FBD cuts on way as losses shoot up

FBD Holdings – that has two branches in Galway as well as offices in Castlebar and Roscommon – is set for major cost-cutting measures over the coming months following huge pre-tax losses announced this week.

Known to many people as ‘the insurance company of the farmer’, FBD confirmed losses of €96m for the first half of this year.

Trading in the business as both FBD and No Nonsense Insurance, the company has now vowed to concentrate on its core business of providing insurance for farmers and small businesses.

No Nonsense will live up to its name by disappearing from under the FBD umbrella while the company will also dispose of its property and leisure interests.

FBD operates two offices in Galway – in the Sean Mulvoy Road, Galway city and in Athenry – and nationally it now seems likely that there will be some job losses as the company commits to a €7m reduction in its annual costs.

All enquiries as regards any implications for the western offices were referred to the FBD Head Office in Dublin but on Monday, the company’s interim chief executive confirmed on Morning Ireland that the cuts would impact on employees.

Fiona Muldoon, told RTE’s Conor Brophy on the Business News that ‘given that we are a people business, it will affect our employees, yes’.

She said that the company owed it to their employees to talk to them first but referred to a dysfunctional insurance market where the charges weren’t sufficient to meet the claims.

Ms. Muldoon said that the insurance business in Ireland had not returned to profitability over the past 10 years but added that the aim of the company was to return to profitability in 2016.

In a company statement issued on Monday, FBD said that it was reviewing its strategic direction following the ‘significant losses’ in the first half of 2015.

“The Group has decided on a strategy that will focus on those things it does best, servicing the insurance needs of FBD’s agricultural and small business customers and a single brand consumer strategy for motorists and home owners. FBD will reduce expenses in line with this simplified strategy,” the company stated.

FBD employ in excess of 900 people spread across 30 branches nationwide and its head office in Dublin – in the region of 40 people are understood to be employed at their Galway, Mayo and Roscommon branches.