Davies to shut six offices in next three months

Davies Group, the loss adjuster, is to close a quarter of its offices.

The company refused to say which six of its 25 offices would be affected, or how many jobs could be lost. At present the group employs 400 people.

Davies said the closures, which will be completed by the end of the first quarter of this year, were the first phase in an overhaul of its operations.

Its back-office support will be centralised and its office network rationalised to form larger regional centres.

The loss adjuster said investment in technology had removed the need for much of the local administrative support.

Last year Davies completed a £27m management buyout that ended its long-standing partnership structure.

After the buyout, which was backed by private equity firm LDC, the directors reviewed the company’s operations. They restructured the board and shifted focus to the frontline divisions.

Mark Chapman, managing director of the group, said: “We have made no secret of our desire to grow the company and turn Davies into a total claims solutions provider. If we are to achieve this, we must look at every part of our organisation and ensure it works in the absolute best interest of our clients.

“Davies has a well earned reputation for the professionalism and quality of the work we do and we want to build upon it.”

He said the recent £1m investment in technology had begun to deliver “a more robust platform and some intelligent solutions for digital dictation and data recording”.

“The early benefits of these are already proving themselves and enabling us to make significant improvements in service delivery for all our clients.”

The company claimed the restructure would allow its adjusters to divide their service across distinct areas – personal lines, commercial, major and complex loss, and private clients.

“This focus will ensure that only the most qualified and experienced adjusters handle cases in each discipline,” it said.

Insurance Times reported last year that Davies Group was looking to overtake Crawford & Co as the UK’s second largest adjuster through a combination of acquisition and organic growth.

The company has revenues of £25m, which it is seeking to double in three years.