TORONTO – After less than stellar first quarter financial results, Rogers’ president and CEO Nadir Mohamed refused to rule out the possibility of more staff layoffs.
At the company’s annual general meeting with shareholders in Toronto on Wednesday, Mohamed said that he expects 2012 to continue as a year of “competitive intensity”, making cost management “absolutely imperative”.
“We have a disciplined plan of action”, he said. “In the short term, this means more aggressively managing our costs. It also means remaining absolutely focused on our strategic game plan. This includes strengthening our core business, generating new streams of revenue growth, and investing in next generation platforms.”
Mohamed named Rogers’ recently launched home monitoring and automation service as one new area of growth, and said that the shift to an open, all IP standard will not only allow its customers to “mix and match hardware, applications and networks”, it will also offer the company global economies of scale, cost efficiencies, plus standardize how it delivers video, voice and data services.
At a media scrum directly following the shareholders meeting, Mohamed was asked if these cost containment measures could include further cuts to its roughly 30,000 employees (Rogers let go 300 management level employees last month).
“We’re focused on these cost initiatives and I don’t look at it from that perspective”, he responded. “I look at it as ‘what do we need to do to actually do better for our customers’ and clearly we’re driving out costs, but nobody should be confused – we’re investing at the same time. The idea is to say ‘let’s look at the areas that we can do better on the cost side, and where do we invest further’.”
But when pressed on the possibility of jobs cuts, Mohamed declined to be any more specific. “We’re always looking to improve our business, we’re always looking for cost opportunities, but in the context of the business, at the same time, looking to invest in areas that will grow our business”, he said firmly before accepting another question.
