It follows the firm revealing its financial results today
Ardonagh chief executive David Ross said today the staff poaching case brought about by rival firm Gallagher “felt absolutely harrowing and utterly awful”.
Speaking during the Ardonagh third quarter earnings call, Ross said it hadn’t just taken up enormous amounts of his time, but had “massively distracted” 50-60 people in his organisation.
Last month, a high court judge dismissed Gallagher’s £10m staff poaching case against Ardonagh, also awarding costs.
“The law is the law. An awful lot of money got spent to find out that that was the legal advice which we’d had all along,” he added.
When the verdict was delivered, Ross said that everybody assumed he must be drinking Champagne. ”The truth is I was at home and a little bit heartbroken and incredibly sad. it didn’t feel like a victory because we weren’t surprised by the result.
Lloyd’s culture
Commenting on the work that John Neal and his team are doing to tackle the culture at Lloyd’s, Ross said it was “admirable”.
”They deserve a lot of credit for shining a light on subjects that people have been too embarrassed to talk about.
”It is a pity for our industry because there’s a lot of very good people in our industry doing a lot of noble work.
”It’s like having an embarrassing family relative. Everyone tries to avoid the subject, but John is trying to out that.
”I think there’s a lot of good will in the market toward seeing change happen, so I think the issue is he’s got a lot of good will and a lot of support. I think the reality is that the market has to work with Lloyd’s to help make that a reality,” Ross concluded.
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