Penguin Random House UK has announced a proposed restructure of its international sales with Dean Chance heading up the export team and Rob Waddington in charge of the group team.
Chance, who has been Penguin International sales director since 2009, becomes PRH International sales director (export), while Waddington will take on Penguin among his current Random House group responsibilities as Penguin Random House International sales director (group companies). Both report to group sales director Mike Symons.
The proposed changes put, PRH said, "up to six" roles at risk of redundancy.
Under the changes, two international PRH teams will be based at one London office from 2015. One team, led by Chance, will focus on international export markets, and the other, headed by Waddington, on trading with PRH companies in Australia, New Zealand, India, South Africa and North America.
Further global changes will come into effect on 1 January:
- DK and Penguin U.S. will assume responsibility from Penguin UK for their own sales into international markets.
- The restructured London teams will take on responsibility for the entire UK list in Latin America and the Caribbean.
- It is proposed that the offices of Penguin Benelux and France (Belgium, Netherlands, Luxemburg and France) and Penguin Germany will close, with administrative functions moving to London. PRH will maintain "a strong sales team based on the ground in these key territories". Penguin Spain and Penguin Italy are unaffected.
Symons commented: "We operate in an ever-changing and evolving marketplace and some of the biggest changes we have seen in recent years have been within our international and group territories. Since becoming Penguin Random House we have taken time to consider how we best serve our customers, and the unique opportunities that the merger provides to realign our international strategies and to develop a consistent, best practise approach."
