Property developer U+I’s chief executive and chief financial officer are both stepping down from their roles, amid a series of wholesale changes aimed at combatting what has been “an incredibly challenging period” for the firm.
CEO Matthew Weiner said he would step down from the top job with immediate effect, with chief development officer Richard Upton making the step up into his place. Weiner will remain on the board until May to help smooth the transition.
The firm’s finance boss, Marcus Shepherd, who also holds the chief operating officer role, will also step down. U+I has yet to find a replacement.
U+I said the value of its assets had fallen dramatically over the six months ending 30 September 2020, from £289.6m at its last full-year update to £240m for the most recent interim report. It represents a year-on-year drop in value from £327m at the same point in 2019.
The firm also booked another £50.2m interim loss before tax for the period, compared with a £23.9m loss for the same period in the previous financial year.
The regeneration-focused developer now plans a 100-day review in a bid to reduce overheads and turn around what has been a challenging financial year for the company, with results announced in May.
U+I is also bringing in a cost saving programme in a bid to reduce overheads by 25%, as the firm continues to reel from the coronavirus pandemic, which has already forced it to make redundancies.
Upton said: “The last six months has been an incredibly challenging period for the company as we, alongside the real estate sector, have been dealing with the impacts of the wider health crisis and consequent economic uncertainty.
“Whilst we have been agile in changing the way that we work and improving our processes, we recognise the need to make pivotal changes and improve our performance to respond better to external pressures.
“We have taken immediate steps to reduce our recurring costs, through an overhead reduction plan, deliverable thanks to a smaller portfolio of projects, as we accelerate the near-term monetisation of our pipeline.
“We have taken difficult decisions to exit legacy and non-core assets, improving liquidity and reducing leverage significantly. This activity has been undertaken at pace, paving the way for a strong, clean platform for growth.”
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