FT Business looks for more staff as news teams merge

FT Business is looking for extra staff, including a new editor for Investment Adviser, following a major restructure involving the news teams.

Around 14 journalists on Financial Adviser, Investment Adviser and FT Adviser.com have been given new job titles and, in some cases, more specialist areas to cover as the three teams merged to form one main news desk.

The move has resulted in a number of new appointments including Angus Fisher, who has been promoted to head of news, and the former editor of Investment Adviser, Kevin O’Donnell, who moves up to become editor-in-chief. Fisher will be responsible for all the news content on Financial Adviser, Investment Adviser and FT Adviser.com. Neil Sands, deputy head of news, will assist Fisher and oversee Investment Adviser’s news content on a daily basis.

O’Donnell said the aim was to strengthen the news coverage and make better use of the reporters. He denied it was a cost-cutting exercise. "We had a considerable amount of duplication," he told Press Gazette. "We were sending two or three reporters to cover the same story." Although one source suggested there was an element of unhappiness among some staff about the move, O’Donnell said: "Staff were told very early on what the plans were and they were generally very supportive. Naturally reporters are protective about their patch and contacts but we have tried to retain that atmosphere. The only difference is the stories may be used in more than one newspaper." Whereas some reporters might have had a wider remit, many have now been allocated specific subject areas such as mortgage, investment and pensions. O’Donnell stressed there had been no job losses and the restructure was completely unrelated to the recent cuts at FT.com.

O’Donnell said there were several projects in the pipeline. There are plans to double the frequency in May of Financial Adviser’s regular supplement, Mortgage Extra. "We are very interested in the mortgage market, we are looking at it very closely, but it is too early to say whether we will launch a standalone title," he said.

Other plans include the launch later this month of a quarterly technology supplement and a new four-page business development section in Financial Adviser.