Elders to cut staff by 10%

The move comes as part of more than $25 million in cuts.

Justin Loiseau

Justin Loiseau hails from the great united state of North Carolina, where he started his first business at the ripe age of five: melting crayons into candles. With the infamous Crayola Crash of 1994, Justin moved on to study economics and environmental studies as a Morehead-Cain Scholar at the University of North Carolina. He has worked in a variety of sectors across the globe, from management consulting to the United Nations, and once spent three months examining invasive snails in Vietnam. Justin discovered The Motley Fool in 2012 and it’s been love ever since. Creativity, contrarianism, kerfuffling… what more could one want? When he’s not playing the Fool, you can find Justin at the University of Auckland, where he is pursuing a Masters in Economics as a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar. Justin finds biogas digesters fascinating and can unicycle a mile in seven minutes.

Published September 10, 2013 1:58 pm AEST

Elders (ASX: ELD) is feeling its age. The company announced today that it plans to cuts its overall staff by 10% as part of a larger effort to reorganize and streamline its business. The move comes as part of more than $25 million in cuts covering a variety of Elder's interests, and is meant to reposition the company as a pure agribusiness.

In addition to consolidating some of its regional rural and branch offices into larger units, Elders has also completed the sale of Futuris Automotive and plans to make a clean cut from its forestry assets in the next few week.

As Elders makes its exit, other companies will be impacted as well. To get out of forestry, Elders will sell off its equity in Agricultural Land Trust (ASX: AGJ), and a 15 percentage point reduction in equity holdings to 10% of Elders Insurance will be snagged up by joint venture partner QBE Insurance (ASX: QBE).

According to Elders Managing Director Malcolm Jackman, "The Elders' team in now very well placed to focus on the day-to-day needs of rural, regional, and international clients and to regain momentum as a business."

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Motley Fool contributor Justin Loiseau has no position in any stocks mentioned in this article. You can follow him on Twitter @TMFJLo.

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