Annual report 2012 page 23 Operating Expenses The Group experienced a significant increase in staff costs during the financial year with employee benefits expenses increasing from $38,395,000 in 2011 to $51,548,000 in 2012. This increase reflected a full year of costs in the US following the ramp up in operational and corporate support functions during the latter part of the 2011 financial year. As a result of the restructuring of the Group into the four core business units in June 2012 and a focus on cost reduction, a total of 60 employees or positions were made redundant in the US and Australia, with staff numbers in these locations reducing to 232 by the end of the financial year (2011: 238). The redundancies are expected to save an estimated $4,500,000 per annum. Total staff numbers across the Group decreased to 430 as at 30 June 2012 (2011: 464). Total administration and corporate costs for the period increased from $57,550,000 to $74,743,000 reflecting the significant increase in staff costs detailed above and administrative costs as a result of the continued global expansion of the business, particularly in the United States with the acquisition
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