20 years after HSBC snaffled it up.
“The theme of the day is ‘Actions to capture value from our global presence in a changed world’,” according to HSBC.
Normally, market makers respond by marking the shares up of any company that announces mass redundancies, but HSBC has defied the trend, shedding around 1% in the morning session.
Elsewhere on the high street, Boots the chemist has announce it will slash 700 jobs at its UK offices after it merges with US pharmacy giant Walgreens.
Boots has said it will attempt to redeploy – there’s that word again – as many as possible of those set for the chop.
Elsewhere on the high street, there is more slashing going on at Pets at Home (LON:PETS), but fear not! It is not some brutal inventory reduction plan; it’s a reduction of the stake by the pet retailer’s biggest shareholder.
The shares rolled over after private equity backer KKR more or less halved its stake, selling 21.6% of the company.
Among the small caps, there has been no shortage of interest in Range Resources (LON:RRL) since trading resumed in the shares yesterday.
The stock was one of the best risers yesterday but is in retreat today, as the company issued something called a “cleansing prospectus” in relation to the capital raising announced at the end of May.
Iron ore miner Beowulf’s (LON:BEM) shares head lower as the company announced the issue of 2mln shares to directors in lieu of a proportion of their salaries.
Lastly, if you are looking for news on MoPowered, the e-commerce software specialist, try looking for news on mporium (LON:MPM) instead, as that’s the new name of the company.
The firm announced a couple of senior management appointment this morning: Nelius de Groot is the new chief operating officer, and Ian Warford is the new head of products.