Managers’merger reaps reward
TrustCompany has announced the completion of its merger withPermanent Trusteesand has posted a pre-tax profit of $7.2 million for the year ending February 2003, with Permanent contributing $0.9 million in the three months since the deal was struck.
“The implementation of the merger has been successful in all areas, including cost reduction. On an annualised basis, we’ve reduced costs by $5 million pre-tax through synergies and we’ll receive those benefits from the beginning of this financial year,” Trust managing director Jonathan Sweeney says.
However, he adds that some of the finer points of the merger are still being bedded down.
Sweeney says the greatest synergies have been achieved in the areas of estates and trusts, corporate superannuation, private clients and property custody.
“In terms of our priorities, our first will be to complete the integration process with the focus on our computer network and the client accounting system.
“By June 30, we’d hope to have a seamless private client accounting system for the former Permanent and Trust clients,” he says.
Sweeney says that in instances where businesses were predominantly unique to either Trust or Permanent, the merged group has been able to expand its total market offering.
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