Ineum Consulting, the international strategy, organisation and information systems consultancy that is a part of Management Consulting Group Plc, has announced the appointment of former FSA Chief Information Officer Darryl Salmons as a Partner in its London office.

Salmons will be responsible for leading Ineum’s CIO Advisory practice in the UK with an initial focus on Financial Services. The CIO Advisory service offering is targeted at the key issues on the CIO agenda ranging from IT strategy and planning to project management and governance.

For the past five years Salmons has been CIO at the FSA where he led a successful IT transformation and outsourcing programme, and implemented a number of major IT systems such as GABRIEL, the FSA’s online regulatory reporting system. Prior to that he was Group CIO at De La Rue, the leading banknote printer, where he was responsible for leading the Group’s global IT function.

Ineum Consulting’s UK Managing Partner Luke Williams commented: “The development of a CIO Advisory practice is a key part of our strategy for providing experienced-led consulting and advisory services to our customers. Darryl brings invaluable insight into the CIO agenda particularly at a time when the Financial Services sector is experiencing increased regulatory and other key strategic challenges.”

Salmons added: “I am delighted to be joining Ineum at such an exciting time, and look forward to assisting clients as they seek to deal with the challenges and opportunities ahead.”

Source: Top-Consultant

Nick Stagg, who joined the group’s Board of Directors on 21 October 2009, is appointed Chief Executive of Management Consulting Group (MCG) with effect from 1 July 2010. Before joining MCG Stagg was CEO of Teather & Greenwood Holdings PLC and, prior to that, managing director of WS Atkins International PLC.

Commenting on the appointment, Executive Chairman Alan Barber said: “I am delighted that Nick is becoming Chief Executive at this time. His extensive background in managing and developing businesses which rely heavily on the motivation and talent of their employees will be extremely valuable at MCG as we move forward. As reported in March I intend to continue as Executive Chairman until the end of 2010 and will see through Nick’s induction and the merger of Ineum Consulting and Kurt Salmon Associates, before transitioning to the Non-executive Chairman role.”

MCG also reiterated its trading outlook for 2010, saying the economic climate has eased from that experienced in the middle part of 2009.

The Group said new business input booked so far in 2010 is above that for the equivalent period last year and the order book continues to trend upwards.

“Although the Group’s current trading continues to feel the effects of the recent recession, encouraging signs in our order book and pipeline are quite evident,” said Barber.

Alexander Proudfoot has significantly more leads for new business than at any stage last year, the company said. It has booked and is currently working on some sizeable projects but is finding that others in the pipeline are taking longer than expected to come to fruition. In total, input at Ineum Consulting is good even if the current performance of the French market is “patchy,” with some areas very strong and others weaker. Kurt Salmon Associates continues to trade more profitably than in 2009, leveraging its reduced cost base to good effect.

The Group said the merger of Ineum Consulting and Kurt Salmon Associates is proceeding well. The combined business will be known as ‘Kurt Salmon’ from the beginning of 2011.

Source: Top-Consultant

Ineum Consulting is still performing strongly; Kurt Salmon Associates has seen trading recover somewhat; and Alexander Proudfoot has continued to operate at a lower level.

Management Consulting Group PLC (MCG) said in a trading update it expects to report revenue for the 2009 financial year in the range of £280m to £290m and underlying operating profit between £28m and £30m. Net debt is expected to be around £90m. The Group is in compliance with the covenants under its existing banking facilities and will manage its affairs to ensure that this continues to be the case.

Executive Chairman, Alan Barber, commented, “2009 was a challenging year for MCG after the record results achieved in 2008. We took decisive action during the year to manage the cost base in a difficult trading environment. We are dedicated to ensuring the business is well positioned to benefit from the eventual recovery in the global economy and to create long term value for shareholders.”

MCG said Ineum Consulting is still performing strongly, especially in its heartland of France where the public sector business performed particularly well in 2009. Kurt Salmon Associates has seen trading recover somewhat over the past few months in both its businesses, consumer products and health care, and has returned to profit in the second half of 2009. Alexander Proudfoot has continued to operate at a lower than normal level, although it is beginning to see new leads that inspire some confidence for the Spring 2010 selling season.

Ineum Consulting

Chiheb Mahjoub was appointed Chief Executive of Ineum Consulting on 9 December 2009, replacing Miguel de Fontenay who stepped down from that role. de Fontenay has subsequently left the Group, along with one other senior manager of Ineum Consulting.

As previously announced Mahjoub was appointed to the Board of Directors of MCG on 10 November 2009. Under the terms of the acquisition of Ineum Consulting in 2006, the vendors have the right to put forward a director for appointment to the Board of Directors of MCG until 1 September 2010. As previously announced, Marco Lopinto was therefore appointed to the Board on 15 December 2009 as an Executive Director. Lopinto has been with Ineum since 2005, is responsible for the Strategy Practice of Ineum Consulting and plays a key role in the development of the Ineum Consulting business.

Non-recurring items

During 2009 the Group continued to restructure its business, rationalise office space and reduce its headcount. Currently MCG employs around 1,500 people, a reduction of over 35% from the 2,350 employed in June 2008. The company is currently vacating one floor of its KSA office space in Atlanta and closing another office in Minneapolis. The non-recurring cost of these latest closures is £3.6m and will be recorded in the 2009 results. As a result of this the Group will benefit from lower rental costs of £0.5m per annum from 2010 onwards.

In respect of the departure of de Fontenay, the Group will be showing a non-recurring item of £1.3m.

As a result of these major items, and the continuation of the other Group redundancy plans detailed earlier in the year, the total non-recurring cost for 2009 is expected to be in the range of £15m to £16m.

MCG ‘s 2009 preliminary results will be announced on 8 March 2010.

Source: Top-Consultant