Stelios vows to get hands dirtier in new ventures

LONDON - Stelios Haji-Ioannou has blamed the heavy losses sustained by his Easy ventures on some of his own managers for what he calls a 'catastrophic failure of cost control'.

In a letter to Marketing he has pledged to step in and spend "more time in future personally controlling the purse strings at the early stages of every new venture".

His vow to take a more hands-on approach comes a day after he admitted that his EasyCar car rental firm should aim to replicate the business model of Ryanair, which is more profitable than the airline he founded, EasyJet.

In a recent interview with Marketing, Haji-Ioannou confirmed EasyCar has lost about £20m since launch. He now pledges to overhaul the operation.

It emerged this week that EasyCar finance director Stephen Jackson has resigned. His departure follows that of chief executive Andrew Fitzmaurice, who left in March.

A spokesman for EasyGroup said Stelios' comments did not refer to these individuals.

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