Vertu restructures, attracts new investor

Luxury phonemaker Vertu is in talks with a new investor after slimming down its operations, the Financial Times reports. The company last month axed 200 jobs, around a fifth of its workforce, in its first major restructuring since it was set up by Nokia in 1998. Vertu has not released any new products for more than a year, delayed filing its 2015 accounts for three months and has suffered an executive exodus, the report said. 

Vertu is owned by Hong Kong-based Godin Holdings, which took it on in November 2015 from Swedish private equity company EQT alongside undisclosed private investors. EQT had bought it in 2012 from Nokia for EUR 200 million. 

CEO Gordon Watson declined to comment on Vertu’s finances and attributed the delay in releasing its accounts to new CFO Yuechuan Ma’s arrival in October. He declined to reveal the identity of the new investor but welcomed the prospect of fresh funds to develop "new products and expertise in certain areas", he said. 

Appointed CEO in 2016, Watson said he sees an opportunity to double the company’s active customer base while slimming the "bureacratic" structure of Vertu inherited from Nokia. The company will focus on one new model a year going forward, costing around GBP 4,000-7,000 without customisation with hand-made leather.